Have you found happiness yet? Trick question – there is no such thing as finding happiness. Before modern civilization, our brains were trained to scan the environment for danger to help us survive. Since then, we have evolved into sophisticated beings; however, our brains still work the same. This means that our default state is prone to anxiety and fear because our brains are constantly searching for it. What does this mean for those looking for the secret to happiness? Learn to train your brain!
Neuroplasticity in the Brain
The good news about your brain is that what you are born with is not necessarily what you are stuck with. It is possible to train the neural pathways in your brain. This means that we can teach ourselves to think more positively. How is this possible? Thanks to something called neuroplasticity, the brain has the ability to form and reorganize synaptic connections in response to learning or experience. Examples of neuroplasticity include learning a new language, practicing music or memorizing a map. Neuroplasticity is both good and bad, because even though it is the reason we are capable of growing and evolving our brains, it is also the reason that trauma can severely alter our brain chemistry. The younger an individual is, the more malleable the brain is – that is why the first few years of development are so important.
How To Train Your Brain
So how can we use neuroplasticity to our advantage? We need to build new neural pathways while reinforcing the positive pathways that already exist and weakening the ones that do not serve us. The more we use a particular neural pathway, the stronger it becomes. Picture yourself walking across a bridge. The more times you walk across it, deepening the footprints each time, the more reinforced the path will be. Eventually, the neuropathway will become strengthened into a habit. Therefore, the more you allow yourself to think negatively, the easier it will be to have negative thoughts. On the flip side – if you put conscious effort into thinking positive thoughts, the more you strengthen the positive neural pathways and the easier it will be to think positively!
Neurons That Fire Together, Wire Together
Scientists have a term used to describe this phenomenon. The term is “use-dependent cortical reorganization”. This means that we strengthen the neural pathways we use most often, or a saying you may be familiar with – neurons that fire together, wire together. Training the brain does not sound easy and that is because it’s not. But once you learn to train your brain, the results can be amazing. Like anything worth doing in life – it takes effort and consistency to see results. So remember, no matter how bad things may seem or how down you feel, there is always the opportunity to take that energy and put it into training neural pathways and working towards happiness!
