Neuroplasticity

Rewiring Your Mind: The Neuroscience Behind Self-Hypnosis We once believed that the adult brain is “hardwired” and that by adulthood it was a fully formed machine that could only decline as we grew older. Now, we know that to be completely untrue. Enter Neuroplasticity: the brain’s ability to rewire itself. Whether you want to take your productivity to the next level, get over a bad habit, or have better emotional control, you are not destined to live with the “factory settings” of your mind. You can, with a little work, rewire your brain and create a life that you love. Motivation: Brain Optimization for the Win Our brain is an efficiency-obsessed device that carves out “neural pathways” (picture forest footpaths that get more worn down with use) for everything we do on a regular basis. Problem: Our mental footpaths often lead us to procrastination, stress, and negative self-talk. Solution: Thanks to neuroplasticity, we can create new neural pathways and allow the old pathways we don’t want to fade away “in the undergrowth.” When you make a conscious effort to change your thoughts and actions, your gray matter is actually physically changing and rewiring itself. This translates into the ability to focus more, learn new things quicker, and a more optimistic outlook. Speed Bump: Rewiring can be slow Rewiring can happen on its own if you put enough focused effort in (practice “thought replacement” or old habits enough and you’ll eventually just “think new” without having to force it) but more often than not it feels like an uphill battle. Solution: Hypnotherapy Nope, hypnotherapy is not about “mind control” but rather about training your subconscious mind. This is the part of the brain that stores the habits, skills, beliefs and “neural pathways” that form our automatic routines. Here’s how it works: 1. Go around the “Critical Filter” We naturally resist change because our conscious mind is skeptical about any new data (e.g. “I am productive”) that goes against the mountains of “old data” we have stored. Hypnosis helps you get into a deeply relaxed state where your brain is highly “plastic” and therefore much more open to positive suggestions. 2. Visualization and Mental Rehearsal Your brain struggles to tell the difference between a real experience and one that is intensely imagined. The hypnotherapist will walk you through guided “mental rehearsals” of your desired outcome. This has the effect of strengthening the neural circuitry associated with your goals, and your brain will then be predisposed to your new goal even before you have physically acted towards it. 3. Emotional De-conditioning Old behaviors and bad habits stick to us because of the emotional charge they have. Hypnotherapy can help “unstick” the emotional energy from our past. Your new habits will then become a thousand times easier to develop in their place. Mini-labs: Exercises You Can Do at Home You don’t need a fancy lab coat to test out neuroplasticity. Here are three super-quick and easy exercises that will help you “switch up” your brain today. 1. The “Switch” Technique (Productivity Edition) Every time you feel an urge to procrastinate, take a deep breath, acknowledge the feeling, and then do a 2-minute “micro-task” like clearing your desk or sending a single email. Science: Interrupts the “procrastination loop” and gives your brain a tiny dose of dopamine for completing a task, which helps reinforce the “action” pathway. 2. Sensory Engagement Once a day do a routine task (brush your teeth, eat a meal) using your non-dominant hand. Science: Forces your brain to switch off “autopilot” and engage new motor and sensory circuits, helping to keep your brain’s neuroplasticity “muscles” limber. 3. 3:1 Positivity Ratio For every negative thought you have during the day, intentionally seek out 3 things that you are grateful for in that moment. Science: It’s in our nature to be more negative than positive (the “negativity bias”). This exercise helps dampen down the influence of the amygdala (the fear center) and strengthens the prefrontal cortex (the logic and happiness center). Take-Home Point: A Quick Flip can Change Everything Neuroplasticity is an amazing demonstration of just how much work in progress we all are. By taking a few daily actions and combining them with the deeper work that hypnotherapy can do on a subconscious level, you can rapidly speed up the journey between who you are and who you want to be. The time to start paving your new path is today.