Belief's are like a House of Cards

Belief's are like a House of Cards

Your belief system gives you a framework that helps you interpret and understand the experiences you face in life. A belief is something you accept as true, without question. That means you can expect that every day it will seem just as true as it was the day before. Your beliefs are deeply embedded in you, so you and particularly your team of protective inner selves, live your life around them, without thinking about them, questioning them or even being aware of them.

As part of your overall belief system you may, as a small child, have developed unbalanced or negative beliefs about yourself, that actually helped you ‘fit in’ to your family environment by making sense of things that happened to you, things that would otherwise be very hard for you to live with. For example if, a small child is constantly ignored or neglected, one of his or her beliefs might be ‘I am not worthwhile’.

If this belief helped that child fit into a negative and unbalanced family situation then it was what they needed to believe, even if it was not true. Without false beliefs like these, the child may well have been neglected even more. However, once the child takes on the false negative belief they find they adapt and inner selves are created to help them become more acceptable and so appear to ‘fit in’ better in their family. This reinforces the belief and makes it seem even more ‘true’. The more the selves react to protect us from that belief the more true it will seem.

The beliefs that helped you survive and fit into your childhood will have been unique for you and different from mine (unless the toughest things you and I had to cope with were very similar). If in childhood I was told I would always fail, a core belief might be ‘I can’t’. This helps me because it gives me a framework around which to survive, a ‘map of the world’ that helps me cope with life and plan my future. Now I know what to expect in life and I can start learning how best to ’fit into’ my unbalanced family system.

So our core beliefs as they took root in our first few years became a kind of summary of the most basic convictions we make up about our self-worth, the kind of person we are, what will become of us as a result, our place in the family and the world and how we can expect others to treat us all our life.

Core beliefs like these are supported by the primary inner self system. This means they grow stronger rather than weaker. One of the ways they often grow is by helping make sense of our worst childhood experiences in the only way a small child can, by telling us that what went wrong was essentially our fault. Even though this assumption was based on false information or false understandings set up in early childhood, it becomes more firmly established as you grow up. Today it may still shape and guide much of our life and the way we react to those around us. It also provides us with an unusual ‘gift’ in the way it motivates us to change our natural personality and adapt to become more like the person others want us to be.

These beliefs about yourself, which you hold on to so strongly also reflect your deepest vulnerability and pain and help to keep these locked within you.

Core beliefs resonate through your whole life

Your strongest inner selves, the polarised one-above ones, were created to help you live with your core beliefs but unfortunately while they were helping you live with a negative core belief these same selves in conjunction with your supporting beliefs were also making it seem as if that belief really must have been true.

Your locked in automatic repetitive behaviour patterns set up by your polarised selves certainly helped you cope with the pain of your unbalanced beliefs but they also created a binding situation. Learning to live with and constantly find better ways to cope with these false beliefs gave you no opportunity to discover ways to question them or to change them.

Instead what you and I learned for most of our life (so far) was simply how to "channel all our energy and resources towards dealing with these negative beliefs." (Nikki Nemerouf)

"Money, time, relationships, professional skills, family, everything has been reorganised so that it can be better used to distance me from my pain, my vulnerability and my fear of my negative beliefs getting any worse than they already are. In so doing I also distance myself from the love (or power or freedom or happiness or wealth or health or security or whatever it is) that I am so desperately seeking". (Nikki Nemerouf)

Your senses are so tied up, bound and distorted by the false belief that you literally cannot see the positive reality in front of you. You may even fight it when someone else tries to show you that these beliefs have a positive side, until you begin the process called balancing and transformation, as explained at the end of this section.

Almost every unbalanced or negative belief seems to be connected in some way with your deepest thoughts or feelings about being:

• not good enough (incompetent)

• not good enough (unlovable)

• unwanted, different

• defective, imperfect, bad

• powerless, one-below

• in danger, not safe

• don’t know, wrong

Within that broad belief pattern, however, are many different variations.

Whatever your unbalanced beliefs are, they help to define your unique and individual core issues and these in turn control the way your inner selves react when those issues are triggered. It's often been said that whatever your most negative core belief about yourself might be, that's the one your selves will tend most to "dance around".

There are hundreds of core issues and core beliefs, so you can expect that yours may be quite different from those held by the person next to you. Let’s look at four people who at first appear to have very similar issues and see how differently they react.

If ‘A’ has a not good enough belief ‘It’s always my fault’ then whenever ‘A’ thinks she has made a mistake she will react by doing too many favours for other people to ‘make up’ for it.

On the other hand, ‘B’ has a not good enough belief ‘I can’t get it right’. For B this may mean failing to make decisions out of fear of making a wrong one or doing nothing as the only sure way of avoiding rocking the boat.

Meanwhile ‘C’ has a not good enough belief ‘I am wrong’. He or she might become a ‘one-above’ school teacher or police officer so that they can spend their days correcting others who are wrong while avoiding looking at his or her own issues.

Finally there is ‘D’ whose not good enough belief is ‘I am a mistake’. Whichever way ‘D’ tries to deal with that false belief, will be connected to D’s deep seated feelings of shame. One way for the selves to block D’s shameful feelings is for them to help ‘D’ become very analytical or perhaps develop a strong ‘knower’ self that can argue convincingly to help prove that ‘D’ is never ‘mistaken’ about anything.

