I
often hear people describe themselves, "I am the kind of person who… "
or, "I am not a people person” etc. These seemingly off-the-cuff descriptions
suggest that they are resigned to not changing their self-perception –
regardless if it’s inaccurate or self-defeating.
Let's
look at the possibilities of using our experiences to positively shift our
self-perception – and retrain our brains. Have you seen the advertisements by
lumosity.com for brain exercises? Let me explain.
What
we often refer to when we describe or how we perceive in ourselves is based on
our own emotional reactions, the way we respond to adversity, and the kinds of
moods that we often inhabit. And these are differences that do exist among
people. They are part of an umbrella that are called ‘emotional styles’
[Richard J Davidson listed 6 of these in his book, The Emotional Life of Your
Brain: How its unique patterns affect the way you think, feel and live—and how
you can change them; and in Tara Bennett-Goleman's book, Emotional Alchemy, she
identified 10 emotional styles]. It's one of the things that gives a lot of
color to our life.
Neuroplasticity –
Science Based Medicine
Back
in the 1980’s, the Dalai Lama asked a group of world class neuroscientists (I
believe it was aired on PBS and sections of it are available on YouTube) if the mind could change
the brain.
It was a loaded question with deeper meaning. Does the brain direct us, or do
we direct the brain? Are we genuinely free? Or are we stuck with the way
genetics [Nature?] and early childhood [Nurture?] conditioning wired our
brains, with no real potential in our makeup for personal growth and spiritual
transformation. The latter was the answer the scientists gave the Dalai Lama.
They said the mind cannot change the brain.
However, Science was
Wrong.
It's
very difficult to admit, I know; being a trained scientist myself – I earned a
Ph D degree in Physics. Or, rather, the scientists were wrong at the time,
nearly 30 years ago; not the science. Breakthroughs in research have now proved
that the brain responds to the mind. Mental practice can take a few high level
neurons and build it into a humming network, providing you with the brain power
to produce optimal results in whatever you pursue. The term given to this
wonderful neurological property is neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity just might
be a most powerful asset for the humanity.
Seek Experiences
That Positively Reshape Your Brain
Sometimes
the variations in our perceptions can be uncomfortable. They can result in
suffering. These are all variations we know to be associated with particular
brain circuits. The idea of neuroplasticity is simply that the brain changes in
response to experience.
It
changes in response to our actions.
It
changes in our response to our relationships.
It
changes in our response to specific training.
These
activities will shape the brain, and we can take advantage of neuroplasticity
and actually play a more intentional role in shaping our own brains in ways that
may be health promoting, and ways that can cultivate well being.
It Even Works
Through Imagination
Neuroplasticity
even works through imagination to learn, build, and strengthen difficult
skill-sets. I am sure, you are well aware of the research with visualization
and the basketball training. The results were astounding. There was significant
improvement on the group that only visualized; they were almost as good as the
guys who actually practiced. The bottom line is that the mind can change the
brain; and is widely used in sports coaching. Did you watch the movie (based on
real life story), Peaceful Warrior?
You Can Teach Old
Dogs New Tricks
The
adage that you can’t teach old dogs new tricks does not apply to the brain. The
brain is quick to organize around changes we want to affect when we practice
consistently. When we do, neuroplasticity makes changes quickly.
- It takes about 10 weeks for mindfulness therapy to change the brain in obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).
- It takes about 8 weeks of cognitive therapy to change the brain in depression.
- It takes about 8 weeks of mindfulness-based stress reduction to shift the prefrontal cortical activity from right to left.
- It takes about 10 days of constraint induced therapy to rebuild the motor cortex in stroke victims and restore significant use of an arm that physicians once thought was irrevocably damaged.
- It takes less than one week of mentally practicing a five-finger piano exercise for the motor cortex to expand in support of the new skill.
- It takes just about 2 hours of engaging in a video game to actually structurally build new neural networks in your brain.
Some
of the problems, such as stroke damage and obsessive compulsive disorder, were
once considered incurable. Yet the power of neuroplasticity is in generating
significant progress in these cases and in a relatively short period of time.
If neuroplasticity is this effective in extreme situations, how much more can
it do to transform a brain wired for stress?
It’s
amazing how dynamic these changes can be. That underscores how extraordinarily
dynamic our brains are, constantly being shaped this way and that way. Most of
the time we are not aware of how our brains are being shaped by the forces
around us.
The
most recent research indicates that many of these different mechanisms of
neuroplasticity persist for the entire lifespan, and one of the most important
mechanisms of plasticity is the growth of actual new brain cells. That happens
throughout life, until our last day. Those cells play a very important role in
plasticity.
It
all comes back to practice. Through practice, we can construct a new autopilot
that is wired for a calmer, clearer, more fiercely alive intelligence that can
do anything we set our minds to.
NOTE:
To those of you who are interested in finding more details of what I summarized
above of the scientific results, here is a video talk on: Transform Your Mind,
Change Your Brain
I
must caution that this is a highly scholarly talk but, Prof. Richard J.
Davidson will explore recent scientific research on the neuroscience of
positive human qualities and how they can be cultivated through contemplative
practice. Distinctions among different forms of contemplative practices will be
introduced and they will be shown to have different neural and behavioral
consequences, as well as important consequences for physical health in both
long-term and novice practitioners. New research also shows that
meditation-based interventions delivered online can produce behavioral and
neural changes. Collectively, this body of research indicates that we can
cultivate adaptive neural changes and strengthen positive human qualities
through systematic mental practice.
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