Blogs

Rewiring Our Brains for Success

By Laura posted 03-30-2019 22:03

  

Henry Ford, a revolutionary in the automobile industry, said, “Whether we think we can or think we can’t, we’re right.”

What does that mean?  The more we think a certain thought, the more we wire our brain to adopt that thought as reality.

In this week’s blog, we are going to dive into the science behind our habitual thoughts, other functions of the amazing human brain, and how it all relates back to purpose.

Our Plastic BrainsDog_wearing_glasses_at_computer_Depositphotos_10529385_s-2019.jpg

You know that saying, "You can't teach an old dog new tricks"?  It's not true.  Neuroplasticity is the brains ability to change how it is wired and we retain this ability until the day we die.  That definition might not sound like much, but the reality of it is tremendously powerful. By harnessing this power, we can grow new skills, recover from traumatic injury, and keep our brains sharp, no matter what or age is.

It has been proven that there are critical times where the brain goes through incredible change. These windows?  Early childhood and young adulthood.  What does it mean for us if we are ... ahem... a little older than that?  Our brains still absolutely have the ability to learn.  In fact, Dr. Watanabe at Brown University tested adults ranging from 67 - 79 years old and proved their brains to still be plastic. 

Good news, right?  With that said, we do need to invest time and energy to keep our brains fit.  To help with this, neuroplasticity exercises are listed at the end of the blog.  Be sure to check them out.

The Power of Our Thoughtsneurons_and_synapses_Depositphotos_5352897_s-2019.jpg

Neurons are electrical cells that live in our brain and spinal cord. Synapses connect neurons.

Our thoughts are electric currents that fire along synapses between neurons. The more we think a particular thought or respond in a particular way, the more synapses we build along that pathway.

The more synapses we build, the more that way of thinking becomes a deeply ingrained habit.

Grand_Canyon_Depositphotos_81468562_l-2015.jpgThis picture is of the Grand Canyon. Do you know what formed it? That blue ribbon there is the Colorado River. Just as the Colorado River carves paths into the Grand Canyon, our thoughts carve paths into our brains. The more we think a certain thought, the more our thoughts want to run along this same path. And the more we do a particular action, the easier that becomes.

When it’s good stuff, this works in our favor. Riding a bike, telling ourselves that we are great at math, making a free throw on the basketball court… These are the results of neuroplasticity in action. As we learn new skills or adopt beliefs, they are wired into our brains.

But what about when it’s not good stuff? When we say mean things about ourselves? Or we have limiting self-beliefs that keep us from living the life that we want? Or we get stressed and eat cookies? (Even though we are trying to lose weight!) Or we get sad and go shopping? (Even though we are trying to save money!)

Yup. That stuff gets wired in too. (Goshdarn it!) Think those negative thoughts or do those bad things a lot and those become our dominant ways of thinking or acting.

So where does that leave us? Lucky for us, we have tools at our disposal.

Synaptic Pruningsynaptic_pruning.png

Ok, as we mentioned, when we think a thought or perform an action, we build up corresponding wiring in our brains. And when we stop doing something? Our brain gets rid of those pathways (or makes them less dominant).  This is called synaptic pruning.

Look at this amazing picture. The stuff in yellow are pictures of what our brains look like at birth, when we are six, and fourteen-years old. The lines are synapses and the blobs are neurons.

Remember that synapses are the “wires” that our thoughts run along. They connect the neurons together, so they can communicate with each other.

What do you notice about the picture here? The six-year old is the one with the most stuff in her circle, right? And then the fourteen-year old has less. What is that about? Do you think that around age 10 or 11, she learned about self-directed synaptic pruning and started cleaning house so that at 14 her brain would look like the next picture? Of course not!

Synaptic pruning - the cutting back of synapses - is a natural process. We learn a lot of stuff as a little kid and our brain takes it all in. By the time we are 3 years old, a toddler’s brain has formed about a quadrillion connections — about twice as many as adults have. A quadrillion! How incredible is that?

Around 11 years old, the brain starts figuring out what to keep and what isn’t so important. That is when the automatic pruning starts.

What is amazing is that we can also control this process to get rid of the stuff we don’t want and build up the stuff that we do. With work and focus, we can learn to control how we think about ourselves. We can also shift our habits so they support our goals in life.

