Neuroplasticity - why is this important?

You have all probably seen models of the brain with areas in different colours and labeled emotions, sight, sex, emotion, hearing speech etc.

Well this is how neurologists used to believe things worked. The brain was hard wired to parts of the body(eyes, ears) or to emotions (anger, fear, sex) or to functions (speaking, walking). So if you had a stroke in the area that controlled speech, that was it. You either couldn’t talk, or you jumbled up your words, or you talked with a slur.

It was then noticed that in the young developing brain, flexibility did exist and the brain could to a limited extent move functions and lay down pathways. But beyond adolescence this stopped. What you had is what you got. Not only that, brain cells could not multiply like other cells, they just gradually died off. So you finished up with barely enough brain cells to fill a teaspoon.

So if your DNA and your childhood gave you a predisposition to anger - tough, that’s just how it is. You could take therapy to try and fight this, but it would be tough and your inner structure would resist the change.

Not an optimistic view, is it.

But in the late nineties, things started to change. Research showed that brain functions could move, that new brain cells were created from stem cells. At first the scientific establishment rejected this. Research papers were rejected time and again by the leading scientific journals. But bit by bit, the view changed.

We now know that thoughts and behaviour can actually stimulate and change the brain. New cell s can be formed around new areas of the brain that are carrying out new activities. New pathways can be laid down.

So the more you exercise and change your thinking, the more you can lay down these new areas and the more activity you can generate in the area of the brain controlling your behaviour. Even though it is in your DNA and your childhood, you can change it.

Exercises contained in the Anger to Angel book will help to stimulate new ways of thinking and dealing with your behaviour, and these will result in physical changes to the brain, making it more responsive and able to adapt. It will be capable of sending signals and impulses down the path you want, the path that avoids the anger response.

Remember, it is your brain, you are in charge of it and you can change it.

This is why neuroplasticity is important to us all.

Neuroplasticity

Firstly, apologies for not keeping this blog as up to date as I would wish. This will be remedied in the near future.

I have been looking at a recently published work by Sharon Begley, that holds out hope for us all. The basis of this work is that the brain is not hardwired, it is not set in stone so that we are stuck with what we have from adolescence onwards. If we train our minds and train our thinking, not only can we change our behaviour but we can change our brains, and intoriduce new pathways and flexibility.

Esoteric teachings have been saying this for thousands of years, now science is starting to agree.

More on this later.

Forgiveness

One of the things that fuels anger is our ability to hold on to things that have happened in the past. We can recall how people have upset us, have criticised us, have ignored us. These incidents can be etched so deeply in our memories that just recalling them can cause an increase in heart rate, blood pressure and anxiety.

But this, like every experience you have ever had is over. It exists only in your mind. “Ah”, you might say “but those things happened and I have a right to feel angry”. Well maybe you do, and maybe you have a right to feel many other things about this event as well. And what actually happened anyway? If you have ever looked at statements gathered by the police, you will soon realise how difficult it is to ever work out what exactly happened. If there are 10 witnesses, there will be 11 versions, one from each witness and one that the police compile.

So what really happenedin this event that causes so much anger? Well your feelings and emotions only happened in one place - inside your mind. Every experience you have ever had is over, and all that remains is what you hold on to, in fact nobody else will even be aware of it.

Is it that difficult to let go? It it that diffult just to say “I forgive you” and then move on? Why not give it a try?

Forgiveness is when you stop hoping for a better past.

Why does this keep happening?

Imagine this:

It is the day before a public holiday. At4 pm all the supermarkets close for the next three days. You know you have to get to the stores and get food and supplies in as it is quite some time since you did any shopping. You have friends and guests calling over the next few days and you want to make a good job of entertaining them.

There are a few jobs you need to complete at work and so you go into the office, well aware of the deadlines that you are going to have to keep. You get your jobs done, they take a little longer than you expected, and you keep remembering things that need sorting out. However you leave in time and set off home. You get back to your house, aware that time is pressing, but you have time to get showered and changed and get down to the supermarket. You make your list and set off.

