Today, I am Grateful For – Neurohacking Happiness

“Neurons that fire together, wire together.”

This quote by Canadian scientist Donald Hebb is talking about neuroplasticity—our brains ability to change shape over time.  This remarkable aspect of our physiology is only more remarkable by the fact that this change affects our mind and our experience of the life we live.

Let me take a quick step back and define the terms so we are clear moving forward. Your brain is a physical organ that processes information to determine your behavior. Your mind is the subjective experience of yourself and reality.

Our ability to change and adapt our brain and ultimately our experience at will gives us tremendous power and we must use it wisely.  This is called self-directed neuroplasticity and it puts us squarely in the driver’s seat.

So where are you headed?

Now that you are in control and driving, where are you going and what are you paying attention to along the way?  Are you annoyed at the stop signs or pausing to admire the sunset?  Do the twists and turns of the road allow you to lose yourself in the moment and appreciate the landscape or are you fretting about what you’ll have to do at the destination?

Attention is the key to Neurohacking

Whatever your attention is tuned into is what your brain is building neural substrates for.

From the article: How to Trick Your Brain for Happiness

“For example, if we rest our attention routinely on what we resent or regret—our hassles, our lousy roommate, what Jean-Paul Sartre called “hell” (other people)—then we’re going to build out the neural substrates of those thoughts and feelings.

On the other hand, if we rest our attention on the things for which we’re grateful, the blessings in our life—the wholesome qualities in ourselves and the world around us; the things we get done, most of which are fairly small yet they’re accomplishments nonetheless—then we build up very different neural substrates.”

From feedback from my clients, followers and subscribers, focus and attention was the number one challenge people were looking for help around, and it’s no wonder.  Our modern world with all its technological achievements has also brought with it a whole host of modern distractions that our brain hasn’t evolved to handle.

Neurohacking – We must take back control

The Foundational Guide to Neurohacking speaks to the many facets that make up our experience and gives you simple, and free, ways to take control over those aspects of your life.

From the neurohacking guide… (page 17)

Creating positive mental states, like practicing gratitude, new synapses in the brain form and strengthen. The key insight is that the brain and mind are continually in influencing each other. So, by getting control over how we direct our attention, we can use the mind to change the brain to change the mind for the better.

Some practical tips to get started along this path.

• Take some time throughout your day and remember to
• Pause the distractionsand actively think about and remember what you have in your life and what you are grateful for.
• Keep a notebook by your bedside and before you sleep each night take a few minutes to jot down the things you are grateful for in your life that happened to you that day.

These new habits you start today will be building and shaping your brain for years to come.  Create some healthy and life affirming habits today.

Source: Neurohacking Collective