WHAT DOES NEUROPLASTICITY HAVE TO DO WITH YOU?
Neuroplasticity is your physical brain’s ability to change over time in response to the complex array of varied influences you will encounter in the course of your life. Your brain is only one example of how your malleable nature works; one that is the focus of many current researchers. If you consider the plasticity of your brain, then expand your scope to also consider how these same principles apply to all the different parts of your being and you will begin to get a view of your capacity to change.
The neuroplasticity of your brain is maintained throughout your lifetime. While the rate and scope of change appears greater during the maturation period, this is by no means the end of your neurological story of change as was previously thought. The malleability of your adult brain, your ability to chemically, structurally and functionally change your brain cells to respond differently to life is a natural part of your physiology, one that you will maintain for your entire lifetime.
So why do we see so many adults stuck in the same groove, thinking the same thoughts and taking the same actions with little change or evolution occurring? It is usually rooted in fear and the human tendency to seek the familiar even when better options exist. How proactively engaged are you in your growth and evolution? I encourage you to be open to the full range of change available to you as you explore your malleable nature and consider how you wish to reshape your life. This will allow you to optimally adapt to your current environment.
THE ABC’s of BRAIN HEALTH – TAKING CARE OF THE MATTER
Your neurological well being is reflective of the energetic balance or imbalance of your brain functioning. Energy exists in a range that spans from the densest solids of matter to the highest vibrational frequencies. Your brain health begins with the physical matter of the brain and continues through all the vibrational frequencies influencing the brain. Exercising your brain is essential to continue to evolve, it really is a matter of using it or losing it.
How do you keep your brain healthy?
- Proper hydration and nutrition.
Your brain matter is made primarily, about three quarters, out of water. This makes hydration primary to brain health. Proper nutrition is also essential. Malnutrition in children can cause permanent damage to growth and development. In adults both undernutrition and overnutrition negatively impact mood, energy and vulnerability to disease. Never underestimate the importance of these basics to health.
- Practice mindfulness and find your flow
Regular meditation has been shown to preserve the gray matter in your brain. I suspect this is the case with any mindfulness practice or activity that places you in a state of flow. The gray matter in your brain controls movement, memory and emotions. It is where you process information and sensory input. Presence in the moment keeps you physically present with brain integrity and capacity.
- Keep learning and growing.
Here is where the use it or lose it comes into play. Learning something new stimulates neurons in the brain which form new neural pathways and improve cognitive functioning. So never stop learning or engaging activities that spark you to step outside of your familiar zone. Don’t know where to start? Simply, do something, anything, different. This can be engaging a different thought, doing routine tasks in a different order or responding in a way you never have before. This will form new neural pathways in your brain and bring you one step closer to finding the changes that will benefit you.
SHAPING CONSCIOUSNESS TO REFORM YOUR LIFE
The form your life takes is determined by the interplay between your energy and your consciousness; it is a cross product of these two trajectories. The state of your consciousness in any given moment meets the range of your energy which then determines the path of your evolution. Consciousness has a range that is similar to energy, it begins with an unconscious state and extends to a fully enlightened state of being. Raising your consciousness to meet the energy of your life with greater dimensionality will change the form that your life will take and it will propel your path of evolution.
What is your best consciousness stance for malleability?
- Posture “as if…” the state you desire already exists.
This is where you want to “fake it till you make it”, as they say. Forming your consciousness to a particular shape, such as “I am happy” or “I am grateful” creates a mold for the energy of your life to fill. Think of your consciousness like a child’s sand mold and your energy like the sand. A note on posturing; it utilizes the holistic consciousness of your body, heart, mind and spirit, it is not just a thought. To give an example of this; I have a friend, who is also a channel, and she likes to ask groups to laugh out loud. The “fake” laughter inevitably provokes genuine laughter which has a transformative effect on the consciousness of the individuals and group alike.
- Develop the “objective observer” part of yourself.
