You are what you do.

Ronni

Ronni

The motormouth ;)
Location
Nashville TN
I just came across that statement and it stopped me in my tracks. YOU ARE WHAT YOU DO.

I know I've seen versions of that before, maybe different wordings or not quite the same message, but similar enough. ("You are what you eat" comes to mind.) I don't know why this particular wording hit me so deeply when others didn't. Maybe because I'm older now, wiser perhaps, less time ahead of me than behind me, more focused on my health and the quality of my life than I ever have been. I want good health and stamina and better muscle tone and less weight and more vitality.....and I sit here, on my ass, wanting that, but not DOING that.

I research, and study, and compare exercise routines, and tweak my diet, and do my journaling and make my plans...that's what I DO. And because that's what I do, I am NOT healthier and more vital with better muscle tone and less weight. Why? BECAUSE I'M NOT DOING WHAT I WANT TO BE!

How stupidly simple is that???? 🤦‍♀️
 

I guess it's partly true but we are also the culmination of many things besides that.

For example, our history is also a part of who we are. Like the things we've experienced such as trauma for one thing.

We make strides to overcome but never the less it and more are parts of who and what we are.
 
Ruthanne said:
I guess it's partly true but we are also the culmination of many things besides that.

For example, our history is also a part of who we are. Like the things we've experienced such as trauma for one thing.

We make strides to overcome but never the less it and more are parts of who and what we are.
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Well yeah, we are definitely the sum total of our experiences. That’s exactly right.

I took my original statement to mean more about my aspirations, goals, values. There’s all this stuff I WANT to be, and do. And I’m not limited in those things by my experiences.

The ONLY thing that limits me is my own follow through, my own stepping onto the path of those goals and actually TAKING steps towards them rather than PLANNING to take those steps. 🤦🏼‍♀️
 
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Ronni said:
Well yeah, we are definitely the sum total of our experiences. That’s exactly right.

I took that statement to mean more about my aspirations, goals, values. There’s all this stuff I WANT to be, and do. And I’m not limited in those things by my experiences.

The ONLY thing that limits me is my own follow through, my own stepping onto the path of those goals and actually TAKING steps towards them rather than PLANNING to take those steps. 🤦🏼‍♀️
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I hear ya! I'm not the best with following through. I don't know why...I just need to DO things I need to. My things to do may be different but I still have those things to do. All the best to you with your journey!
 
What you are referring to is the new science of neuroplasticity that has significantly revolutionized cognitive neuroscience versus the earlier paradigm that each of us has innate abilities, skills, and IQ that at best an individual can nurture. For example, that great baseball players are born capable of reaching such levels of performance while the rest of us ought not even try, is incorrect. Teach one's body and mind through training and repetition and we have far more ability to become what we do.

https://brainworksneurotherapy.com/what-neuroplasticity
Snippet:

Our brains are constantly being shaped by experience. Most of us have very different behaviours and thoughts today than we did 20 years ago. This shift is neuroplasticity in action; changes in brain structure and organization as we experience, learn, and adapt.

With every repetition of a thought or emotion, we reinforce a neural pathway - and with each new thought, we begin to create a new way of being. These small changes, frequently enough repeated, lead to changes in how our brains work.

Neuroplasticity is the 'muscle building' part of the brain; the things we do often we become stronger at, and what we don’t use fades away. That is the physical basis of why making a thought or action over and over again increases its power. Over time, it becomes automatic; a part of us. We literally become what we think and do.

Neuroplasticity is at work throughout life. Connections within the brain are constantly becoming stronger or weaker, depending on what is being used. Younger people change easily; their brains are very plastic. As we age change doesn't come as easily; the brain loses some of its plasticity and we become more fixed in how we think, learn, and perceive.
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Thus fill one's brain poorly and poorly you will become. Don't educate oneself growing up and one is increasingly likely to remain so. It is all cumulative so starting out late in life cannot negate all that came before though regardless is better than never. This is a strong reason to not play violent video games or evil character playing role games like Dungeons and Dragons, or when alone secretly filling one's mind with any manner of immoral or unethical filth.
 
"When you are eighty years old, and in a quiet moment of reflection narrating for only yourself the most personal version of your life story, the telling that will be most compact and meaningful will be the series of choices you have made. In the end, we are our choices."
- Attributed to Jeff Bezos
 
Ronni said:
Well yeah, we are definitely the sum total of our experiences. That’s exactly right.

I took my original statement to mean more about my aspirations, goals, values. There’s all this stuff I WANT to be, and do. And I’m not limited in those things by my experiences.

The ONLY thing that limits me is my own follow through, my own stepping onto the path of those goals and actually TAKING steps towards them rather than PLANNING to take those steps. 🤦🏼‍♀️
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That makes sense, perhaps because in my turbulent teens i despaired of being the kind of person i wanted to be. But by focusing on those goals for years while also 'getting on' with daily life one day i found people were describing me as that kind of person--some in complimentary phrases some in dismissive or derogatory ones but both boiling down to my having become more if who i wanted to be.

I didn't know it in my teens, because i was in my mid twenties before i started reading about it but it was indeed neuroplasticity that facilitated my growth in the direction i wished. @David777 is right about how useful it is. For me a form of meditation was the main tool.
 
Ronni said:
Because some folks don’t subscribe to the belief that we are what we do.
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Also because many people get in ruts, get discouraged, or never learned to metathink (think about what and how you think and how it impacts your life), to question their own thoughts as well as epectations foisted on them (by family, society) and ones they place on themselves.
 
David777 said:
Neuroplasticity is the 'muscle building' part of the brain; the things we do often we become stronger at, and what we don’t use fades away. That is the physical basis of why making a thought or action over and over again increases its power. Over time, it becomes automatic; a part of us. We literally become what we think and do.
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What we don't use fades away....in condensed words, use it or lose it? :rolleyes:
 
feywon said:
Also because many people get in ruts, get discouraged, or never learned to metathink (think about what and how you think and how it impacts your life), to question their own thoughts as well as epectations foisted on them (by family, society) and ones they place on themselves.
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Agreed. Some folks are not particularly self aware so they don’t think make the connection between behavior and outcome.
 


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