Neural activity changes in accordance with mental activity
When your mind changes, your brain changes, too. In the saying from the work of the psychologist Donald Hebb: when neurons fire together, they wire together—mental activity actually creates new neural structures (Synaptic connections are strengthened or weakened through life experiences and frequency of use). “Mind” and”body” are not two seperate things, but are a mind-body unity. As a result, even fleeting thoughts and feelings can leave lasting marks on your brain, much like a spring shower can leave little trails on a hillside.
Conscious mental events are based on temporary coalitions of synapses that form and disperse—usually within seconds—like eddies in a stream. Neurons can also make lasting circuits, strengthening their connections to each other as a result of mental activity. For example, taxi drivers in London—whose job requires remembering lots of twisty streets—develop a larger hippocampus. As you become a happier person, the left frontal region of your brain becomes more active.
What flows through your mind sculpts your brain. Thus, you can use your mind to change your brain for the better. The mind and brain interact with each other so profoundly that they’re best understood as a single, co-dependent, mind/brain system. Ignorace of this is due to the mind-body dualism which has coloured Western thinking from Plato onwards, in which the immaterial and material aspects of the universe were thought of as separate and incompatible.
References
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Hanson, Rick. (2009). Buddha’s Brain The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom Chapter 1. The Self-Transforming Brain (p. 15). New Harbinger Publications: Oakland, CA.
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Mate, Gabor. (2010). In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts Close Encounters with Addiction Chapter 17. Their Brains Never Had a Chance (p. 227). Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.
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Type:🔴 Tags: Biology / Neuroscience / Neuropsychology Status:☀️