"I am a neuroplastic, and not just because I can do the splits" – Dr. Nedelya Shtonova

Focus on what matters.

And take action!

I am a neuroplastician. Not just because I can do a bridge and a split – both the male and female versions.

Because I believe that the human brain has the unlimited ability to change.

I believe it possesses the qualities of malleability. And plasticity.

Provided that a person wants to develop from within.

One of the most famous experts in the field of art, the Italian biographer, painter, architect, and writer from the Mannerist era – Giorgio Vasari, recounts that when Michelangelo was painting the Sistine Chapel, he built a system of scaffolding to the ceiling and worked flawlessly for 20 months under monstrous conditions and at exhausting rates. His uncomfortable position and constantly tilted-back head damaged his eyesight to such an extent that for 5 months afterward, he could only read and look at paintings normally in that "abnormal" posture.

In other words. After a full 20 months of work on the most famous ceiling in the world, the brain of the genius gifted with unprecedented drive and strength reinstalled itself to see in that position. Not to mention that, according to scientists from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, the anatomical structure of the human brain is encoded in the Sistine Chapel.

The brain as a status quo?

For a long time, neurological nihilism prevailed in the understanding of the brain and the treatment of various diseases – the brain cannot change its structure, and when brain cells are damaged, they do not recover. However, after a series of brilliant experiments, this dogma was rejected.

That is why I do not want to give priority to the illusion that the anatomy of the brain is immutable.

No. The brain can change its own structure and function. It can form new cells. And new synapses.

There are dividing cells in the brain that turn into new, functionally capable neurons. They can migrate to healthy or damaged areas. This has been proven with fluorescent markers. It is called neurogenesis. Such reorganization in the nervous system obeys the "use it or lose it" principle. This process is the basis of learning. And the basis of the chance to make all kinds of valuable metamorphoses in our lives.

Brain mapping

One day, somewhere in the 1930s, the man known as the creator of neuropsychology, Dr. Wilder Penfield, was walking in the gardens of the Montreal Neurological Institute. After 8 hours of open-brain surgery, he began to reconstruct it by testing and examining certain information-processing zones called brain maps. Dr. Penfield searched his memory for an answer to the question: "Where exactly in the brain are the activities of the various parts of the body represented and processed?"

And so, entirely consumed by the desire to work in the field of applied neurosurgery, he laid the foundations of brain mapping and strict localizationism. He discovered that the infrastructure of our brain is configured by specific maps, that our brains are built of sensory and motor maps, and that all information entering our brain from the senses is recorded and redistributed into mental and cortical circuits.

Every day, every moment, a battle is being fought in our brain. Millions of impulses bombard the central nervous system.

Incoming signals from the outside world fight and struggle for the brain's attention.
Experiences, the digital world, thoughts, movies, emotions, and behaviors change and shape it.

When we direct our consciousness to something, the information from that focus is recorded in the cortex of each cerebral hemisphere, because it is a precise recording device. And here the important question arises:

How do we develop a proper attention filter for the purpose of information hygiene and health literacy? And not squander this most precious resource – attention – on deforming ideas, people, and attitudes?

The answer lies in 3 beautiful words:

Focus – attention.

Action.

Neuroplasticity.

Neuroplasticity

The 1987 Nobel laureate, Gerald Edelman, who researched nervous activity, explains that every part of the brain the size of a matchstick head contains about a billion nerve connections that can be combined in so many ways that their number is described as infinite. Which is 10 followed by millions of zeros. Therefore, the process of neuroplasticity has a competitive essence at its core. Incoming stimuli from the outside world are in constant competition. And it is this competitive plasticity that explains why ingrained bad habits are so hard to break.

Neuroplasticity begins in the womb and continues until the very last moment, until the end of our lives... and before the grip of death.

Brain maps are extremely mobile and in a constant battle for territory; they compete for space. The market for "real estate" in the brain is constantly booming. However, regulation and urban brain planning only put new neural networks into operation if the stimulus is repeated long enough! And intensely enough!
When a project is new and young, it simply does not receive a building permit. And it cannot put the new idea into operation. Because the old housing stock owns the territory. It must be renovated. And this renovation is carried out by experience. And conscious efforts. If we are persistent, motivated, hardworking, and dedicated, by the power of will, we can achieve a new topographical reorganization. Let's see how this happens.

First example

We stop playing the cello or we stop speaking and practicing Chinese. What follows? It follows that we lose the space in the brain dedicated to this. There is the competitive nature of neuroplasticity. Areas in the brain that are inactive get taken over!
Use it or lose it.
Functionally insignificant, lazy, isolated, and unused zones are erased from the cadastral map.

Reluctance to put in more effort = you lose the corresponding brain territory.

You are motivated for change = you install new programs and conquer new brain territory. You copy new files over the old ones. And you get a building permit. You invest in a skyscraper of new, healthy actions and thoughts, and the new physical level of health creates a sense of vitality and happiness.

That is why do not delay taking action!

