PROGRAMMABLE

Rather than throwing up my hands and saying, "This is just the way I am", I have come to see my brain as programmable. 

This can be very useful in changing behaviors of various kinds - eliminating bad habits or creating good ones. 

I feel like I am still in the beginning stages of understanding the potential of my brain's programmability. 

Here's a good example: If you're like me, you fall asleep in one particular position every night. Also, if you are like me, you assume that this particular position is somehow genetically wired into the core of your being. 

For years I have slept primarily on my stomach with my head on a thick pillow and facing to the left. Over the past year, I started having chronic neck pain. And at first I thought, "What can I do? This is the way I sleep best."

But then I remembered that my brain is programmable. And since most people say it is healthiest to sleep on your back, I wondered if I could reprogram my body's favorite sleep position. 

If I could, I figured it might ease my neck pain. I also wondered if sleeping with my face to the ceiling could help keep my sinuses clear to boot.

So I decided to reprogram my brain.

It took about five weeks, but it wasn't difficult. 

Each night, as soon as I slipped under the covers, I simply lay on my back until I fell asleep, no matter how long it took. During the first 4 weeks or so, I was awake an extra 10 to 45 minutes - when I am used to being out within about 2. After the first 3 or 4 days, I switched to a much thinner pillow and that helped. 

By the fifth week, I had created a new sleep habit.

Now my body is convinced that lying on my back with a very thin pillow is the most natural position for sleep. Once again, I am able to fall asleep within about 2 minutes of hitting the sack. 

The neck pain is diminished greatly. (The jury is still out on my sinuses - if I can go 2 or 3 months without a sinus infection, I will declare it a success.) 

On the down side, according to Melissa, my snoring has increased. 

Maybe I can program my brain to keep my mouth closed.