A second possibility is that ‘D’ turns to drugs or alcohol to hide the shame of being a mistake. Of course that only helps ‘D’ feel more of a mistake as explained in Section 5 on addictive cycles.


The good news is that of course these beliefs are not true. We just act as if they were. What to do about it?

See:  IDEAL PLan

See also IDEAL Network

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Copyright © John Nutting 1996 - - 2008 and © GROWING AWARENESS All rights reserved World Wide

Fear of Fear is the Goal

A common mental game challenge for athletes is the fear of failure. Fear of failure is a constant source of stress or anxiety and a huge barrier to an athletes’ mental game and performance. What is fear? In sports, fear commonly relates to the athlete’s perception of the significance of their performance and what they assume others (parents, coaches, teammates, and friends) think about their performance.
Fear is about avoiding poor results, and worrying about making mistakes before or during competition.

Athletes, who struggle with fear of failure, fear the negative consequences of a poor or less than perfect performance. Athletes worry about letting their team down, looking bad, disappointing a parent or coach and not performing up to the expectations of others. They also worry about things that are not under their control such as who their opponent is, or what field their playing on and most of this concern is unnecessary.

It’s not enough just to recognize that you have fear of failure before games or when competing. The key is to know what type of fear holds you back, so you can address your underlining sources of fear. Fear of failure often is related to what you assume others think about you, which we call social approval.

The following is a list of common types of fears athletes tell us they experience before and during competition:

• Fear of losing a match, game, or race – you badly want to win and are afraid you will not win.
• Fear of negative social evaluation – you fear others will view you as a failure in sports.
• Fear of embarrassment – you are afraid to embarrass yourself in front of others if you don’t perform well.
• Fear of letting others down – you do not want to let others down such as a coach, parent, or teammate.
• Fear of putting in the effort and not playing to your potential in games. You don’t want your hard work, talent and long practices to be for nothing.
• Fear of not performing up to others’ expectations – you worry about not meeting others’ expectations for you, such as a parent.
• Fear of being rejected, losing respect, or not gaining approval.
• Fear of making mistakes and not performing perfectly after having worked so hard at it.

Do any of the above fears sound familiar to you? The first step in managing your fear of failure is to understand the specific source of your fear so you can deal with it head on. For example, if you realize you’re afraid to let down your parents with a poor performance, the obvious solution is to learn how to play for yourself instead of others.










http://www.sportpsychologytoday.com/youth-sports-psychology/fear-of-failure/

Brain Activity changes When Viewing It's own Brain Activity

People control thoughts better when they see their brain activity: UBC study

As humans face increasing distractions in their personal and professional lives, University of British Columbia researchers have discovered that people can gain greater control over their thoughts with real-time brain feedback.

The study is the world's first investigation of how real-time functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging EEG Feedbackfrom the brain region responsible for higher-order thoughts, including introspection, affects our ability to control these thoughts. The researchers find that real-time brain feedback significantly improves people's ability to control their thoughts and effectively 'train their brains.'

"Just like athletes in training benefit from a coach's guidance, feedback from our brain can help us to be more aware of our thoughts," says co-author Prof. Kalina Christoff, UBC Dept. of Psychology. "Our findings suggest that the ability to control our thinking improves when we know how the corresponding area in our brain is behaving."

For the study, published the current issue of NeuroImage journal, participants performed tasks that either raised or lowered mental introspection in 30-second intervals over four six-minute sessions. EEG Feedback technology tracked real-time activity in the rostrolateral prefrontal cortex (RLPFC), the region of the brain involved with higher-order thoughts.

Participants with access to real-time EEG Feedback could see their RLPFC activity increase during introspection and decrease during non-introspective thoughts, such as mental tasks that focused on body sensations. These participants used the feedback to guide their thoughts, which significantly improved their ability to control their thoughts and successfully perform the mental tasks. In contrast, participants given inaccurate or no brain feedback did not achieve any improvement in brain regulation.

When participants saw their brain reacting to their thoughts, they knew whether they were performing the task well or poorly, and they could adjust their thoughts accordingly," says co-author Graeme McCaig, a graduate of UBC's Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering's Human Computer Interaction specialization. "As a result, participants who received the real-time feedback were able to focus on the mental task more consistently."

The study points to the possibility of improving our everyday lives through EEG Feedback-assisted advances in our ability to focus our minds on personal or professional matters, according to the research team, which includes Matt Dixon, Kamyar Keramatian and Irene Liu.

The findings also raise hope for clinical treatments of conditions that can benefit from improved awareness and regulation of one's thoughts, including depression, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorders, the researchers says. For example, with increased availability of EEG Feedback technology, real-time brain feedback represents a potentially important complement to feedback provided by a therapist or a patient's own self-monitoring ability.

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Learn more about UBC's Dept. of Psychology at www.psych.ubc.ca

Anger Can Go Viral, Happy people are Smarter

Memetics and Social Contagion,



"...social scientific research has largely confirmed the thesis that affect, attitudes, beliefs and behaviour can indeed spread through populations as if they were somehow infectious. Simple exposure sometimes appears to be a sufficient condition for social transmission to occur. This is the social contagion thesis; that sociocultural phenomena can spread through, and leap between, populations more like outbreaks of measels or chicken pox than through a process of rational choice."



