Be your own Neuroplastic Surgeon
I wrote a recent post “If Pain persists BE your own Doctor”.
This one could be “If you are stuck BE your own Neuroplastic Surgeon”.
To live a brilliant life you don’t need understand the brain at the level of a Neuroscientist like Michael Merzenich. But you would be foolish to ignore his message.
And that is that change is very much under your control. You can learn to change your brain and therefore your life.
Inside your skull you have something which is extraordinarily precious AND has a built in capacity to make your life better – happier, stronger, healthier.
Why would it have this capacity if not to utilise it?
It’s worth pondering that biological fact. Your brain has the capacity to change. You can learn to walk and speak because you have the built in capacity. You have the capacity to speak several languages but you might not want to. But you could.
Another built in capacity you have is to make changes in your brain. You can take charge of this process. You may not want to but you could. But unlike speaking another language, once we learn how to change our own brain then a world of opportunity opens up to us.
Regardless of what your beliefs are about how the brain got that ability to change, the truth is that your brain can change and you have the capacity to change it.
It is built for change. You are built for change. We can all get into a rut. Life, circumstance or age can put us into a stuck state or a state of decline. But one of the most destructive concepts is the idea that you can’t change or that you are at the mercy of your past, your genes, your environment, your circumstance or your age. At any age and regardless of your past. You can change.
When you believe you can’t change you are ignoring that your brain is built for it. When you understand just how influential the brain is in who you are and how you experience the world, you begin to understand why Neuroplascitiy is regarded as one of the greatest breakthroughs in the last 300years.
You can learn to be your own Neuroplastic Surgeon.
Below is a video from Micheal Merzenich. He is such a powerful voice for Brain Plasticity because of his passionate understanding of these concepts and their implications.