Two days ago I wrote about how an early morning run triggered some mindful introspection when I jogged into the sun’s warming rays and how my absorbing the warmth of the sun transported me to another place… mentally…and how my thoughts spilt over in every direction, just like the rays of the sun. Today as I revisit that run it occurs to me that the positive energy I enjoyed from that ‘warming moment’ was the result of my decision to engage those uplifting thoughts and ideas and make them my own even for those few fleeting moments. While I was exercising my body, I was also exercising my mind. Even now when I re-connect with those thoughts and ideas, I am warmed, I am encouraged, I am challenged…to become the very best that I can be…in my body and in my mind. Today I read a blog by Dr. Caroline Leaf, a cognitive neuroscientist with a PhD in Communication Pathology who specializes in Neuropsychology. She says that “our brains are designed to reflect the mind.” To me this means that if our mind absorbs (receives, learns, assimilates, understands, or latches onto) ideas and thoughts, then we will eventually reflect (project, imitate, emulate, repeat) these thoughts upon our brains; thereafter our brains respond to our thoughts and transfer our thoughts into our bodies. So, if our brains reflect our mind, which is always changing, then our brain is also capable of change or growth, which in scientific terms is called neuroplasticity. And if our brains can change by our mere choosing of thoughts, then it seems that we can ‘change our lives for the better’ one thought at a time. The choice is ours and ours alone ~ we simply decide ~ or not which thoughts to think.