Emotional contagion is considered one of the primary drivers of group/mob behavior, and the recent work on "mirror neurons" helps explain the underlying cause. But it's not just about groups. From a Cambridge University Press book:


"When we are talking to someone who is depressed it may make us feel depressed, whereas if we talk to someone who is feeling self-confident and buoyant we are likely to feel good about ourselves. This phenomenon, known as emotional contagion, is identified here, and compelling evidence for its affect is offered from a variety of disciplines - social and developmental psychology, history, cross-cultural psychology, experimental psychology, and psychopathology."



[For a business management perspective, see the Yale School of Management paper titled The Ripple Effect: Emotional Contagion In Groups]



Can any of us honestly say we haven't experienced emotional contagion? Even if we ourselves haven't felt our energy drain from being around a perpetually negative person, we've watched it happen to someone we care about. We've noticed a change in ourselves or our loved ones based on who we/they spend time with. We've all known at least one person who really did seem able to "light up the room with their smile," or another who could "kill the mood" without saying a word. We've all found ourselves drawn to some people and not others, based on how we felt around them, in ways we weren't able to articulate.
Happy People



The notion of "Happy People" was tossed around in the Robert-Lost-His-Mind posts as something ridiculous at best, dangerous at worst. One blogger equated "happy people" with "vacuous". The idea seems to be that "happy people" implies those who are oblivious to the realities of life, in a fantasy of their own creation, and without the ability to think critically. The science, however, suggests just the opposite.



Neuroscience has made a long, intense study of the brain's fear system--one of the oldest, most primitive parts of our brain. Anger and negativity usually stem from the anxiety and/or fear response in the brain, and one thing we know for sure--when the brain thinks its about to be eaten or smashed by a giant boulder, there's no time to stop and think! In many ways, fear/anger and the ability to think rationally and logically are almost mutually exclusive. Those who stopped to weigh the pros and cons of a flight-or-fight decision were eaten, and didn't pass on their afraid-yet-thoughtful genes. Many neuroscientists (and half the US population) believes that it is exactly this fear != rational thought that best explains the outcome of the last US presidential election... but I digress.



Happines is associated most heavily with the left (i.e. logical) side of the brain, while anger is associated with the right (emotional, non-logical) side of the brain. From a Society for Neuroscience article on Bliss and the Brain:



"Furthermore, studies suggest that certain people's ability to see life through rose-colored glasses links to a heightened left-sided brain function. A scrutiny of brain activity indicates that individuals with natural positive dispositions have trumped up activity in the left prefrontal cortex compared with their more negative counterparts.

 In other words, happy people are better able to think logically.


And apparently happier = healthier:


"Evidence suggests that the left-siders may better handle stressful events on a biological level. For example, studies show that they have a higher function of cells that help defend the body, known as natural killer cells, compared with individuals who have greater right side activity. Left-sided students who face a stressful exam have a smaller drop in their killer cells than right-siders. Other research indicates that generally left-siders may have lower levels of the stress hormone, cortisol."

And while we're dispelling the Happy=Vacuous myth, let's look at a couple more misperceptions:


"Happy people aren't critical."


"Happy people don't get angry."


"Happy people are obedient."


"Happy people can't be a disruptive force for change."


Hmmm... one of the world's leading experts in the art of happiness is the Dalai Lama, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. Just about everyone who hears him speak is struck by how, well, happy he is. How he can describe--with laughter--some of the most traumatizing events of his past. Talk about perspective...




But he is quite outspoken with his criticism of China. The thing is, he doesn't believe that criticism requires anger, or that being happy means you can't be a disruptive influence for good. On happiness, he has this to say:


"The fact that there is always a positive side to life is the one thing that gives me a lot of happiness. This world is not perfect. There are problems. But things like happiness and unhappiness are relative. Realizing this gives you hope."


And among the "happy people", there's Mahatma Gandhi, a force for change that included non-violent but oh-most-definitely-disobedient behavior. A few of my favorite Gandhi quotes:

In a gentle way, you can shake the world.

It has always been a mystery to me how men can feel themselves honoured by the humiliation of their fellow beings.

But then there's the argument that says "anger" is morally (and intellectually) superior to "happy". The American Psychological Association has this to say on anger:

"People who are easily angered generally have what some psychologists call a low tolerance for frustration, meaning simply that they feel that they should not have to be subjected to frustration, inconvenience, or annoyance. They can't take things in stride, and they're particularly infuriated if the situation seems somehow unjust: for example, being corrected for a minor mistake."


Of course it's still a myth that "happy people" don't get angry. Of course they do. Anger is often an appropriate response. But there's a Grand Canyon between a happy-person-who-gets-angry and an unhappy-angry-person. So yes, we get angry. Happiness is not our only emotion, it is simply the outlook we have chosen to cultivate because it is usually the most effective, thoughtful, healthy, and productive.

And there's this one we hear most often, especially in reference to comment moderation--"if you can't say whatever the hell you want to express your anger, you can't be authentic and honest." While that may be true, here's what the psychologists say:


"Psychologists now say that this is a dangerous myth. Some people use this theory as a license to hurt others. Research has found that "letting it rip" with anger actually escalates anger and aggression and does nothing to help you (or the person you're angry with) resolve the situation.


t's best to find out what it is that triggers your anger, and then to develop strategies to keep those triggers from tipping you over the edge."

And finally, another Ghandi quote:


"Be the change that you want to see in the world."

If the scientists are right, I might also add,

Be around the change you want to see in the world.

