Can your Brain be Re-Wired?

Looking at twenty women who had come to one of my confidence workshops, I couldn’t help but notice that they had put up protective walls before the session had even begun. As I asked them to introduce themselves and rank their self-esteem on a scale of one to ten, the average came out to about three. I knew I was in for a challenge.

Most of these women had troublesome pasts—abuse, poor relationships, domestic issues, neglect, and financial troubles. These troubles had taken control of their day-to-day lives and had clouded their minds with an inability to seek out and express the positive. One woman confided that she was hopeless, and felt that there was no way she could control the way her brain worked. That couldn’t have been more wrong, or more damaging to her ability to change.

You’ve likely heard it many times before: “I am the way I am; I can’t change that.” Until about the 1960s, that was the commonly held belief in circles of psychologists and neuroscientists. We were led to believe that our genes dictated the structure of our brain and that there was no changing it. Negative people would always be negative. Funny individuals were just wired that way. But once psychologists started looking at how our brain activity changed during the course of various exercises, they quickly learned that we can actually adjust the structure of our brains—a widely accepted concept now known as neuroplasticity.

The neural connections in our brains can be forged, weakened, and strengthened. When we experience and practice different tasks, the associated areas in our brain begin to change, and can have long-lasting effect.

There have been many studies which have shown that monks and those who meditate regularly have elevated levels of grey matter in parts of their brain in the hippocampus (the area of our brain that allows for memory, supports our well-being and contributes to learning) along with areas in the orbitofrontal cortex. Higher levels of grey matter in these areas of the brain indicate more neural connections and activity, essentially a stronger and better functioning infrastructure. In short, simply by using one part of the brain more, the meditators actually strengthened that area. This concept explains why if someone loses their dominant arm, they can over time bring their other arm’s dexterity to nearly the same level as they experienced before.

One study conducted by researchers at UCLA concluded that “people who consistently meditate have a singular ability to cultivate positive emotions, retain emotional stability and engage in mindful behavior.” Not to mention they experience stronger immune systems and reduced levels of stress. All thanks to rewiring the way the brain works.

The more we practice something, the more our brain will adapt to it and accept it. This goes for everything, including both positive and negative thinking.

If you are consistently looking for the negative in everything, you will certainly find it. Not only that, the more you do it, the more your brain gets accustomed to that way of thinking—making it feel like the norm.

Ever notice how athletes tend to be competitive even outside of their sport? This can spill over from our careers as well. The more we focus on one way of thinking or a set of activities, the more effect that will have on our overall everyday life. For the good, or the bad. The artist may always see beauty and opportunity in everyday life, whereas the accountant may always perceive errors, miscalculations and omissions, even when it comes to their relationships and family lives. If you are in a high-stress career or are always analyzing the negative, take a step back and ask yourself if you’ve let it spill over into your everyday life.

The more we tell ourselves we are something and act accordingly, the more we’ll solidify that reality in our brain. If you pour your energy into being happy, loving, and a good friend, it will become part of your standard behaviour.

“When our brains get stuck in a pattern that focuses on stress, negativity, and failure, we set ourselves up to fail.” – Shawn Achor

If you had to fill in the blank for the following phrase, what would you write? “I am _________.”

Hopefully you wrote something positive or even neutral there. If you wrote something negative about yourself, ask what you are doing to your psyche. Whatever you said after “I am” will follow you, and you’ve probably already convinced your brain that that’s your reality.

Can we reverse our bad habits and change? Of course, and the secret to change may lie in gratitude.

An exercise that can greatly increase the quality of your life is to practice being more grateful. When you wake up, tell yourself three things you are grateful for. It can be anything, and the things can change each day. Do the same thing right before you lay down to go to sleep. The more you do this more you’ll start seeing the positive in everything. Not only can it make you happier, but it can even make you healthier:

“Countless studies have shown that consistently grateful people are more energetic, emotionally intelligent, forgiving, and less likely to be depressed, anxious, or lonely. And it’s not that people are only grateful because they are happier, either; gratitude has been proven to be a significant cause of positive outcomes. When researchers pick random volunteers and train them to be more grateful over a period of a few weeks, they become happier and more optimistic, feel more socially connected, enjoy better quality sleep, and even experience fewer headaches than control groups.” – Shawn Achor, from his book The Happiness Advantage

I challenge you to meditate and practice gratefulness for the next 21 days, and I guarantee the quality of your life will vastly improve. Life is too precious to waste another minute.