Psychologically, You Are Only Born Twice

When we come into this world, we come in with a number of personality characteristics and traits that we inherit from our parents. These characteristics and traits, which we might call our temperament, is essentially unchangeable and with us forever. Yet as influential as this might be, it is only part of what makes us up. Our second birth, our psychological rebirth, can be just as or even more influential.

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Our psychological birth

Our psychological birth, in contrast to the quickness of our physical birth, occurs during our upbringing. It occurs at the hands of our caregivers and extends over many years. The more we do research into our psychological life, the more we find that our caregivers are extraordinarily influential in determining the type of person that we eventually become. This is because our personality is actually written into the structure of our brain, and the brain undergoes its most profound development and growth in our early lives.

Changing our brains – psychological rebirth

We also now know that once the brain has developed, it is capable of substantial change in adult life. When we make a change to our personality, we are actually making a change to the structure of our brains. This is why change can be so very hard and the process can be long. It isn't just a matter of thinking new thoughts and doing new things; there is actually a physical change that happens within your brain, and that takes time.

The upside of this is that once the positive change has been made it too is difficult to undo – it is also wired inside of us.

If you would like to begin the process of change, then psychotherapy can support you in gradually becoming the person that you have so long wished to be.

Tell me what you think in the comments.

– Tim Hill

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