Secrets of self-programming for success from a neurophysiologist

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-02 00:56

John Arden, a neurophysiologist and a physician with extensive experience, explains how we can use our knowledge of neurophysiology to improve our mood, relieve anxiety and experience joy more often. His advice is based on the latest advances in science and evidence-based medicine. We bring to your attention 20 quotes from the scientist's books.

"Try to pretend you're happy."

1. By smiling and frowning, you send a signal to the subcortical regions or cortex that coincides with happy or sad feelings. So try to pretend that you are happy - it will help you feel better!

2. By constantly focusing on opportunities instead of limitations, you can rewire your brain. When you start focusing on the possibilities, new connections between neurons will form in the brain instead of using habitual connections that reinforce negative emotions.

3. It is necessary to resist the temptation to avoid unpleasant situations, even if it seems like it would be better. I call this principle overcoming the paradox. Overcoming the paradox implies that one meets fear face to face. Instead of avoiding, he openly goes to meet him. By deliberately placing oneself in not entirely comfortable situations, a person gets used to them, and his feelings of anxiety and discomfort gradually decrease.

4. The essence of these methods is an interesting paradox of pain responses: instead of trying not to think about it, the challenge is to accept it. This may sound strange. Why try to accept pain? Wouldn't that lead to an even sharper feeling of pain? The answer is no, the pain will decrease. Mindfulness practice changes the way the brain works and raises the pain threshold. By observing and accepting pain, you paradoxically distance yourself from the degree of its intensity.

5. If a person tends to be in a certain mood more often, we can say that this mood shapes his perception of all events. This is the basic emotional background, the default mood, the center of attraction in his life. Most of what happens in life is based on this and revolves around it.

6. Try to maintain the emotional attitude in which you want to remain always as long as possible, so that in the end it will start to work out for you easily and naturally.

   The more often you purposefully induce a certain state of mind, such as calmness or hope, the more likely it is that the state will become a habit. The more often the neurons responsible for this state are activated, the easier it will be to call this state again and fix it into a habit.

7. If sadness, depression, or anger is a constant emotional state of a person, then it looks like a broken record. The player's needle hits a scratch on the surface of the record, and the same musical phrase begins to play endlessly. This is the essence of the expression "sounds like a worn-out record." To stop repeating the song, you need to lift the needle and move it several grooves. If a person is plunged into a state of despondency, sadness or anger, he needs to find a way to "move the needle."

8. If you focus on what something is not, you block the perception of what it really is. In this case, you are guided by a negative coordinate system.

9. Suppose you are expecting some specific result, but everything turns out differently. Instead of assessing the current situation, you are fixated on the fact that things didn’t work out the way you hoped. This dilemma resembles a phenomenon called cognitive dissonance in psychology: with an already formed opinion about something, it can be difficult to perceive another opinion on this score that does not coincide with yours.

10. Recent studies have shown that the formation of new neurons - neurogenesis - takes place in the hippocampus. Previously, neurogenesis was considered impossible. The discovery of new neurons in the brain regions where the latest information is accumulated underscores the importance of training memory to rewire the brain.

11. In a state of stress, a significant part of the energy is spent on maintaining muscle tension, and therefore a person feels nervous and exhausted.

12. Another way to try to avoid anxiety, which in fact only increases it, is to try to tightly control your condition. The obsessive desire to control everything leads to avoidance. In an effort to control what is happening to avoid anxiety, you fall into the trap of constantly trying to anticipate the future, so as not to allow even the possibility of anxiety. In this case, avoidance behavior takes on a complex form. When you try to predict what might happen, you are preparing for a situation that may never happen.

13. Observing your experiences impartially, an interesting thing happens: the “chain of worry” dies down.

14. If you constantly complain about some troubles and failures, this not only makes you and those around you unhappy, but also negatively affects your ability to remember, because you are busy with useless business.

15. If you are prone to depression, you should activate the left frontal lobes by doing something constructive - this will help to change the constantly negative emotional background.

16. A negative attitude takes away any hope or expectation that you can handle an unpleasant situation. It sets you up for failure in advance, because it leaves no hope. If you are convinced that you are not capable of starting a new relationship, reformulate this attitude as follows: "I am a good person, and when people get to know me better, they understand it."

17. Changing attitudes is more of a challenge than reconfiguring automatic thoughts and beliefs. But when working at the same time to reformat personal beliefs, the two smaller levels can be harmonized to work effectively.

18. The more often a person talks about the events of his life in a certain manner, the stronger the neural connections that represent these thoughts become. Statements are either positive or negative. For example, if you keep saying, “This is difficult,” “I don’t know if I can get through it,” or “It won’t end well,” then it’s time to change the way you think.

19. If you develop an insatiable curiosity, any environment you find yourself in will become a source of new experiences and knowledge for you. An emotionally and intellectually rich environment stimulates the neuroplasticity property of the brain, while an environment devoid of these characteristics leads to degradation.
20. Ambition and curiosity play an important role in how efficiently the brain works. Developing these two qualities in yourself will help you to relate to life with energy and thirst.