You can change your brain for the better or worse by changing your thoughts!
The power of positive thinking now has scientific proof! Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz is a research professor of psychiatry at UCLA School of Medicine. He is a pioneer in using scans of the brain and shows that changing habitual negative thoughts to habitual positive thoughts can change the structure of the areas of the brain where thoughts occur! His research shows that there are “happy” and “sad” centers in your brain and the good news is that you can affect whether and how much they grow!
You can be in control! You can change the very structure of your brain!
Dr. Schwartz’s studies show a clear decrease in size in the area of the brain that was previously “infected” with negative thoughts. The “worry circuit”, with the re-balance of the prefrontal cortex shrinks after 10 weeks of therapy with no medication. This therapy teaches people to learn to convince themselves “This is not me, it’s a neuronal glitch. I don’t have to pay attention to it”, the patients were able to shrink the worry center in their brains. These new treatments are based on our thought power and how our thoughts (our minds) can change the structure of the brain.
For 16 years now in Encinitas, and 25+ years before in France, we’ve witnessed these benefits on our clients! Neurofeedback and our personalized programs will help you do these structural changes efficiently, quickly, and effortlessly.
Have you thought that your efficiency and confidence in the future can be reinforced with neurofeedback brain training?
Mimi was dealing with Anxiety and depression. The “Reptilian” part of her brain was far too active (more than 55% of the whole brain activity). When Mimi came to us she was feeling hopeless. She said: “I knew I had to do something, this was not a good example for my kids.”
After a tailored brain training program we created to respond to her brain‘s needs, the very structure of her brain changed. When she left us she could keep hope despite all types of confrontational situations and it is still the case today after 3 years. Today she is confident, and this enables her to cope efficiently with whatever the Every-Day life turns out to be.
HOW TO DO IT BY YOURSELF IN YOUR BRAIN?
Your belief effect. This changing effect in your brain depends upon how much you believe in your own power to change your brain.
Why we don’t yet have the technology to measure exactly what this “mental force” is, scientists and researchers believe your mind sends
neurochemical text messages to the areas of your brain that are out of balance, saying “I believe my body-mind will heal, so heal!”
Doctors have long witnessed that those people who strongly believe they will heal, especially from illnesses like cancer and inflammatory disease, are more likely to heal. This belief effect is also powerful for imbalances in brain neurochemistry says Dr. William Sears, MD
Neurofeedback brain training is here if you have lost hope and if you don’t believe in your inner power anymore. Listen to Charles’ story who says that he didn’t believe in the program but did it because his wife has given him an ultimatum “You go there, you do it or we divorce”. Go to our program page and click on Mood and Depression and watch how a retired US Marine used InnerOptimal’s neurofeedback to beat PTSD, sleep issues, and depression.
YOU ARE WHAT YOU THINK
You certainly have heard the expression “You are what you eat”. This nutritional wisdom is true for the body and brain. What is also true for the brain is “you are what you think”.
Happy thoughts dispense happy chemicals, like serotonin; unhappy and worried thoughts close your happy-medicine pharmacy in your brain.
The benefits of positivity.
Doctors who specialize in preventive medicine have long known that people with a positive outlook on life tend to live longer and healthier lives. In other words, positivity promotes longevity. AND positive people are better able to self-regulate with stress management! Negativity promotes neurotoxicity and “bad” luck!
Look for the positive in your life! In other words, think carefully!
New insights into the neurochemistry of thought suggest that the “harder” you think about a thought, the more neurochemicals you produce, and the quicker and deeper the thought is stored in your memory bank, whether you want it to be or not!
Quickly trash a negative thought as soon as it enters your memory bank! Your goal is to erase toxic thoughts and file happy thoughts quickly and easily in permanent ink! The memory bank is where you want to deposit only pleasant memories into your growing happy-brain account. IN OTHER WORDS. You are not responsible for the thoughts that quickly go through your mind, but you are responsible if you nourish them, and mull them over and over! Neurofeedback is extremely efficient in erasing the emotional impact of traumas or any type of anxiety, worries, depression, sadness, or any kind of these negative thoughts. You will have deeper sleep and awaken refreshed and full of energy. Fatigue is linked to poor quality of sleep and stress.