So, Robert's choice makes sense if he is concerned about the damaging effects of emotional contagion. But... that still leaves one big issue: is "catching" only positive emotions a Good Thing? Does this mean surrounding ourselves with "fake" goodness and avoiding the truth? Does surrounding ourselves with "happy people" mean we shut down critical thinking skills?


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What is Mindscan?

Comprehensive Cognitive Awareness – TheMindScan Assessment

 Transformation begins with our thinking. Based on the Nobel-nominated

  

Hartman Value Profile, theMindScan assessment is an axiological inventory that

  

measures a person’s capacity to make value judgments concerning the world

  

and one’s self. Instead of simply understanding “how” a person behaves, it

  

objectively measures “why” a person behaves the way they do and provides the

  

deepest possible understanding of behavior while revealing precisely how to

  

align your thinking strengths with your "MAP™- Momentum Action Plan"

  

in order to accelerate successes.

  

Unlike most other behavioral assessments, MindScan™ doesn’t measure what

  

individuals think of themselves. Most of the popular assessments

  

subjectively categorize people by type into a category or bucket of “HOW” they

  

behave, rather than seeking the underlying truth of “WHY” they behave in certain

  

ways based on thinking patterns. After all, certain people might behave the exact

  

same way (“HOW”), for completely different reasons (“WHY”), which means

  

changing their behavior would call for two completely different approaches.

  

Instead, the MindScan™ assessment is designed to objectively measure each

  

person’s thought processes in “3D” (three dimensions):

  THE 1ST DIMENSION: Intrinsic Value

  

- measures of how we value ourselves

- determines our ability to love and be intuitive

THE 2ND DIMENSION: Extrinsic Value

- reflects our economic and social understanding

- measures our capacity for excellence in tasks, projects and processes

  

THE 3RD DIMENSION: Systemic Value

  

- reflects the ability to perceive structures, systems of order, rules of engagement, etc.

  

- measures capacity for strategic vision, long-range planning, implications and

 - consequences

   

Ultimately Actionable

  

More powerful than the MindScan™

  

assessment is the resulting 20 page MindScan™

  

report. Because it literally “shows” the way a person thinks, it provides a clear

  

understanding of why an individual is not performing at peak performance levels and provides a

  

foundation for developing a "MAP™-   Momentum Action Plan" to accelerate achieving more of your

  

potential and being the best you can be.

  

MindScan can be used for:

• discovering your thinking strengths and potential weaknesses

  

• understanding thinking strengths and potential weaknesses of your partner(s), client(s),

  

associate(s) and potential employee(s)

  

• identifying areas where additional training or development may be needed

  

• building work teams and groups

  

• measuring individual and group morale and spirit

  

• determining suitability for roles, promotions and job reallocations

  

• cut down on training and personnel replacement costs

 • preventing accidents and liabilities

Cause and Affect on Your Brain = How Worry Affects your Brain

How Worry Affects Your Brain


It’s a well known fact among the Mental Science community that chronic stress can actually alter brain anatomy. Stress (depression, fear, etc.) may cause specific areas of the brain to shrink in size. As the brain areas shrink, their functions (brain chemical secretions and electrical impulses) are altered. This anatomical adaptation to stress will ultimately affect how a person thinks, behaves, and reasons.

In other words, changes in the brain due to stress, makes us less able to think of logical solutions to our problems.

In addition to the irrational problem solving capacity produced by stress, the actual brain cells will change according to your thoughts.

On every brain cell (spinal cord cell too) there is a covering called myelin. This myelin covering acts as an insulator for the brain cell’s electrical activity. The more insulation on the brain cell, the stronger the electrical impulse can be relayed through that particular nerve.

In the past 15 years, scientists have observed how the myelin covering changes according to different factors. Specific diseases (Multiple Sclerosis, encephalomyelitis, etc.) or injuries can decrease or dissolve the myelin covering. The diminished covering is what eventually results in a number of disorders or death.

One interesting finding in recent research is how the myelin covering grows or thickens on the brain cell, according to the individuals intensely focused thoughts. You will want to pay close attention to this part of what I’m sharing.

Since our intense thoughts (good or bad) cause an increase of myelin covering, which in turn causes a stronger thought to occur in the individual, this produces stronger POSITIVE or NEGATIVE thoughts. The determining factor is based upon what the person is choosing to emotionally think about most of the time.

Of course, there are many branches of science utilizing these findings and one of them is Quantum Physics. Quantum Physics is the branch of science that studies the elements of life that are smaller than an atom.

Quantum Physicists are observing how thought can actually make subatomic particles appear and disappear right before their eyes. It’s some of this information that my Mental Codes Book and The Progression Video are based. These two pieces of work explain in laymen’s terms how our thoughts are creating—good or bad—our results.

The bottom line is this, “Our thoughts do something to our lives.” If this is so, then, the stronger our thoughts, the stronger will be the effect on our lives. If you don’t change your thinking to have stronger emotions around the correct thoughts, you will produce more myelin and strengthen the negative thoughts instead.

As you strengthen, the negative thoughts, you will end up producing more negative results. Now, we have scientific evidence to this fact.

If you are getting emotional (negative) about the economy , your weight, your relationships, your energy and how it’s affecting your life, you are actually strengthening the negative impact and preventing your ability to come up with logical solutions. Now, we have scientific evidence to this fact as well.

To change your thoughts has been a challenge since the early days of time. There are numerous therapies, drugs, and techniques that work to make desired changes. Although the person feels better (at least temporarily), we find limited, long lasting results. But, there are answers for you.

