BRAIN TRAINING

Below are four important principles in brain training. Examples of these principles are included, providing practical exercises that you can engage in.

1. The more times you think a thought, the more dominant it becomes.

Every time you have a thought, a corresponding neural circuit is activated in the brain. Think of this neural circuit like a road. Every time this road is traveled, it becomes smoother and the speed limit is increased. Regular use leads to it becoming the default road—a dominant super highway—in the brain. Thoughts we use less frequently become like roads in disrepair; they are difficult to travel, with potholes, construction, and traffic jams. Again, the more times that we engage in a thought, the easier it is to access that thought, and the more likely we are to rely on it.

Take Away: 

Repetition is a key component to retraining the brain.

Examples of Application:

Ex. 1 - Once you have identified a true and adaptive thought (e.g., "all human beings have value and worth"), practice repeating this thought multiple times each day to strengthen it. Turn this adaptive thought into a “dominant road,” while letting some less helpful roads (e.g. “I am worthless because I keep failing”) fall into disuse. Set multiple alarms each day on your phone, or find some other reminder (e.g., every time you come to a stop light); then, use this reminder as a cue to repeat the adaptive thought.

Ex. 2 - Practice engaging in thankfulness and gratitude multiple times each day. Identify 10 different blessings, at least 3 times each day. With practice, thoughts and emotions of thankfulness, gratitude, and joy will develop dominance; they will become the default roads.

2. With repetition, explicit memory becomes implicit memory.

When you are first learning a skill, you must consciously think about it to engage in it. For example, when you first learned to drive a car, you had to consciously think to hit your car’s brake pedal when you saw a stop sign. This is the idea of “explicit memory”; it is a consciously engaged-in process. 

However, the more times you drove a car, you likely learned to automatically hit the brake without conscious thought. If you are listening to music and simultaneously thinking about some work stressor, you will hit the brake pedal, without a need for conscious thought, when you see a stop sign. It is automatic. This is the idea of “implicit memory.” Any thought or behavior that is repeated enough times will eventually become an “implicit memory” process; it will become a non-conscious habit. Once it is part of an implicit memory process, it takes less of the brain’s resources to do it. For example, the first time you try to ride a bike, you may not be able to talk to someone while doing it; trying to ride the bike takes up too much conscious thought. However, if you have been riding bikes for years, you may be able to easily talk with someone while balancing and peddling.

Take Away: 

We can create new effective habits, and free up brain resources, by repeating thoughts/behaviors until they become implicit memory processes—i.e., until they become automatic.

Examples of Application:

Ex. 1 - Practice slowing down your breathing, and extending your exhales, when experiencing distress (even when experiencing mild distress). Eventually, the activity will transfer to implicit memory. Just as a thermostat activates the air conditioner in a home when the temperature becomes too warm, your body will begin to automatically slow down its breathing when stress occurs—without you having to consciously think about it. Your body will become more self-regulating.

Ex. 2 - Repeat an adaptive statement each time you experience distress. For example, say mindfully and aloud, “I will focus on doing my best and surrender the rest” when experiencing distress (even for small stressors). Allow yourself to align your body with the statement and relax your muscles. If this is done regularly, you will develop a more automatic and habitual tendency to accept things outside of your control. It will be automatically activated when experiencing distress.

3. Areas of the brain that fire together, wire together.

If two areas of the brain are activated at the same time, a neural connection—a new “road”—is developed between those two areas of the brain. If, for example, you mindfully regularly engage in thoughts of gratitude before eating food, neural “roads” will develop between the neural circuits that involve eating and gratitude. That is, new neural circuits will develop connecting these areas within the brain. Moreover, the more times these circuits are activated, the more they will become the default “roads.”

Take Away: 

If we want two areas of the brain to be connected, we need to repetitively activate those two areas of the brain simultaneously.

Examples of Application:

Ex. 1 – Each time you experience a stressor or some sort of adversity, ask yourself: “How will I grow in wisdom, endurance, and character through this stressor?” After the trial has passed, reflect on how you did in fact grow from the experience. Journal about how you have benefitted. Over time, you will automatically see growth opportunities in adversity, rather than merely seeing yourself as a victim of undesirable circumstances. Your brain will start to correlate stress with personal growth.

Ex. 2 - Each time you overcome a difficult challenge, take a whiff of a particular essential oil while engaging in gratitude (note: the olfactory sense is strongly connected with memory). Use this particular essential oil only for this purpose. Your brain will begin to develop a strong neural connection between the aroma and the recurrent experience of overcoming challenges. Do this multiple times. Then, if a trial comes in life that has you feeling completely overwhelmed, use the essential oil while recalling past experiences of overcoming. Because of the neural connection, the aroma will make it easier for you to retrieve the memories, providing an increased sense of peace.

4. Painful memories tend to be very isolated in the brain. 

Typically, our most painful memories are highly isolated within the brain. They tend to be particularly isolated from resourceful and adaptive areas of our neocortex. The painful memories have very few “roads” to helpful areas of the brain. This means that when you are triggered (i.e. something reminds you of a painful memory) and experience an unpleasant feeling in the body (e.g. distress or anxiety), it may be very difficult to get those resourceful/adaptive areas of the brain to interact with the painful memory. For example, you may feel anxious when seeing a well-behaved dog due to one bad experience earlier in childhood. However, the resourceful and adaptive areas of the brain, which know this particular dog is safe, will have difficulty accessing the isolated area associated with the childhood memory. The two areas of the brain don’t have an easily-traveled “road” to each other; they are not communicating. If you talk with someone about the painful memory, you have already started to create a new road (i.e. areas of the brain that fire together wire together). If you are able to reflect on an adaptive and comforting truth, while thinking of the memory, another new “road” begins to develop. If you observe the distressed sensations in the body, without trying to resist them, other new “roads” are created in the brain. The memory becomes increasingly integrated. As the memory becomes more integrated, it has less negative impact on our present-day experiences. We are less likely to be triggered by new experiences.

Take Away: 

If we want to resolve painful memories, it is useful to develop more “roads” between those memories and other areas of our brain.

Examples of Application:

Ex. 1 - When you are experiencing distress, connected with a recurrent trigger (e.g. experiencing anxiety when seeing a dog), try the following: a) try to mindfully observe the sensations of distress in your body (e.g. in the torso), without resisting the sensations—just notice them; b) verbally describe the sensations in each area of the body (aloud if possible)—e.g. “I am feeling tightness in my chest.” This activity forces multiple areas of the brain to simultaneously activate, while the painful memory is also activated (note: even if a conscious memory/image of the past isn’t being remembered, the bodily components of the memory are still being activated). That is, you can use this exercise to build “new roads” and increase neural integration. Note: Do not complete this exercise with PTSD-level trauma, unless under the guidance of a licensed therapist; if this exercise is too difficult with a particular trigger, try finding an easier (i.e. less distressing) trigger to start with.

Ex. 2 - When you are experiencing distress, connected with a recurrent trigger (e.g. experiencing anxiety when seeing a dog), try the following: a) try to mindfully observe the sensations of the distress in your body (e.g. in the torso), without resisting the sensations—just notice them; b) while doing this, try to complete some basic math problems (e.g. 2+2=4, 4+4=8); c) after doing the math problems, but while still noticing the body sensations, try to name an animal for each letter of the alphabet. Again, this activity forces multiple areas of the brain to simultaneously activate, while parts of a painful memory are also activated. You can use this exercise to build “new roads” and increase neural integration. Note: Do not complete this exercise with PTSD-level trauma, unless under the guidance of a licensed therapist; if this exercise is too difficult with a particular trigger, try finding an easier (i.e. less distressing) trigger to start with.