9 TOP TIME-TESTED STRESSBUSTERS TO EMPOWER YOU AS PER DOCTORS*
1. IF YOU CAN’T CHANGE IT, DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT. Stress researchers studied a group of centenarians who not only live to be at least 100 years old but live healthily and happily. These centenarians reported their best medicine was “If I can’t change it, I don’t worry about it”.
Don’t overthink about things over which you have no control” said Dr. Gayl Hartnell, psychotherapist. And don’t dwell on “dumb” decisions. Beating yourself up by thinking “If only I had…” or “I should have …” not only robs your brain of energy it could be used to grow your happy center, but it also raises your stress hormones. The more you dwell, the larger your worry center grows. The more you try to trash those negative thoughts, the smaller your worry center becomes.
2. TRASH TOXIC THOUGHTS
You don’t always have control over the automatic negative thoughts coming in, BUT you do have control over what you let stick around. Shift to a happy thought as soon as you catch yourself being worried, feeling sad, hopeless… This is called redirecting your thinking! Making the habit of changing the way you think, changes the brain circuits, rewiring them in a positive direction. It puts different pathways in the brain. If you find this quite impossible, the good news is that our brain training tailored to your brain’s needs will make this easy, fast, and lasting.
3. TAKE A DEEP CLEANSING BREATH
Deep breathing increases the pleasure hormone, dopamine, and calms your mind by decreasing blood flow to the worry centers of the brain while increasing blood flow to the relaxing centers.
4. HAVE AN ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE
Gratitude is about being thankful and appreciating what you have and receive from others. One of the most powerful ways to get out of a “stress funk” is to focus your thoughts on the gifts that you have at this very moment. Start with simple things says Dr. Sears, “I have a roof over my head, food and water, and people who care about me. Slowly, you’ll shift from self-pity to serenity”. Being grateful for the things that are still working and focusing less on the parts that don’t are especially helpful as we age!
5. MANAGE ANGER BEFORE IT MANAGES YOU
See our previous blog post
6. MEDITATE MORE, AGITATE LESS
Why meditate?
- Meditation increases blood flow to the area of your brain devoted to relaxation and calmness.
- Meditation makes you more compassionate.
- Meditation makes happy hormones. It is medicine for your mind, and it also triggers levels of dopamine, which helps explain the sense of relaxation, happiness, and peacefulness that meditators experience. In addition, meditation lowers stress hormone levels. These drops in stress hormones and rises in calming hormones may also explain why meditators are better able to navigate healthfully through stressful situations and often make better decisions.
- Our brain training sessions are like a deep meditation that is often difficult to attain. Try one of our programs specific to your brain’s needs.
7. BELIEVE IN A “HIGHER POWER”
Neuroscientists and doctors have noticed that the deeper a person’s spiritual health, the happier their mental health. Look into this new science called neurotheology. Our world needs more spirituality. The more you get outside of yourself, the more you grow your empathy center.
WHAT HAPPENS IN YOUR BRAIN WHEN YOU ARE MORE SPIRITUALLY MINDED?
How growing your spiritual center balances stress! Brain scans suggest the hypothalamus, your brain’s air traffic controller, is an important spiritual center. Meditators who are also more spiritually minded, brain scans reveal, have a thalamus that redirects worrisome thoughts away from landing all over the brain, enabling you to “don’t worry, be happy”.
Another area of the brain that grows is the main “happy and social center” called the anterior cingulate. This is the area that promotes empathy and compassion, which makes us “feel” for other people.
Spiritual practices also quiet an overactive anxiety area in the amygdala, it is a stressbuster!
8. START YOUR DAY THE PEACEFUL WAY
Preload your day by starting your day with your favorite and most peaceful thoughts. The five-minute way to start your day, immediately after getting out of your bed, click into an “attitude of gratitude” mindset. Pick five things you are thankful for and start the day focused on them!
Let the sunshine brighten another day!
9. ENJOY THE HELPER’S HIGH
You turn up your feel-good neurohormones when you help someone get happier or healthier. One of the best ways to relieve your stress is to help others relieve their stress.
Formulate your peace recipe and invest in your mental health savings account!
And do not forget the good news, if you feel stuck, or hopeless, call us! Neurofeedback and our personalized programs are here for you to easily, effortlessly, and quickly reach your goals, and, results are lasting!
HAPPY SUMMER!
We recommend that you read William Sears, MD & Vincent M. Fortanasce, MD The Healthy Brain Book.
