Positive Neuroplasticity

Let’s start with hard science—every thought and experience you have changes your brain.

Just as you can never step in the same river twice, your brain is constantly changing on a microcellular level.  One of these changes relates to neuronal wiring, i.e.,  “Neurons that fire together wire together.”

When you have a thought or reaction, cells in your brain “fire” to communicate.

During neuronal firing, an activated brain cell (neuron) releases a minuscule amount of a neurotransmitter into the empty space around it.  On the other side of the empty space (the empty space is a “synapse”), other neurons are sitting around waiting for the signal that’s there’s neurotransmitter in the synapse.  When a second neuron perceives and uptakes the released neurotransmitter, those two neurons become more friendly.  Now that neurons A and B know each other, they are more sensitive to each other’s neuronal firings (communications) and they wire together.

The more neurons fire together and wire together, the more entrenched the pattern becomes.

Think of this neuronal momentum like a body of water—a small stream can easily dry up or be diverted.  But a large body of water, formed from many tributaries (think the mighty Mississippi River) is a force of its own.  Even smaller forces, given enough time, can entrench.

Over time, reinforced patterns elicit automatic responses, both mental and physical (think Pavlov’s dogs).

The downside is that without conscious mediation, you may automatically respond to stimuli in an overlearned way that is no longer adaptive (again—Pavlov’s dog’s responding to the bell ringing, even when dinner was not forthcoming).

If the trenches in your brain are formed by primarily positive reactions, your brain is primed to notice more positive events, appraise events more positively, and experience a positive sense of well being.  However, humans are hard wired to notice threats in the environment as a means of survival.  Many people selectively attend to the threats, and conflate problems with threats, which leads to overemphasis on the negatives and diminishment of the positives.

Positive neuroplasticity is about influencing your brain’s architecture by spending more time focusing on the positive.  And it works.

For “how to’s” on self-directed positive neuroplasticity, see my article on Positive Neuroplasticity, which includes useful worksheets.