I will share some of these solutions with you in the coming weeks. Note: I’m not treating you, any condition, or rendering any type of professional advice. I’m simply sharing with you what is working for me and thousands of other people. What you do, or don’t do, with the information is entirely up to you.

Solutions to our current challenges and future will need to come from ourselves. The solution to any challenge always starts with the way we look (think) about it.

Be IDEAL,

Dr Rob and the Team at the Sport of Mind Institute

We have discovered Human Optimization

We all want to change something but can't. It's a matter of willpower, right?

Did you know:

98% of us fail at keeping New Year's resolutions to change bad habits.

70% of Americans who pay off credit card debt with a home equity loan end up with the same or higher debt in 2 years.

Americans spend $40 billion a year on diets, but 19 out of 20 lose nothing but their money

The average alcohol or drug abuser who tries to quit is back at it within 4 to 32 days.

Marriage counseling saves fewer than 1 in 5 couples on the brink of divorce.

The statistics go on and on.

So why can't we change?

Maybe it's because we have far less control over our behavior than we think.

Maybe it's because there are powerful sources of influence working against us that shape our choices.

Maybe we can't change because we simply lack the skills!

About Sport of MInd and the IDEAL Plan

About us:


If you are ready to commit to making the necessary changes to achieve your dream life, we are committed to providing you with all of the research, science and artistic expression to help you Live your IDEAL Life. .


Get ready to discover how to IDentify, and Experience Accelerated Learning. Once you can identify and become aware of your direction and impediments, be willing and open to new technology, accomplishment can be yours every day. Dr Irwin has worked alongside Jim Rohn, Dennis Waitley, Brian Tracy and Zig Zigler amongst many others for more than a decade and has expressed his unique view and interpretation of how to live your IDEAL life through his "Accomplish Workshop".


A credentialed expert and authority on the psychology of performance, Dr Rob Irwin believes there are two elements that can produce an extraordinary quality of life—the science and art of accomplishment. These are principles that, regardless of gender, race, religion, or financial status, create lasting results when acted upon.


He recently joined forces with a leader in the field of performance as well. Dr Jason Richardson has personally been on world wide stages competing as a BMX Cyclist. He accomplishments have been a 15 year career while winning a Gold Medal at the Pan-Am Games and held the title of World Champion. He has MBA in Business and now a Doctorate in Psychology aiming to share his wisdom, skill and education to you and the world.


Their company, Sport of Mind, is committed to providing you the tools to help turn your ultimate dreams into reality—whether it’s achieving financial freedom, taking your career or sport to new heights or connecting with your loved ones at the deepest level.


The strategies you’ll discover will help make you unstoppable toward the life you desire and deserve. Their Accomplishment Workshopwill help you find the source of your power that naturally guides you on purposeful journey of life. Sport of Mind's trainings, seminars, and programs will help you build the emotional muscles you need in order to achieve your highest level of performance.


We know living a fulfilled life is unique to every individual. For this reason our programs are designed and tailored to help people from around the world, from virtually every socio-economic background, from the most successful to the most challenged. It’s the understanding of the psychology and neuroscience that allows us to provide you the most state of the art life technologies available today.

read more

Neurogenises - For those Who Really want to know....

Scientists once thought that the brain stopped developing after the first few years of life. They thought that connections formed between the brain's nerve cells during an early "critical period" and then were fixed in place as we age. If connections between neurons developed only during the first few years of life, then only young brains would be "plastic" and thus able to form new connections. (To learn more about neurons, click here.) Because of this belief, scientists also thought that if a particular area of the adult brain was damaged, the nerve cells could not form new connections or regenerate, and the functions controlled by that area of the brain would be permanently lost. However, new research on animals and humans has overturned this mistaken old view: today we recognize that the brain continues to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life. This phenomenon, called neuroplasticity, allows the neurons in the brain to compensate for injury and adjust their activity in response to new situations or changes in their environment.



How does neuroplasticity work? A large amount of research focuses on this question. Scientists are certain that the brain continually adjusts and reorganizes. In fact, while studying monkeys, they found that the neuronal connections in many brain regions appear to be organized differently each time they are examined! While it remains uncertain at this writing (April 2003) whether reorganization in the adult brain involves the formation of new neural connections, existing neural pathways that are inactive or used for other purposes do show the ability to take over and carry out functions lost to degeneration. Understanding the brain's ability to dynamically reorganize itself helps scientists understand how patients sometimes recover brain functions damaged by injury or disease.


Brain Reorganization


Genes are certainly not the only factor determining how our brain develops and forms its inner connections. Conditions in our environment, such as social interactions, challenging experiences and even fresh air can play a crucial role in brain cell survival and the formation of connections. Just as the brain changes in response to environmental conditions, it can also change and rearrange in response to injury or disease. Commonly, these rearrangements involve changes in the connection between linked nerve cells, or neurons, in the brain. Brain reorganization takes place by mechanisms such as "axonal sprouting", where undamaged axons grow new nerve endings to reconnect the neurons, whose links were severed through damage. Undamaged axons can also sprout nerve endings and connect with other undamaged nerve cells, thus making new links and new neural pathways to accomplish what was a damaged function. For example, although each brain hemisphere has its own tasks, if one brain hemisphere is damaged, the intact hemisphere can sometimes take over some of the functions of the damaged one. Flexible and capable of such adaptation, the brain compensates for damage in effect by reorganizing and forming new connections between intact neurons.


