3 March 2021
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MY WELLNESS
Albertyn
Neuroplasticity & Creativity – our natural abilities! Youthful Living with Dr Arien van der Merwe
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europlasticity is all about the incredible ability of our brains to adapt to situations. We tend to think of our brains as static and unchangeable, but nothing could be further from the truth. Your brain is malleable like clay and the most exercise-able body part you have. You can learn to retrain and rewire your brain to serve you rather than hold you back – teaching an ‘old dog’ new tricks, so to speak, and realising all of your potential.
Our brain never ever stops learning, developing and changing because it constantly optimises itself, reorganising itself by transferring cognitive abilities from one lobe to the other, particularly as we age. Ultimately, you and your mind are the architect of your brain. When you change your beliefs, learn something new or become mindful of your habitual reactions to unpleasant emotions, you actually alter the neurochemistry and the structure of your brain. Neuroplasticity defined Neuroplasticity is the brain's inherent ability to form new neural connections throughout life, allowing the nerve cells in the brain and body to compensate for injury and disease while adjust-
ing their activities in response to new situations or to changes in their environment, leading to changes in behaviour, thinking and emotions. Neuroplasticity makes your brain extremely resilient and is the process by which all permanent learning takes place, such as learning to walk, drive, playing a musical instrument or mastering a different language. Neuroplasticity also enables people to recover from stroke, injury and birth abnormalities, overcome autism, ADHD, learning disabilities and other brain challenges, heal depression and addictions and reverse obsessive compulsive patterns. Use it or lose it Similar to resistance training and physical exercise building muscles, nerve cells in the brain are growing and cross linking with other neurons for better communication, through mental exercise and continuous learning. For new manifestations, new beliefs and attitudes – not rehashing old, often negative memories and traumatic experiences from the past and projecting these into the future – we have to retrain and refire our brains, change out of our comfort zones of neural networks stuck in old grooves (those that can still remember LP’s) to create a new physical reality for ourselves and to evolve into all we’re meant to be. There’s also such a thing as negative neuroplasticity (neurorigidity), where you keep on doing what you’ve always done, with the results you’ve always been getting – not the ones you actually want! If
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we want to experience positive neuroplasticity, the first step is a willingness to change, and that’s easier said than done, for human beings love things to stay the same; even if old behaviour patterns are not working, at least they’re familiar. Mind training The key to mind training is willingness to change. If you’re content to remain stuck in a rigid pattern, resisting change and insisting things stay the same, or saying to yourself that you’re too old to learn new things or develop new abilities, then neuroplasticity mind training is not for you. But by softening your mind and at least considering the possibility, a whole new world opens up to you! Once the willingness is there, the next step is focused attention to become aware of old behaviour patterns based on past memories with their accompanying emotional load. Then comes determination and diligence to change the old patterns and maintain overall brain health, remembering the 3P’s (practice, patience and perseverance) and the 1GNF (good-natured flexibility). Keep on practising, day after day, stumbling and falling and getting up until you find longer periods of peace, joy and happiness – the key ingredients for a brain to remain malleable. Cells that fire together, wire together: the more something is practised, the more connections are changed and made to include all elements of the experience (sensory information, movement, cognitive patterns). You can think of it as a new
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software program being formed for that particular behaviour, which allows it to be performed with remarkable facility and reliability over time. Remember when you started to drive and had to remember everything, then after a while it became completely automatic and easy? You practised and finally it became a known and automatic software program. Problem is we do the same thing with programs that don’t serve us any longer, and the challenge then is to change the old programming and relearn new programming. This takes determination and practice, and a willingness to keep exploring and challenging yourself. Whole brain function Brain training will allow both left and right sides of the brain to work together. Learning and practising activities that get us out of our comfort zones and force us to use both hemispheres, will help us to become more proficient at whole brain thinking, and from there to a mind that extends much wider than the physical brain. This will have a pay-it-forward effect on our bodies and the rest of our lives, while also inspiring others around us. To find out more about the brain training tools and techniques available to you to support and enhance your neuroplasticity, book now for Dr Arien’s seminar on Neuroplasticity at Fernkloof Botanical Hall on Friday 12 March, from 10:00 – 13:00. You’ll find all the details in the What’s On diary on P 6.
