Neural changes happen when we shift our thought patterns. What’s amazing is that your brain actually creates new pathways for thinking, and the same old, same old ain’t the same no more. Start by learning to recognize what ways negative thinking keeps you repeating choices that don't serve you. Then ask yourself what thoughts would be more useful and try them on for size.


“Using the power of focused attention, along with the ability to apply commitment, hard work and dedication, to direct your choices and actions, you can thereby rewire your brain to work for you and with your true self. “

By Ann C.Holm, MS ACC CCC.
Re-posted from post on Thursday, March 21, 2013 by International Coach Federation

Your brain changes all of the time. What was once described merely as learning now has a neuro- label: neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity is notion that mental experiences and mindfulness can change the actual structure and function of the brain. The idea of neuroplasticity is good news because it means we can change and grow up until our very last days of existence. It can also be bad news if we don’t attempt to direct our brain toward experiences that will change our brain for the better.

There are at least three ways that the neuroplasticity process occurs:

One way neuroplastic change can take place, is when some sort of dampening down of the usual mind map occurs. So for example, if you were going to learn a new language, you would do well to eliminate as much use of the native language as possible so the new language can build resilient neuro-connections in the brain. The brain doesn’t like competing stimuli. That is why language immersion programs seem to work. Basically you direct your efforts toward a new behavior while resisting the use of an old, competing behavior.

Another way is to bring about can bring about neuroplastic changes in the brain is a mindful, goal-directed approach. Either through self-driven intent or the external guidance, the brain can adapt to the demands placed upon it. The result is resilient change. An example of this would be setting goals around becoming a more effective networker.  Ultimately networking begins to feel more natural because you have deliberately pushed yourself through the learning process via goal setting and the motivation to embrace the process of learning. Your brain changes as a result of this.

Finally, changes can take place in the brain as a result of passive learning experiences. This can either be positive or negative depending on what you are exposed to, but it is generally not goal directed or mindful. Human beings have a tendency to adapt to their current environment, whether positive or negative. It’s probably built into us for reasons of survival.  Unfortunately, this tendency can also derail us from our goals unless we deliberately pay attention to our environment. Are we surrounding ourselves by stimuli that support our vision?

I recently came across the term Self-Directed Neruoplasticity (You Are Not Your Brain, Jeffrey Schwartz 2011).  The author describes the term in this way:

“Using the power of focused attention, along with the ability to apply commitment, hard work and dedication, to direct your choices and actions, you can thereby rewire your brain to work for you and with your true self. “

Actively focusing attention on developing new healthy brain circuits is achieved by having a clear sense of goals and values. It is one of the best ways to get the most out of our capacity to adapt and change at the level of the brain via the wonderful gift of neuroplasticity.

Ann C.Holm, MS ACC CCC. Ann is an ICF certified coach with a lifelong interest in brain science. For 25 years, she coached brain injured clients toward cognitive recovery with an emphasis toward optimal functioning in the community.

I’d like to try out a new game with you. I call it, “What’s My Perspective”. It’s a simple exercise for recognizing how the way we look at a situation influences our experience of it. I give you a scenario and you guess my point of view. Ready to play?

Okay, here you go:

I’m driving around and around the parking lot at Whole Foods and I finally have my eye on someone heading to their car. They are taking their sweet time, so I start checking my text and before I know it, in swoops another car to MY spot. I get mad. It’s too late to even honk my horn. I stew, I steam, I pout and drive around some more thinking, grrrr, arrrrggghh, why does this always happen to me? What’s my perspective?

Finally, I get into the store and they are out of the one thing I really had to get. Since I’m here anyway I pick up a few others items, a couple of apples, an avocado, some hummus, chocolate, a bottle of tea and head for the line. All of them are long, so I go to the express line, where there are only 4 people ahead of me. They are chatting each other up while I’m tapping my foot thinking about where I have to be in 10 minutes and looking at the clock wishing it would turn backwards just for me. Then the gal at the front starts arguing and fussing with the clerk because she wants to write a check. I think I’m going to pull my hair out. What’s my perspective?

Okay, so nobody died, no one got hurt and I get back to my car. As I open the door, I drop my bag of stuff, spilling it all on the ground, watching as my apples roll over the curb and my avocado turn into guacamole. Two young children, a boy and a girl, about 6 and 8, come rushing over, bending down with me, catching the apples from under the car wheels then looking at me with concern. The boy picks up my very sad looking avocado, hands it to me and we all start to laugh. What’s my perspective?

Bottom line? Everything involves choice. Some, we are more aware of than others, especially when it comes to things landing in to the  sh--t happens category. The good news is when things do, we can choose how we want to look at them. What perspective are we in? What point of view will serve us best as we go through the rest of our day? I don’t know about you, but getting pissed off, defeated, mad at myself and everyone else, doesn’t work out so well. But laughing at the absurdity of my own self-made misfortune feels a whole lot better. When I realign my point of view, I can see a bigger picture. Things aren't just happening to me and I have other choices available that look more inviting.

Some perspectives masquerade as long held beliefs and that's when it's really hard to tell the forest from the trees. Recognizing that you are even locked into a particular way of viewing things can be a challenge when it simply is your "truth". So try playing a game with it and see what you notice. What perspectives aren’t working for you? What is another one that would give you more of what you really want to experience? Now it’s your turn to play.