New connections can form at an amazing speed, but in order to reconnect, the neurons need to be stimulated through activity. In one study, researchers damaged a small brain area in several monkeys, which resulted in the loss of particular hand movements. Due to the lack of hand activity, even the neurons surrounding the damaged brain area withered, resulting in further impairment of hand movements. These observations confirm the notion that it is important to provide stimulation to neurons in order for them to remain active and form new connections, promoting rehabilitation.


Unfortunately, this same brain reorganization may sometimes contribute to the symptoms of disease or impairment. For example, people who are deaf sometimes suffer from a continual ringing in their ears, which may be the result of the rewiring of brain cells starved for sound. It is important to stimulate the neurons in just the right way for them to form beneficial new connections. By better understanding how the brain reorganizes itself, we can better learn how this task can be accomplished.


Strategies for Promoting Brain Reorganization


A first key principle of neuroplasticity is this: brain activity promotes brain reorganization. In other words, "brain workouts" help the brain reorganize connections more quickly and stimulate reorganization when the brain is not capable of reorganizing on its own. Even simple brain exercises such as presenting oneself with challenging intellectual environments, interacting in social situations, or getting involved in physical activities will boost the general growth of connections. However, generalized stimulation may not be very helpful for rebuilding a specific damaged area of the brain.


Another way to promote neuronal connections in the brain has been learned from efforts to help stroke patients. Studies show that drugs that increase the availability of the hormone norepinephrine help in the rehabilitation of movement loss. These drugs stimulate or provoke the synapses of the nerve cells, making them more capable of forming new connections. Because they can be costly and have unintended side effects, drugs alone may not be the optimal approach to rehabilitation. However, drugs may well be beneficial when used in conjunction with a third approach: physical or rehabilitation therapy.


Building on the principle that neuronal activity promotes new connections, rehabilitation therapy attempts to stimulate particular neurons that have not been active for some time. Here the goal is to promote selective self-repair and reorganization through specific motor activity. Because brain reorganization generally becomes more difficult as we age (for reasons not yet fully understood), a damaged adult brain needs a specific "neuroplasticity jump-start" to rebuild. For example, practicing a particular movement over and over-referred to in the literatures as “constraint-induced movement-based therapy”-helps your brain form and strengthen the connections necessary for that movement. Thus in Germany, seven patients who had lost the ability to walk was placed on a treadmill with a parachute and harness. They were given as much physical support as possible, but the treadmill forced the movement of their legs. By the end of therapy, this forced movement enabled some of the intact neurons in the damaged area of the brain to form new connections, which in turn enabled three of the patients to walk independently and another three to walk with supervision.


An important aspect of rehabilitation therapy is timing. If a person who has suffered from brain damage does not practice a lost movement, the damaged neurons-as well as surrounding neurons-are starved of stimulation and will be unable to reconnect. However, research on non-human animals indicates that if an injured limb is used immediately after the brain area has been damaged, damage to the brain actually increases. To be successful, rehabilitation must wait a week or two. By the second week, use of the injured limb stimulates damaged connections that would otherwise atrophy without input. Yet, a particular movement can be practiced too much. If practiced millions of times per month over years, for example, the pattern of connections can grow so much that it inhibits or "squeezes out" other patterns of connection, resulting in the inability to perform other movements. In short, rehabilitation therapy can indeed take advantage of the brain's natural flexibility for forming new neural connections; however, this is a delicate process that must be done carefully and under professional guidance.


The Limits of Innate Brain Plasticity


Neuroplasticity enables the brain to compensate for damage, but sometimes an area of the brain is so extensively damaged that its natural ability to reorganize is insufficient to regain the lost function. In the case of Huntington's Disease and other diseases that cause neuronal death, the death of many cells may render the brain unable to reorganize corrective connections. In order to have a chance of repair, a certain (as yet unknown) number of neurons must remain intact. Thus, if a highly specialized brain "circuit" is completely destroyed, the associated mental function may be lost. Currently there is no way of determining with certainty whether a lost function can be recovered. However, there is another source of hope. Recent research (discussed in the next section) has shown that the brain can sometimes generate new neurons, not simply new connections, and that these new neurons can sometimes "migrate" within the brain. This raises the possibility that, under certain conditions, new neurons could migrate to damaged areas, form new connections, and restore some or all lost functions. It is too early to tell for sure: we still have much to learn about neuroplasticity!


Neurons and Neurogenises


Billions of tree-shaped nerve cells make up the human brain. Neurons are produced through a process called neurogenises, which begins during the third week of development in humans. Nerve cells develop at an average rate of 250,000 per minute during the prenatal period, but by birth, the process of neurogenises has largely ceased. (To read more about neurons, click here.)


A widely held belief is that neurons, unlike other cells, cannot reproduce after the first few years of life. This would mean that neurons that are destroyed couldn't be replaced. However, recent research suggests that this belief is not supported by evidence. In 1999, production of new neurons was discovered in the neocortex of adult primates. Also in 1999, researchers at the Salk Institute in San Diego, California discovered neurogenises occurring in the brains of adult humans, including in a 72-year-old adult. In this study, researchers used a chemical marker to identify new neurons and observed neurogenises in the hippocampal region, a brain region that controls certain types of memory.