Our brain creates its own schemas and constantly strives to maintain them.
In response to repetitive activities, ideas, thoughts, and habits, our brain maps become increasingly stable and more firmly sealed.

Neuroplastic change occurs when the brain is focused, engaged, concentrated, and driven by strong emotion and motivation. Neuroplasticity reorganizes representations in the cortical space in such a way that every empty space in our brain is occupied – there is no unused cortical zone!

Second example

I start taking piano lessons. This intensive experience requires a multitude of sensory, motor, and cognitive skills. When we first sit down at the piano, our fingers do not dance with ease across the black-and-white keys. But after years of focused practice, the neural networks become faster, the track accelerates, the neurons in the engaged circular systems proliferate their dendrites, lending a hand to ever more distant brain regions. The neural networks organize themselves more and more clearly, and after many years of practice, you become a virtuoso.

You play Chopin – Fantaisie-Impromptu in C-sharp minor. Brain scans will reveal an expanded cortical map of the fingers, a larger volume of gray matter in the auditory region of the cortex, and will prove the presence of neurogenesis – the birth of new neurons. This brain will be less susceptible to age-related degeneration.
As the years go by and the more we use the same language, the more difficult it becomes to learn a second one. Why? Because in the cortical representation of our linguistic maps, this language dominates a large part of the cortical territory.

It is difficult to break a bad habit because it has occupied part of the brain's maps and prevents the space from being used in another, useful way.

The dominant maps that rule the territory smile with an aristocratic smirk at the novice idea and say to it:

– Hey you, new idea! Listen to me now, I understand how things work. If you want to occupy a large territory and be an "architectural highlight" in our brain landscape, you must train. Flawlessly. Regularly enough, and also intensively, to strengthen the new path! You must put in the effort. Systematically, dedicatedly, and with love.

Because the fundamental rule for brain plasticity is that when two areas begin to interact, to coexist together, they influence each other and form a new whole. With a new cognitive ease and connectivity.

When, for example, instinctive behavior starts to coexist with civilized action, these two neural networks begin to balance each other out. They create a new whole called sublimation.

Third example

I have an existing fixed bad habit, a destructive thought pattern, or behavior – overeating, smoking, drinking, laziness, staying up late, or maintaining toxic relationships with others. I decide to install a new, healthy change. I want to learn to forgive, not to live with resentment, and not to suffer. I begin working with purposeful mental effort and concentration, 30 minutes every day on the new thought and behavioral model.

And here, the surprise for the brain is a fact:

– Huh... – it says to itself – a new player has appeared for my resources?! A new competitor has appeared. It demands my attention, insists on my focus, takes from my energy!?

And the old schema slowly begins to lose its balance. Because a new pole appears that tries to balance the old neural network.

There is competition, there is an audience, a championship is looming...

Naturally, all of this happens slowly and requires a lot of time; it requires years.

But the work is worth it.

The integral essence of our brain is like that.
There are steps we can take to take advantage of neuroplasticity.
Successful people achieve their goals because of what they do.
Rituals, skills, thought, and behavioral models created over years utilize the ability of our mind to guide behavior toward autopilot. Routine procedures make the desired behavior automatic.
This high goal is associated with many positive health outcomes – better mental health, less depression, better sleep, self-acceptance, longevity, and a slowed rate of cognitive decline as the years go by.
Yes, pain and suffering are part of the flow of life. But in the majestic hall of our neuroplastic brain, we can install a new structure. An alternative one. A different one. But most importantly – a competitive one! A new associative trigger. It is something like an access code for the system's unit. And the key to creating a new map on the territory of the brain is this.

To keep our brain always ON. ON for constructive ideas. And to effectively redirect attention to healthy intentions. To expand the cascade of activity in the brain toward new, directed actions! To create charming new maps on the sanctuary called the cerebral cortex. And after some time, we will succeed in assembling a newer life with more beautiful contours.

As my colleague Stephen Kosslyn, a cognitive neuroscientist from Harvard, notes, there is a fundamental concept of reasoning, there are mental habits and reflexes that must be taught to all children and then reinforced by us as we grow up. When it comes to the redistribution of the brain's processing power, the race for the most precious resource – the focus of your attention – is won by the most trained neurons. Their circular systems are the fastest.

A person can have substantial experience with laziness, mania, doing cocaine, displeasure, hatred, helplessness, overeating, depression, sadness, pessimism. All of this reinforces the plastic change in the brain and traps behavior in an unchanging, destructive repetition. It is always like this with persistent bad habits. Trained neurons are activated very quickly, they group together, support each other, and process the decision for a specific behavior instantly. Fast neurons team up and quickly become strong team players.

Can we break them, however?

Yes!

By actively controlling the focus of your attention.

We train its stability, redistribution, and volume.

And we take action!

The focus of your attention is a priceless ally that shapes the quality of your life! Protect it, train it, take care of it.

It is a unique key that provides access to the higher floors of your Essence.