This morning, as part of my "power hour", which consists of 20 minutes of meditation, 20 minutes of inspirational reading and 20 minutes of physical activity (I'm working on this part!), I read a summary of The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle. The premise of the book is that our success in life and in reaching our goals and dreams is all about myelin and where and how we choose to build it up.

Myelin. I remember learning about myelin in pharmacy school. It's an essential part of our nervous system. The coating, if you will, of the neuronal pathways that make our bodies do what we do ... think, feel, act, perform, process information, act, react to impulses and stimulii, etc. The best way I know to describe myelin (see diagram below) is to use a coated wire as an example. On the outside, the rubber serves a coating or insulation to keep the inside wires together and to keep the electricity from leaking out, thus the wires allow electricity to flow through them and provide power to whatever they are connected to.

It is the same in our nervous system, with a slight difference. We have the power in our physiology to generate our own myelin. The more we perform a task, think a thought or accomplish a complex set of movements, the more myelin is formed and the thicker it gets.

The good news is that the thicker the myelin, the more accomplished we are at whatever it is we are doing. As Daniel Coyne points out, practice makes perfect because myelin gets thicker and thicker along the neuronal pathway towards mastering a task, making the neurons work with more precision, efficiency and speed.

Unfortunately, it is just as easy to build myelin along pathways that do not serve us as it is to build myelin over the pathways that, with persistent practice, will lead us to mastery.

This weekend I spent alot of time with family. I was amazed to observe the result of  what I learned this morning was thickly myelinized fear pathways and negative thought patterns. Unfortunately, my family of origin was raised on fear ... and, for a long time, I made my choices within the deep core of fear-based pathways surrounded by the thick myelin linings that I had inadvertently created. 

Fear is our natural response to an environment that threatens our survival, however, in this day in age, our fears, more often than not, no longer serve us in moving forward in the direction of our dreams and goals.

I was struck by the quote cited above

"It's all about deep practice, 
ignited by a vision of what is possible,
fueled by passion and supported by strong teachers 
that enables us to rewire our brain with myelin in all the right places." 
~Daniel Coyle, The Talent Code

I am grateful that I have been able to break free of most of the subconscious, limiting fear patterns of my past. Today, when they show up, I can observe them and reframe them using my vision, passion, positive thought patterns and new skills I've developed as fuel, with the help of my teachers coaches and support network.

Today I am learning to build myelin around the pathways to my goals, hopes and dreams. When i find myself on the fear pathway, it isn't long that my construction crew helps reroute me to my own personal Myelin Highway as I continue on the road to  creating the life of my dreams!

How about you?  

Do you have a support team to help you reroute fear? Have you identified  your unique vision, passion and purpose? Are you traveling your own Myelin Highway to success, consciously reframing old fear patterns? Or do you find yourself struggling to break through old patterns of thinking, believing and acting that limit your possibilities?

Falll is coming and now is a wonderful time to get resdy to repave your Myelin Highway! 

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