Neuroplasticity Sheds Light On The Amazing Fertility Of The Older Mind – How The Brain Can Change Itself

Change happens when you make the effort and are motivated to learn. This conscious effort causes the brain to release the neurochemicals necessary to facilitate change. In other words, you have to have interest in what you are doing; it has to be something that you truly want and desire for yourself. The harder you try and the more motivated and the more alert you are, the greater that change will be.

Every single instance of learning strengthens and stabilizes the brain. So, every time your brain strengthens a connection to the mastery of a skill, it will also weaken connections to neurons that weren’t being used at that moment. This helps to change or erase some irrelevant or interfering activity within the brain.

It is important to remember that neuroplasticity is a two-way street. While you can wasily create positive changes, you can also create negative ones just as easily. This is important to keep in mind every time negative self-talk comes up or you tell yourself that you can’t do something. You are just convincing yourself that you can’t and your brain takes note of that, which means you’ll have to reprogram that belief system first in order to accomplish whatever you thought was impossible for yourself.

In 1993, John Basinger decided to memorize the 12 books, 10,565 lines, and 60,000 words that comprise the second edition of John Milton’s Paradise Lost. Nine years later, he achieved his goal, performing the poem from memory over a three-day period.

In some recent experiments, Dayna Touron from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro showed that adults aged 60 and over frequently underestimate the power of their own memories, and this lack of confidence — not lack of ability — prevents them from harnessing the full capacity of their minds.

In one study in particular, Touron’s participants were asked to compare a reference table of simple word pairings with a second list and then identify which words had not appeared on the original table. She saw that the older participants were more reluctant to rely on their memory and chose instead to cross reference the two tables, despite this method taking much longer. They seemed unsure of whether they could actually remember the pairs, so without even trying, opted for the more time consuming strategy.

This really goes to show that we are capable of anything, so long as we put our minds to it (no pun intended). Instead of just assuming that you won’t be able to do something, try believing in yourself, and then dedicating some time to it, and see how it goes. If you want something badly enough, you can and will achieve it. We are more powerful than we realize, and it’s time to start acting like it!

Much Love

About the Author


Hi, I’m Alanna! My journey really began in 2007 when I began to question what was being presented to me, my path led me to Collective Evolution and I joined the team in 2010. Wow, has it been an incredible journey so far! I am extremely passionate about learning new information! I aim to have a voice for animals and animal rights, I also enjoy writing about health, consciousness and I am very interested in psychedelics for healing purposes! I strongly believe that knowledge is power, and the first step to creating change on this planet is by raising awareness. “If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change.” -Jack Kornfield Questions or comments? Email me [email protected]

_________________________
Stillness in the Storm Editor’s note: Did you find a spelling error or grammar mistake? Do you think this article needs a correction or update? Or do you just have some feedback? Send us an email at [email protected] with the error, headline and url. Thank you for reading.