This research indicates that neurogenises may well continue to occur throughout the human life span, although it occurs less rapidly in adults. Many of the new neurons that form in adults die almost immediately, but evidence suggests that some cells that are able to integrate themselves into the existing web of neural connections. Other researchers have also found definitive evidence that the brain does not stop producing new neurons after the "critical period" of development; the brain has been shown to generate new neurons from stem cells in select regions of the brain.


Research in the area of neurogenises has resulted in an exciting recent discovery bearing on Huntington's Disease. By studying post-mortem brains of people with HD, researchers at the University of Auckland in New Zealand found evidence suggesting that HD-affected brains produce new neurons throughout the course of the disease. Moreover, there is a correlation between the rate of neurogenises and the severity of the illness. The brains of individuals at the most severe stages of HD showed the most neurogenises. It appears that the brain is attempting to compensate for the neural damage resulting from the disease. Unfortunately, however, brains damaged by HD seem to be unable to generate new neurons quickly enough to replace the dying ones. Another problem may be that the new neurons are unable to migrate to the areas where they are needed.


Neuronal Growth Factors


The discovery of neurogenises in the brain of adult humans, including those suffering from HD, has spurred an investigation of how to influence neural development as well as how to replace dying cells with new ones. In an attempt to increase the production of new neurons, scientists are experimenting with neuronal growth factors. Growth factors have been successful at stimulating stem cells to produce new neurons. (To read more about stem cells, click here.) One possibility is to use the growth factors with a patient's own brain tissue to generate new cells. However, these new lab-produced neurons would need to be transplanted safely and effectively into the brain of the patient, which could prove very difficult. Ideally, the growth factor could be produced directly in the damaged area, stimulating neuronal growth in the damaged area. Two scientists at the Salk Institute in San Diego, California, Fred Gage and Mark Tuszynski, experimented with this possibility. They removed skin cells from rats with severed spinal cords and added new genes to the cells, which caused them to produce neuronal growth factors. They let the cells multiply and then implanted the daughter cells into the damaged areas. The rats were able to regrow neurons and regain some of their lost function, a very promising finding.


The future for people with brain damage may likely involve some combination of rehabilitation therapy, drug therapy, and possibly, the transplantation of new brain cells into the damaged brain area. Unfortunately, the use of new neurons and growth factors for treatment is not yet ready for clinical use. Scientists need to learn more about how the process of neurogenises is controlled and how to successfully integrate the new neurons into the existing brain circuitry. As research continues, there is growing hope that science will discover a safe and effective way to guide the process of neuronal growth in order to repair areas of the brain that are damaged by injury or disease.


Future Research


Scientists continue to investigate the workings of neuroplasticity and continue to ask how best to encourage this natural process of reorganization? Studies confirm that an active lifestyle maintains brain function; thus, new research aims to develop lifestyle behaviors and medications that could improve normal brain development as well as repair damaged brains. Complementing this area of research, some scientists are exploring the ability of an especially stimulating environment to boost reorganization and repair damage. Research also continues in the treatment of diseases such as HD and Parkinson's with cell transplantation in conjunction with physical therapy (To read more about cell transplantation, click here.)


Another technique called Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) may soon be very helpful for guiding the process of brain reorganization; however, this technique requires more study before it is deemed safe and ready for clinical use. Scientists have used TMS to modify the process of reorganization to enhance the benefits of "rewiring". TMS consists of a wire coil that produces a magnetic field, which surrounds the head and produces an electrical current in nearby regions of the brain. The electrical current is used to stimulate areas of the brain that will benefit from input, and to prevent stimulation of brain regions where the formation of new connections is not beneficial. The ability to focus brain reorganization could bring about more rapid and more successful recoveries from damage to brain areas.

Brain Based Facts

From Daniel Amen:  Amazing Facts....

• Your brain is the most complex, mind-blowing organ in the universe.


• It is estimated to be only about 3 pounds, which is usually around 2 percent of your body’s weight.

• Unbelievably, given that it is the bedrock of your personality, some think even your soul, it is 85% water!

• It is estimated that the brain has 100 billion nerve cells and more connections in it than there are stars in the universe, which is about the number of stars in the Milky Way Galaxy.

• There are also trillions of supportive cells in the brain called glia.

• Each neuron is connected to other neurons by up to 40,000 individual connections (called synapses) between cells. Multiplying 100 billion neurons times 40,000 synapses is equivalent to the brain having more connections in it than there are stars in the universe.

• A piece of brain tissue the size of a grain of sand contains 100,000 neurons and 1 billion synapses, all "talking" to one another.

• Information in your brain travels at about 268 miles per hour, unless of course you are drunk, then things really slow down.

• Even though your brain is only about 2% of your body’s weight, about 3 pounds, it uses 20-30% of the calories you consume.

• If you don’t take care of your brain, you lose on average 85,000 brain cells a day. That is what causes aging. With appropriate forethought, however, you can reverse that trend and dramatically slow the aging process.

• On average women say 7,000 words per day. Men manage just over 2000.

• Laughing lowers levels of stress hormones and strengthens the immune system. Six-year-olds laugh an average of 300 times a day. Adults only laugh 15 to 100 times a day.

• Your brain is very soft and it is housed in a really hard skull

• Your brain is the consistency of soft butter, tofu, custard or somewhere between egg whites and jello.

• And it is housed in a really hard skull that has many sharp boney ridges.

• Brain injuries matter “¦ they can damage the brain and they can ruin your life.

• The brain uses 20% of the oxygen we breathe and about 20% of the calories we consume.

