Dr. Michael Merzenich, a professor at the University of California at San Francisco, has studied a phenomena that has long puzzled us. If we can change, why don't we? Just like a rat who has maneuvered a maze 100 times, you have habits that have driven changes into your brain. Even when those habits are not fulfilling, it is still very difficult for the average person to change them.
Make no mistake, when you learn a skill it really does change, or distort, your brain. Dr. Merzenich says that a highly skilled specialist, such as a surgeon or musician, has pathways in their brain that show up on an MRI while they are performing. A trumpet player, for example, has enlarged representations in their brains for the areas that control their lips, breathing, and fingers.
You, too, have thousands of pathways you've carved into your brain to accommodate the tasks you've formed into habits. These habits can range from beneficial ones, such as exercising daily, to ruinous ones, such as smoking. Can you guess what habit of yours, however, about which I am most concerned?
I'll give you three guesses. And the first two don't count.
Of course, I am most concerned about the pathways you've created for your seriousness. You can easily identify them. Any time you feel stressed and unhappy you're following an ingrained path of seriousness that you created in your brain through years of repetition.
Don't feel bad; you're not alone. You're brain's pathways to seriousness were forged, just like mine, by well-intentioned parents, teachers, and other authority figures. These authority figures were only passing along what they had been taught - that becoming an adult means learning to get serious.
Your authority figures were only half-correct; becoming an adult means learning to take your responsibilities seriously. But not yourself! Taking yourself seriously leads to high levels of stress. And stress is not only responsible for 80% of your doctor's visits, but it is also the foundation for almost every physical ailment or condition that bothers you.
You already know that seriousness caused stress and that stress is killing you. So how can you change that? How can you escape the permanent quest for happiness that you never quite achieve? How can you return to the life of resiliency, vitality, health, and energy that you knew so well as a child?
Dr. Merzenich offers a solution for us that I endorse wholeheartedly: we must continue learning. As children, we are constantly involved in behavior-based learning, but somewhere as an adult we begin to trade being active for learning. This universal tendency to stop active learning is what creates the myth that our brains are hardwired as a child and then difficult to change later.
It's not difficult to change our behaviors and habits as we're older, we just don't do it! Dr. Merzenich recommends studying a new foreign language or learning to play a new musical instrument each year, just to continue building the neural pathways as in our childhood. I don't disagree, but first I want you to immerse yourself in The Fun Factor and build new pathways of fun, happiness, health, and vitality to replace your pathways of seriousness.
Like musicians, you'll soon have new enlarged and distorted areas of your brain. Except the areas will be those associated with happiness, joy, and freedom - even under your toughest circumstances!
Next week I will tell you about some amazing research that changed the way people with life-threatening illnesses are treated. And I'll also tell you why reading this blog each and every week is so important for your health and happiness.
Cliff Kuhn, M.D.
The Laugh Doctor
The Natural Medicine of Humor
"Discover a unique, FREE, and incredibly powerful prescription created out of desperation by a (formerly) stressed-out Kentucky psychiatrist"
The Blog Directory
No comments:
Post a Comment