Let’s Talk Neuroplasticity!
Neuroplasticity is defined as the ability of the brain to form and reorganize synaptic connections, especially in response to learning or experience.
Perhaps you have heard the term neuroplasticity thrown about lately. It has been in the press for everything from how your exercise program works to understanding why you eat the same thing for breakfast each morning. It is a very important word because it sheds light on the fact that our brains and our patterns of behavior are not set in stone by adulthood like once believed. In fact, it is due to neuroplasticity that we humans can shift and grow and still learn new tricks even when we become old dogs.
Neuroplasticity defines HOW our brains learn new things. Your brain is actually creating new neural pathways whenever you try something unfamiliar. This is why when you are learning a driving route to your new job you have to pay close attention to every street name and turn. But after a month of the same drive you are already so used to the route that you find yourself daydreaming instead of paying attention to the directions. You are able to daydream because your brain created and strengthened that new neural pathway all to do with remembering that particular route. As you ‘learned’ the drive, more connections were made until it was strong and familiar. Much like how the dirt of a forest floor will harden and create a path through the trees as more and more people walk on it. This worn path then makes the walking easier and clearer.
This is true for learning any skills.
But what you may not realize is that our thoughts also influence neuroplasticity. The more you focus your attention on a thought, the more your brain works on the connections to reinforce that thought. This is true whether the thought is negative or positive, true or false. And since our brain learns best with repetition, the more we think a particular thought, the more quickly it is wired in.
Let’s say as a kindergartner, you had a teacher who called you dumb in front of the class. A terrible, but all too familiar occurrence for kids who may learn differently. At that age you of course knew what the teacher said wasn’t good, even if you weren’t sure that it was true. Maybe a day or two later you hear a classmate call another classmate dumb in anger. You then are reminded about how you are dumb because your teacher said so, and to be dumb is a bad thing. So then you start spending a fair amount of time thinking and worrying about being dumb. And the next time you mess up spelling a word your brain said ‘oh yeah – there you are being dumb again.” And every time you think that thought “I am dumb.” You are reinforcing that neural pathway.
Because of a part of our brain called our ANS (Attention Network System that filters, selects, and focuses attention to ensure adaptive behavior), where we place our attention is where our mind believes we want to improve, regardless of whether it’s helpful or hurtful. So the mind will latch onto those thoughts of “I am dumb” the more frequently they appear, and awaken your awareness to see more examples of this in the world around you. (This is a little how manifestation really works – but that’s another blog!). So you will see things that reinforce your repetitive “I am dumb” thought and the neural pathway strengthens.
Our thoughts create our feelings which in turn create our actions and behaviors. If you have a strong neural pathway for the thought ‘I am dumb’, you are likely to have feelings of shame, defeat, sadness…and when you have those feelings you are less likely to raise your hand in class or even believe you have a chance at succeeding, and so blind yourself to opportunities.
But Neuroplasticity is available to you throughout your entire life! If you stop the repetitive thought of ‘I am dumb’, you will weaken that pathway and open up the opportunity to start building new pathways based on new repetitive thoughts that actually support you!
If you decide today that you aren’t really dumb. That you’ve accomplished much in your life and that teacher was wrong. You begin to tell yourself “I am capable and smart”. Your brain will begin the process of creating synapses to that thought. But if you’ve lived with the “I am dumb” thought for a long time – those pathways are deep and strong – and it will take more time and more repetition to break them down. This is why change can feel hard. That old worn-in neural pathway – though harmful – is so familiar it feels safe. It feels true. It feels real.
But actually, it was just thoughts, and thoughts are yours to change. It simply takes repetition and focused attention to prove to your mind that this new thought is the one that matters now.
Here are some ways you can speed up the process of using neuroplasticity to change your thoughts!
#Say or write affirmations that support the thought you are choosing – and leave them everywhere! Your wallet – your bathroom mirror…the more you see it the more your remind your brain this is your focus now.
#Visualize yourself thinking that new thought every day. Visualize yourself moving through life with this new, wonderful thought – feel it in your body.
#When the inner critic pops into your head tell it you are changing your mind and that old thought doesn’t serve you anymore. Then remind it of the new thought!
#Consciously take time at the end of the day to recognize what actions or experiences you had that support the new thought.
Rapid Transformational Therapy uses neuroplasticity to help you create lasting change! Together we identify WHY the negative thought behavior exists in the first place (ie: your teacher calling your dumb in front of the class), but then give you a recording reinforcing the new thoughts that you listen to daily for the next 3+ weeks. At the end of three weeks the new ideas you are instilling feel more familiar, because you are building the pathway you want! And that work is always worth it!
It’s how we make the positive changes we want in our life!
Sleep Hack!
Do you wake in the night with worries? Try this!
When you sleep, your unconscious mind is working diligently on your problems. If you wake in the night and you immediately start ruminating about an issue you are worried about, it’s your unconscious mind telling your conscious mind that it could use some help in the form of a plan to implement during your waking hours.
So, if you can focus on one or two action items for the issue - even if they are as small as deciding to email a person when you wake up or to devote 5 minutes to journaling about the issue over your coffee in the morning - your unconscious mind will allow you to go back to sleep sooner knowing you have planned to take concrete action to address the issue. Even if it’s a very small one!
Paraphrased from the book Before You Know It: The Unconscious Reasons We Do What We Do by John Bargh, PhD, social and cognitive psychologist and expert on the unconscious mind. Bargh is also a professor of psychology at Yale University and director of the ACME Laboratory. (Automaticity in Cognition, Motivation, and Evaluation)
Quick tip to fall back asleep faster!