• When whole body scans are performed on people, the brain is so active, compared to the rest of the body, that it looks like a small, powerful heater, while everything else appears almost ghostlike.

• A neuron’s main job is to generate an electrical signal called an “action potential” which it does if sufficiently excited by other neurons.

• The action potential of a single neuron is like a lightning bolt that may stimulate many other neurons.

• The stimulated neurons can then generate their own signals that travel to and stimulate yet other neurons to which they are connected creating a network of neurons that perform a specific brain function.

• Action potentials travel down nerve cells at about 60 miles per hour. The signals can travel at these high speeds because a part of neurons, called axons, are wrapped and insulated by a special substance called myelin.

• Axons that are not insulated by myelin, either by design or disease, transmit signals 10 times slower.

• Many people have heard that we only use 10 percent of our brains. Nonsense! You may not use every neuron in your brain at the same time, but each is important.

• The brain never turns off or even rests through your entire life. It is very active at night, especially during dreaming.

• Brain development is a fascinating construction tale, where genes and environment collaborate to make us who we are.

• At times during pregnancy, the baby’s brain makes 250,000 new nerve cells per minute.

• Babies are born with 100 billion neurons; however, only a relatively small number of neurons are connected.

• In the first decade of life, a child’s brain forms trillions of connections.

• New research has shown that early experiences do not just create a background for early development and learning, they directly affect the way the brain is wired. In turn, the wiring profoundly affects our patterns of emotion, language, and thought.

• Experiences do not just influence a child’s development; they finish the job of molding and sculpting the brain.

• About three-quarters of the brain develops outside the womb, in response to the physical and social environment. Nature and nurture always work together.

• Brain development is especially rapid during the first year.

• Brain scans show that by twelve months, a baby’s brain resembles that of a normal young adult.

• By age three, a baby’s brain has formed about 1,000 trillion connections””about twice as many as adults have.

• Also, the areas of the brain that develop early, such as vision, are the first areas to become myelinated (wrapped in myelin), which helps that part of the brain become more efficient.

• The “years of promise” between three and 10 are a time of rapid social, intellectual, emotional and physical development. Brain activity in this age group is more than twice that of adults, and although new synapses continue to be formed throughout life, never again will the brain be able to easily master new skills or adapt to setbacks.

• At age 11, the brain begins to prune extra connections at a rapid rate. The circuits that remain are more specific and efficient.

• The brain is one of the best examples of the “use it or lose it” principle. Connections that are used repeatedly in the early years become permanent; while those that are not used are pruned.

• During late adolescence and into the mid 20s, the front third of the brain, called the prefrontal cortex (PFC) or executive brain, continues to develop.

• Even though we think of 18 year olds as adults, their brains are far from finished.

• Myelin continues to be deposited in the PFC until age 25 or 26, making the executive part of the brain work at a higher and more efficient level.

• Were you more mature at 25 than 18? I sure was. It is ironic that the car insurance industry knew about maturity and brain development long before society. Typically, car insurance rates change at 25 because drivers are more thoughtful and get into significantly less accidents.

• The knowledge of brain development into adulthood is critical to disseminate. Early smoking, drug or alcohol abuse, and brain injuries from risky sports all have the potential to disrupt brain development, in some cases permanently.

• After about 25, just as we reach peak development the brain starts slowly shrinking. Some research has suggested that the male brain shrinks faster than the female one. I think it is because men do more stupid things to their brains, such as they have more problems with alcohol, play tackle football and hit soccer balls with their heads.

• In college, 70% of football players and 62% of soccer players get at least one concussion per year.

• There are three distinct areas of the brain, controlling our instincts (brain stem), our emotions (limbic system), and our thoughts (cortex).

• The brain is also divided into the left and right hemispheres, or halves. The left side is often known as the detail oriented, get to the point, speech and happiness center; while the right side is known as being more fretful, more creative, and holistic processing center.

• When it comes to the brain SIZE MATTERS. The stegosaurus brain was about the size of a walnut. The adult human brain weighs about 1,300 to 1,400 grams. The average cat brain weighs only about 30 grams. This is why human curiosity helps invent space travel and cures for cancer, while curiosity requires cats to have nine lives.

• The highly convoluted folds of grey matter on the outside surface of the brain is known as the cerebral cortex. The cerebral cortex is about 2 millimeters thick and has a surface area of about two and a half square feet. This is about the size of three and a half sheets of 8.5 x 11 inch paper.

• In order to wok properly, the brain needs fuel, oxygen, and stimulation. Just like any other living thing, a brain needs fuel to grow, function and repair itself.

• Glucose and oxygen run the engine powered by your brain cells. Unlike other cells in your body, glucose is the only fuel your brain knows how to use. Anything that impairs glucose delivery to brain cells is life threatening.

• Oxygen is required to produce energy, without it the energy powerhouses of neurons called mitochondria will not produce enough energy to keep your brain alive. Because blood delivers glucose and oxygen to your brain, nothing must get in the way of blood flow if the brain is to stay healthy. Unconsciousness will occur after 8-10 seconds after loss of blood supply to the brain.

• The human brain is dependent on proper stimulation to grow and develop in healthy ways throughout childhood and to maintain its functioning into old age.

• When you stimulate neurons in the right way, you make them more efficient; they function better, and you are more likely to have an active, learning brain throughout your life.

• The best sources of stimulation for the brain are physical exercise, mental exercise, and social bonding, which will be discussed in greater detail later on.