Fact 1. Your brain has six levels of thought. The conscious brain is one level which filters thought through reason, logic and moral values filters. So imagine if you are about to try something new and you feel afraid, your reasoning mind can assist to push you past your fears. You may even say to yourself something like, 'I'm trying really hard'.

Now the other five layers of thought which are located in your non-conscious brain (previously called the subconscious) has no filters, this means that a non-conscious thought travels between 80 to 800 times faster than a conscious thought. So you need to be very careful about what you put into your brain. Remember that statement 'I'm trying really hard', it actually causes your brain to work against you because the non-conscious brain thinks in pictures. So if you make statements like:

'Don't forget to....', your brain automatically sees you forgetting. 'I am going to lose weight....' your brain automatically pictures you as being overweight. 'I have to stop spending.....' your brain sees you spending. 'l'll try...', your brain sees you as trying but never achieving.

That means that you have five levels of your brain producing images that reinforce the very thing you don't want to create. So change your words to 'Remember', 'I am slim', 'I save easily' and 'I am'. Words are enormously important.

Fact 2. You change your life easily by creating new neural pathways. You don't have to delve into the past to change your life. Now I'm not against clearing out old emotions, I've done it many times and it's really helped, but you don't have to go back to the past in order to create a better future. You can create new neural pathways which will take over the old ones.

All neural pathways have been created since birth, so you don't come into this world with any hard wiring, and you keep forming new neural pathways by stimulating the brain. You can stimulate the brain by learning, reading a book, listening to motivational CDs, studying, repetition (such as affirmations) and meditation.

Meditation is not just good for your soul, it's good for your brain. Meditation produces serotonin (the feel good hormone) and benzodiazepine (like valium) and creates new neural pathways.

You also have a stress threshold which, according to Bill Harris, director of Centerpointe Research and the Holosync program, is created by your map of reality. If your lifestyle constantly exceeds your stress thresholds then you make it harder for yourself to achieve your dreams.

I had a low stress threshold and often felt overwhelmed. I learnt to manage by creating strategies that supported me, but I had to consciously work at it until recently when I started working with Holosync. This form of meditation is based on sounds which create new neural pathways in the brain which balance the left and right hemispheres, this increases your stress threshold. All you do is listen, through stereo headphones (the type that comes with ipods, discmans etc), to sounds of water and gongs. While this form of meditation is easy in the sense that you are passive, it can bring up any emotions and this means you could experience some emotional and physical discomfort during the early stages. This is individual and depends upon the structure of your brain. I went through a period of very uncomfortable headaches followed by some really informative dreams, but it was worth it for the feeling of calm it has produced.

The good news is it only takes 3 to 4 weeks to create a new neural pathway. However, if takes longer to form pathways that are going to balance the brain and produce a consistent state of calm. Isn't your life worth the effort?