Repetition Causes Growth

• Brain States
• neurons
• neuroplasticity
• Stress

The simple summary statement is that the more a brain area is used, the larger it becomes – for better or for worse. 

Just think of the power and the capacity we have to actually change our brain and therefore, to change who we are.  It all depends on what we repeat.  We become what we practice, repetition after repetition.
 
In 1990, Michael Merzenich and William Jenkins published a study looking at the regions of the brain that received input from the hand, specifically from the fingers of monkeys.  Several monkeys were trained to hold their hands so that a spinning disk touched the tips of their second and third fingers.  They were rewarded for keeping their fingers there for several hours a day over a period of several weeks.  The result was the regions of the brain attributed to the tactile sensation of the second and third fingers increased and there was often shifting in the borders of each of the regions that represent the digits. Click here to be taken to a copy of the abstract for this article. 
 
 
 
 
 
This change in the brain is known as use-dependent cortical reorganization.  Basically, it means that the brain changes depending on how it is utilized.  People who are blind do not have an area of the brain for vision.  Instead they have a very large area for their fingers because of the use from reading Braille and feeling everything.  People who are deaf do not have an area of the brain for hearing.  Instead they have a very large area for their eyes and vision because they use that sense very intensely and frequently.
 
Therefore, the map that the brain has for the body changes depending on what the body is doing.  The same can be said for emotional states, stress, thought processes, etc.  Therefore, if we are depressed and stay that way, our brain grows in depression.  If we are in a state of happiness, our brain grows in happiness.  If we are STRESSED OUT, our brain grows in stress.  If we are joyful, our brain grows in joy.  If we repeat negative thoughts, our brain grows in negativity.  If we repeat positive thoughts, our brain grows in positivity.
 
So, this week, I encourage each of us to go out and grow our brain.  Just remember to grow it the way we want it to be grown – in happiness, joy and positivity.  All it takes is using the tools of EBT.  More to come next week.