The Science Of It All…

The simplest way to change your life is to change your mind.

We’ve made incredible strides in brain and mind health over the last three decades. We now know that our brains are malleable - like plastic - meaning they can change and grow and regenerate over time in response to injury or experience. This development has led to one of the most encouraging scientific discoveries of our generation: when we change the way we think, we can rewire our brains and experience more joy as a result.

So how is this possible? Well, the latest neuroscience has shown that every human thought is a precisely timed electrical signal traveling through a complex circuit of nerve fibers called neurons. These thoughts are things – they have weight and mass and can be measured. We’ve also learned that the more we have a particular thought, the stronger it becomes - like a muscle, and the stronger it becomes, the more likely it is for us to have or use that thought circuit in the future. So what we think about and focus on, matters. A lot. When we begin to focus on creating stronger pathways for pleasant emotions like joy and happiness, they get stronger and begin to replace the older pathways for less desirable emotions like worry or sadness. This is how our beliefs, habits, and thought patterns are formed - our “defaults” if you will. So what we repeatedly do, think, or say becomes very important, because it essentially determines how we experience the world. 

When we have a thought, our brain releases chemical messages that travel through the body which result in what we experience as emotion. When we have a fearful or negative thought, the brain releases stress hormones like cortisol and epinephrine (aka adrenaline) to heighten our awareness or help us elude the real or perceived threat. This is our “flight” or flight” response. If we have a positive thought or rewarding experience, the brain releases chemicals messengers like dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin to make us feel good and help motivate us to pursue that thought, behavior, or experience again. The ordering of this thought-to-feeling process is important. Once we understand that the thought precedes the chemical message, and the chemical message determines the emotion we experience, we can begin to make the necessary changes in our thinking, therefore taking control of our biology and improving the quality of our life experience.