So what are you going to train your brain to do?

Here's a nice overview of neuroplasticity and how we can change our brains to improve habits, skills, health, and much more. How are you going to mold your brain?

From "Our flexible friend" (The Guardian):

What was regarded as fringe science 40 years ago is currently at the cutting edge of neuroscience. With the right training, scientists now know the brain can reshape itself to work around dead and damaged areas, often with dramatic benefits. Therapies that exploit the brain's power to adapt have helped people overcome damage caused by strokes, depression, anxiety and learning disabilities, and may one day replace drugs for some of these conditions. Some studies suggest therapies that tap into the brain's neuroplasticity are already making a big difference. ...

The idea of brain plasticity has been discovered and forgotten many times over the centuries. The ancient Greeks accepted the idea, with Socrates believing that people could train their brains the way gymnasts train their bodies. Around the time of Galileo, the idea fell out of favour, as scientists

began to see the world mechanistically, with each object, organ and even parts of an organ being attributed well-defined, unchanging roles. It was these ideas that led to the notion of our brains being "hardwired", an idea that today is steadily being overturned.

...

In his book, [Norman] Doidge uses ideas of neuro-plasticity to promote ways of overcoming conditions such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, and other common problems, such as persistent worries and anxieties. In some instances, he suggests that people force themselves to do a rewarding task as soon as they get the urge to worry or check whether the stove is off for the seventh time. "You have a real civil war for four to six weeks, because your brain is pulling you one way and you are pushing in another, but when it works, it is very powerful," he says.

Doidge says he is not anti-medication, but wonders if therapies that tap into neuro-plasticity will soon replace drug treatments for certain conditions. "We can change our brains by sensing, imagining and acting in the world. It's economical and mostly low-tech, and I'm very, very hopeful".

Hope is certainly something I have grown in since learning how we can change our brains through effort and attention. Appreciate your neuro-Play-Doh.