Rewire your brain (Part 1) - Introduction

John Medina said, "what you do and learn in life physically changes what your brain looks like - it literally rewires it."

You are learning something new everyday. Whether it be a new skill, new way of doing something, discovering something you haven't encountered before, exploring a new area or meeting new people and learning about their lives and behaviors. This started from birth and will follow you through your adult years.

The plasticity of your brain is stronger as a child but remains plastic in your adult years. Your brain is not static or rigid thus keeps changing as it absorbs more information.

When you think, a chemical reaction occurs in your brain. The more you think, feel and act in the same way, the more it will stick.

So as your days increment, you add on to old behaviors, thought patterns, feelings and beliefs. You can cling to them subconsciously making you unaware of your behavior as it is a reflex - an automatic response.

Our brains become fragmented and filled with spam and malware which we need to defragment and clean up to keep our precious hardware safe. How about the idea of rewiring the way our brain works to change our behaviors so that we can live healthier lives.

I use the term healthier in the sense that we are able to get out of depression easier and cope better with anger, stress and anxiety. We let go of unhealthy behaviors. The idea is to make us healthier so that we can be more productive, approachable and calmer.

I don't think it's healthy being overly positive or overly negative. We need to balance the spectrum - yin and yang - synergy. That is why I prefer the term healthier over positive.

If you have ever tried to break a habit like smoking, drinking, biting your nails, whatever your flavor; you will know how hard it is. The idea behind this series of articles called Rewire Your Brain is to document and share some of the techniques and models available to help you successfully (hopefully) break bad habits and behaviors.

I want to get out of the victim role where there is blame and disadvantage and into the creator role where I use my circumstances to my advantage to control my present destiny.

I will be exploring concepts like activating neuro pathways, the Satir Change Model, Neuroplasticity and more. A lot of concepts overlap which deepens the ideas behind these techniques and models.

I have a deep personal interest in this topic as I desperately want to rewire my brain for a healthier approach to life. I do hope you benefit from this too.

References

• After watching this, your brain will not be the same, Lara Boyd at TEDxVancouver
• 5 Ways To Rewire Your Brain For Meaningful Life Changes, MindBodyGreen, Dr. Hilary Stokes