Here's an amazing quote from Time magazine:

At birth a babys brain contains 100 billion neurons, roughly as many nerve cells as there are stars in the Milky Way.

My first thought was after reading this was Wow, we get all that power and hardware with no owners manual or instruction booklet!

Having just recently purchased a new computer, Ive been pouring through owners manuals and instruction booklets, trying to understand a tenth of what this machine can do. Just imagine what we could do if we understood a tenth of what our brains could do.

Now, I certainly wont presume to be able to offer an owners manual, but I can offer a few suggestions for what and what not to put into our brains.

The power of the thoughts we think and the words we use is grossly underestimated. Youve probably heard someone say, usually while losing an argument or debate, Well, thats just semantics.

One of the things Ive learned when it comes to managing our brains is that it is all semantics. This is because our brain is simply a computer that takes in what we give it, whether it is useful for us or not.

For example, there are several words that I call garbage words. A garbage word is a word that if you allow your brain to use it on a regular basis, you will get garbage thinking. Garbage thinking leads to garbage feelings and garbage actions, all of which can keep us from living the kind of life that we want to have.

Lets look at a few of the more common garbage words or phrases, and what kind of words to use instead.

I Have To - There are very few things in life we have to do. There are very many things in life we choose to do. Constantly saying I have to diminishes our power of choice. Replacing I have to with I choose to or I get to allows us to choose and bypasses the brains natural resistance to force.

Try- This is one of the most powerful garbage words in common usage. For example, try and pick up the newspaper from which you are reading this column. You either picked it up or you didnt. Those are the only two outcomes. In the words of Star Wars Yoga - Do or do not. There is no try.

Hard - This garbage word convinces our brain not to do something. Its an excuse for fear and/or laziness. Rocks are hard, and so are some peoples heads. Saying something is hard does not make it any easier to accomplish. Some things are difficult, however. Difficult things are very doable, they just require constant attention.

I Cant - This one usually means I wont or I choose not to. A good counter is if I could, what would I do? Lose Weight - I love this one. Consider how many times you or someone you know has said they want to lose weight. Now consider what the brain hears. What have we conditioned our brains to do when we lose something? Thats right - to find it and get it back. Instead of losing weight, we want to get rid of weight.

Yes, but.... - Another commonly used garbage phrase. Sometimes cleverly disguised as simply but, with something good in front of it. As in Id really like to, but........ Our brain automatically disregards everything that came before the but. Another way of saying this is when you hear the word but, disregard everything that came before it, because here comes the truth.

Instead of saying but, use the word and. As in you did a good job with this, and you could also do that.

Now wait just a minute!, you might be saying. Isnt this just a form a positive thinking? Not really. While positive thinking can be good, its not enough all by itself. If you are walking in the rain during a thunderstorm, saying Its not raining, its not raining, you are still going to get wet. This is about using words to properly operate your brain.

Heres a suggestion. Try doing, oops, I mean do, each one of these for a week. At the end of each week, you will have eliminated one garbage word from your brain, which is 100% improvement. Not bad for a little bit of time and effort, wouldnt you say?