It takes courage to look reality straight in it’s proverbial face. But observing the truth of any situation allows you to make contact with the energy of it and this conscious contact with the energy of reality positions you to be able to reform and change it. When you can consciously perceive something’s true form you can then consciously perceive the shift to a new formation. Exerting your free will choice on this quantum level engages the influence of the observer effect. (Read more about the observer effect) Energy and consciousness have that yin yang, pushing of hands kind of relationship. Think of your observer part as if it is a potter’s hands molding the clay, which is the energy of your life, to be the shape that you desire.
- Expect the unexpected; approach each day as if anything could happen.
When you hold the mindset that anything could happen it keeps you alert to perceive much more of what is right in front of you. It also creates a conscious space for actualizing untapped potential. Let me explain this. Expecting the unexpected is like creating a vacuum chamber within you, a space that is supercharged with the void, the infinite potential energy of source. It is a blank space with all the resources you need to fill it in with your heart’s desire.
THE MALLEABILITY OF THE TRINITY OF YOUR LIFE
I have spoken of the singularity of the brain as our beginning focal point. Then I have stretched out to discuss the energy and consciousness of that focal point. This is where freewill comes into play and can have an impact as you consciously utilize your malleable nature to effect desired change. Lets stretch out now to see how your malleable nature shows up within the trinity of your life.
Individual:
On an individual level we see all the biological ways that people are malleable in response to the environment, neuroplasticity is just one. There are genetic changes that alter the blueprint of your life. A genetic change is when there is a gene mutation, a change in the DNA sequencing, in one or more genes. These are long term changes occurring within the generational flow. And non genetic changes that occur include longer-term permanent developmental adaptations and rapid temporary acclimatization. A developmental adaptation is when an organism modifies its phenotype, it’s observable traits, in response to the environment. This type of change becomes hard wired whereas acclimatization is a short term adjustment to the changing environment. Acclimatization enables humans to live in a vast range of environmental conditions. Human evolution is a fascinating story of human malleability.
Group:
On a group level we see all the cultural ways that people are malleable in response to life. The earth is covered with different societies containing quite an assortment of cultural expressions. Think about all the different languages, customs and traditions, religions, arts, forms of government and economic systems. Think about the media and social media influences to shape people’s lives. During our current times living in a global pandemic the coronavirus has presented an extreme, life threatening stressor. One that has exposed many cultural vulnerabilities and imbalances. Our need to respond to this threat has created a disruption to all of these cultural influences and demanded a change. It is very culturally revealing to view how different countries have been impacted dissimilarly and how cultural differences have influenced their responses. The most shameful of which in my opinion is how American culture has done so poorly despite having greater access to the tools and resources needed to respond. But the politically fueled divisive culture favored power and inequality over life itself. Now that the culture has been thrown into upheaval I am curious to see how it will reshape and reform going forward.
Oneness:
Finally, on the level of oneness we see all the existential ways that people are malleable in response to life. Stepping back to view the whole of humanity as a single entity we can see the changing form. Think about all of the interactive systems integrating and differentiating transforming its shape. Then there is the whole ecosystem of the earth’s environment with its changing climate. The collective consciousness ultimately determines the path of change with each vote counting equally, on this level anyway it is so. Ideally the path carved out is one that transcends the inevitability and limitation of unconscious repetition. On the level of ‘the oneness of humanity’ this looks like the rise and fall of civilizations, progress and development
So how do you change in a way that you know is helping humanity to stay in the flow of evolution and out of repeating old mistakes? We shift from this macroview of the malleability of humanity and bring it back to the microview and malleability of individual people. Your individual human brain with its capacity for free will choice. You are choosing to fire neurons in the same old groove or making a different choice to create new neural pathways. But how can you know if that new neural pathway is going in the direction of evolution for humanity as a whole and not just a new experience for you while you repeat a familiar old human foible? The way to do this is to work with the universals and maintain universal balance as you engage your conscious evolution towards greater enlightenment. Just as the malleability principle carries through all of nature, not just human, the universals are the framework of balance for all things within humanity, earth’s ecosystem, our solar system and this galaxy. Thus, the framework of universal balance will provide a framework that ensures an optimized and sustainable path of progression for you that supports the evolution of humanity as a whole.