Neuroplasticity_blocks.pngThe First Building Block

There are three key pieces that we use so that people can shift their self-talk, limiting beliefs, and bad habits. The first piece of the puzzle? We need to dial into what needs to change. When I teach this part of the class and ask people about negative self-talk, it is interesting to see how often people aren’t really aware of what they say to themselves. It’s like it is such a consistent drone in the background that it is hard to bring to mind.

Maybe you are not conscious of your self-talk, but it is still impacting you. Even if these thoughts are just a whispering voice in your ear (like “I am not thin enough.” Or “I am not as popular as other people.” Or “Maybe I don’t have what it takes.”), they absolutely color how you see the world. They color how you see yourself and what you believe you are capable of.

In the class, that is why we dig into neuroplasticity in the first place. If we helped you figure out what you love to do, what you are good at, what your personal version of success is and what you want your authentic life to look like (and we do all of these things), BUT you had a consistent soundtrack in your head telling you that you are not good enough/smart enough/strong enough… you wouldn’t get very far, right?

We want you to build your life on a rock-solid foundation, not shifting sand. And part of making that happen is building ourselves up. Not tearing ourselves down.

Recrafting Our Self-Talk: An Invitation selftalk_worksheet_youre_invited.png

So here is my invitation to you. Tune in and listen to the voice in your head. What is it saying? And as you notice yourself saying something negative, take note of this and write down it’s opposite.

For example, if you say “I am not sure I am good enough” write down, “With time and effort, I have the skills and capacity to succeed.” (This is like shifting from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset, right? That is what our blog was about last week.)

If you say, “I am not thin enough” write down, “I am grateful for this body that serves me day in and out. I believe that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes.”

Remember that you can also use the Power of Yet! When you say “I can’t do it,” write down, “I can’t do it YET.”

Even if it feels hard or weird, write these positive thoughts down. The harder it is, the more you need to plant those seeds.

What triggered this thought or made you feel this way? Write this down.

The other part of this invitation is to watch for your hotspots. Does your negative self-talk spike when you are tired? When you are hungry? After you have looked through Vogue or Better Muscles Now magazine? (Yeah, I just made that one up, but you get what I mean.) Or when you hang out with certain people?

Get to know your triggers so that you can either manage or avoid them.  Want a self-talk journal worksheet? Download it here.

Building Blocks 2 & 3: Meeting Our Elephants and Getting them Trained

In the class In Pursuit of Purpose, we have blended the work of Dr. Jonathan Haidt, a Yale and Penn-trained psychologist and author of The Happiness Hypothesis, with the work of Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz, author of You Are Not Your Brain and research psychiatrist from UCLA School of Medicine.

The result is a user-friendly approach to understand why we self-sabotage. (Hint: the issue lies with our Elephants.) And it teaches us how to shut down negative thinking and bad habits.

Sounds pretty good, huh? Our students rate it as some of their favorite content. We will cover some of this in our May blogs.

Help Your Brain Grow!  Neuroplasticity Tips and Exercisesbrain_exercising_Depositphotos_66612693_m-2015.jpg

Here is a cool list to get those neurons firing!  Want more details?  Go to Thai Nguyen's Huff Post blog.

1. Intermittent Fasting - Good for your brain as well as your waistline.
2. Travel - Seeing different things lights us up.
3. Use Mnemonic Devices - If you are like me and went "huh?", go here for a guide.
4. Learn an Instrument - Any instrument works... except maybe the kazoo.
5. Non-Dominant Hand Exercises - Right-handed?  Try brushing your teeth with your left.
6. Read Fiction - As if we needed an excuse to do this!
7. Expand Your Vocabulary - Check out the app "Vocabulary Builder" by Magoosh.
8. Create Artwork - Get creative with mosaics, jewelry, pottery, painting, or drawing.
9. Dance!  Studies have found that there is nothing more effective at guarding against Alzheimer's.
10. Get More Zzz's - It does your brain and body good.


Next week’s blog is our monthly update. We have a big graduation week coming up and want to share some of our student stories. Since we are heading into a new cycle, we would appreciate new places to teach. Know of an organization that could benefit from our program? Thanks for introducing us!  

 

0 comments
20 views

Permalink