At the store, things go well. You find all the things that you need, quickly and easily and set off to the check out with 10 to 15 minutes to spare. Surprisingly, the queues are not long. You get to the check out desk with minute to spare. The goods are packed in bags, you get your bill, search your pockets and realise that you have let your wallet at home. You have no money, no credit cards.

The queue builds up behind you as you explain to the clerk what has happened. You ask if you can leave your name and address details, take the shopping and come back and pay later. The clerk says, “Sorry, that is not possible.

As the store starts to close, and you realise there is no way that you can get you goods, ask yourself “How do you feel, NOW”. Focus fully on that feeling, and give a name to that emotion.

How do you feel: stupid, frustrated, angry with yourself, angry with the store, the clerk…. Why be angry with the clerk…how did he/she cause this?

Whilst it is still fresh in your mind, focus on that feeling again..because you will have felt this in the past and you will feel it again in the future.

There is a branch of therapy that makes the following important points about this feeling:

1. What you felt, that emotion, did nothing to solve your problem, no matter how fully you experienced it.

2. That feeling is one that you experience in a wide variety of stress situations.

3. The feeling that you have registered is one that was encouraged in you by your close family, whilst others were discouraged, probably before the age of seven.

4. The behaviour behind this is employed by you outside of conscious awareness as a means of manipulating your environment to experience this feeling, repeatedly.

Is this hard to believe and accept? Some people dismiss this as absurd or ridiculous. Some people become still and quiet at the start of some awareness. After all, you do have to answer the question “Why does this keep happening, to me”.

(For those that own the book or the course, refer to the section “Dealing with the past” in chapter 3 and also chapter 5.) (Thanks to Ian Stewart and Vann Joines for this particular exercise)

Meeting people for the first time

It is a wonderful ability of your brain, that once it recognises something, a sight, a sound, a feeling, it can categorise it and file it away so that it can quickly identify it in the future. If this were not so everyday tasks such as driving would be impossible. Imagine what life would be like if every-time you got into a car it was like driving on the other side of the road, in a foreign country.

But this ability can work against us. We do the same when we meet people that we know. We know what they look like, how they behave. We know whether we like them or not and so we do not have to give our attention to any of this. Do we?

So try this for one day. Everybody you meet, no matter how well you know them, imagine that you are meeting them for the very first time. Give them the same focus and attention that you would give to somebody that has just been introduced to you. Let go of all your likes and dislikes, good memories and bad memories…let them go. Just look at the person in front of you, and ask yourself..who is this person?

You may be surprised by what you discover …. about yourself and those that you think you know.

Random acts of kindness

I noticed this as a title on a Robbie Williams album. It caught my attention, because it was an exercise that we did as part of my training.

The idea came about from the fact that we all witness senseless acts of violence day by day; either on our televisions or often from personal experience. The question was asked, what is the opposite? The answer was “Random acts of kindness”. The idea is that every day you do an act of kindness for someone, for no reason at all except that you notice the opportunity. The person that you do this for does not even need to know who has done it.

The effect is quite striking, both on the recipient and for the person carrying out the action. Some people find this difficult to do, which is an interesting observation. But just think what a difference it could make to all of us if we did, each day, just one single act of kindness, at random…. for someone.

Anger and unborn children (Original posting 11/2/2007)

Recent research at Imperial College has found that the children of women who had had frequent and bitter rows or were subject to excessive abuse had children that scored correspondingly poorly in mental development tests at age 18 months. The same infants are more likely to be anxious and fearful than those born to women who had relaxed pregnancies. This is due to an unusually high level of cortisol in the womb in these situations. It is not yet known if these impairments carry into later life.
As you will know from reading the manual, the impact of the first seven years is crucial in determining how our lives will develop. This research now indicates that the impact of anger starts earlier than was thought.
I found this article to be a timely reminder of the importance of working on managing and controlling anger.
(Source: The Week 10/2/2007)

No need for sleepless nights (original posting 9/2/2007)

We have all experienced this at some time; for no reason you wake up in the early hours of the morning, your mind is working away on things that you would much rather forget and sleep is a million miles away.

The next time this happens to you, try this:
Just lay there for 15 minutes or so and just let the thoughts drift by. Then use the eye movement exercise described in chapter four. You will find that the thoughts just stop. My own experience of this is that after doing this I go into a very deep sleep.
Let me know how it works for you.

