It's Just Like Riding a Bicycle!

Yes.  Old skills that we’ve practised over and over are just like riding a bicycle.....easy to pick up again even if we haven’t done them for a while.    However, if they are skills that aren’t necessarily in our best interest then ....unfortunately.....it’s like riding a bicycle.....easy to pick up again!   That is because the neurotransmitters in your brain are like ruts in the road when you’ve been driving in the winter.  It can sometimes feel safer to stay in the deep rut rather (old adaptive habit) rather than risk shifting over to the well ploughed lane (new healthier habit).  And once you are in the well ploughed lane then it just takes a little slip and you get yanked right back into the old deep rut!  Destin Sandlin did an experiment with a bicycle and took it around the world.  He designed a bicycle that you had to turn the steering wheel the opposite way to get it to go where you wanted it to go.  He proved that even though people ‘knew’ what they were supposed to do re: riding the bike with the alternate steering wheel, they weren’t able to very easily.  They couldn’t override the old neurotransmitters that told them how they were ‘supposed’ to steer a bike.  That is why it is important to decide who you are and what values you want to live your life by.  All of these decisions and habits will create neurotransmitters in your brain and it will lead you towards the outcome that you want to create.  The sooner you start and practise.....the better your chances of creating habits that will get you to where you want to go in your life.  And when you fall back into old habits.....which you will.....just pick up that bike and try again!!!