Depending upon what we have been doing all our lives, which actions we have been repeating, which actions we have stayed away from, our brain gets wired. The things we do often, become easy for us. We do not have to think about them, while doing them. This includes both good habits and bad. Like, brushing our teeth. We do it every morning and evening. And we have been doing it for years, so we know how to do it. We don’t have to think about it. But some of our activities may be relatively new and we may not have gotten into the habit of doing them yet. Which is to say, our brains have not yet been wired for those activities yet.

Consider the image. It is of a well trodden path. Before this path existed, there would have been grass growing here. But with constant use, a path began to get formed and it became bereft of grass. And it is easier to walk this path for people than form a new one. Now, assume that you want to create a new path three feet to the left or right of this path and stop using this path. Can it be done? Yes, it can be done. But people will have to stop using this path and start walking on the grass where they want the new path to be. Will it get made in a day? Two days? No. It will take a while. But with regular usage only. It won’t do for people to give up midway and walk the old path. If that happens, neither will the new path be formed, nor will the old path be unformed.

But if there is persistence, bit by bit, a new path will begin to emerge and the old path, due to disuse will start disappearing. Slowly. But after some time, one will not even know if the old path ever existed.

Rewiring is a lot like that. It involves breaking old patterns and forming new ones. The old path represents the habit you’re trying to break. The new path is the new habit. It is possible but it is not easy. But it can be done. 100 percent of the times, if the effort is put in. Stick to a new habit, despite it being difficult and despite the temptation of falling into the old one, and with sufficient practice, the old bad habit will have been eliminated and the new good habit will have been adopted. And that is when you would have succeeded in rewiring the brain.