Some days just conspire against you(Original posting 4/2/2007)

Some days just conspire against you.
It was a cold, grey rainy day. I was looking after my son’s house for him, whilst he was away and I got a phone call to say water was running through the ceiling. Not really what I wanted to do with the day, but never mind. Out to the car - it had a flat tyre.
Once at the house the problem was quickly identified, a quick journey to the plumbers merchants and all would be well. It would have been if they had the part. Off to the next merchant, got the part and back to the house where I realised that along the way I had lost some leather gloves.
Started to fit the part only to find it was the wrong fitting. Back to the merchants, got the correct part but this time the journey back the house took four times as long as it was 5:00 pm on Friday on a dark wet January evening..
After quite a bit of cursing and swearing, the part was fitted. So we decided to cheer ourselves up a bit and go for something to eat. The first restaurant we chose was full to bursting with Friday night office workers. Rather than attempt to park the car again we walked through the rain to the next place.
It only took the waiter fifteen minutes to notice us and take us to one of the many empty tables (yes that should have been a warning). We ordered drinks, a large red wine and a mineral water(I had at least managed to negotiate the driving duties). A little while later two mineral waters arrived. The error was pointed out and the waitress went to get the correct drink. I saw the drink appear on the bar in the distance, but that was as far as it got. After a great deal of waving and asking various waiters to bring the drink over I decided to go and collect it myself.
I had decided on some comfort food and also had decided to keep it simple, just a steak and salad and home made chunky chips. The tired piece of meat, one lettuce leaf and frozen chips did not quite match the menu’s description.
I am sure you have all been at this point.Do you complain and hope they can improve, do you leave or do you eat up and pay up. Because it was getting late and we were so hungry we decided on the latter. I ordered some sauces to try and give the meal some flavour. After quite a while I saw the tray taken to the wrong table. I knew it was the wrong table as this couple were having desserts and coffee! Again after a lot of waving of arms I got up and retrieved the tray myself.
At this point the manager came over and asked if everything was OK, we pointed out that it was not OK, he said “oh” left the bill and walked away. The bill included a 10% “voluntary” service charge. We called the manager over, calmly and politely explained that we did not wish to volunteer for this, he said “oh”, changed the bill and walked away.
At the car park, the ticket machine would not read our parking ticket. We went back up three floors to the office and explained the problem. A young man took the ticket and said “well you creased it! It won’t work if you crease it”. Somehow I should have known it would all be my fault.
The problem with days like this is that they sneak up on you. The irritation level steadily builds and before you know it, it just spills out onto the person in front of you.
Many years ago I learnt a technique of stopping each action before starting the next one. What this means is, when a task is finished, you stop for just a few moments and let everything connected with that task go. If you wish you can use an anchor to clear the emotions. It takes less than a couple of seconds but means that you do not carry forward any feelings that are not useful for what you have to do next. This has now become something of a habit with me and is extremely useful because…..
Some days just conspire against you.

The emotional brain(Original posting 27/1/2007)

When anger erupts, it is the emotional brain that takes over, in fact it is a specific area of the brain - the amygdala. Because the amygdala is the brain’s alarm it has the power to override the prefrontal lobes (the areas that keep us calm) in a split second. Once the amygdala acts, people are unable to stop their actions. This is what happens when anger “just takes over”. This can at times serve a useful purpose, but for some can be a life destroying problem.
Learning to overcome the impulses that cause the amygdala to over react cannot be learned in just a class room setting. It is no use just having knowledge about the theory of anger management, this will not cause a change in behaviour. The areas that store this knowledge are too slow for these emotional responses.
The learning has to take place at a deeper level, that is why the exercises are so important. The theory satisfies the curiosity of the logical mind, the exercises actually carry out the necessary “rewiring”. As we build at a deeper level, at an emotional level with the building blocks that make up our emotional mind (seeing, hearing, feeling) we build up unconscious habits. When habits are well learned, they become the brains default neural circuitry. They become the brain’s automatic response.
Do not skip over the exercises. They are the vital component that will actually bring about change.