“Neurons that fire together wire together.”
This phrase coined in 1949, as a result of psychologist Donald Hebb’s research, presented in his book The Organization of Behavior, has particular relevance to the intersection of mindfulness and neuroscience.
We all want to be happier, right? What we now know, as a result of Donald Hebb’s work, is that whatever we focus on grows. The more we train our attention to focus on a certain topic, feeling, etc., the more we strengthen the neural networks in our brains associated with those topics, feelings, etc. When we purposely direct our attention to building skills that enhance our capacity to stay in the present moment, without judgment, and relate to our experience with kindness, we are strengthening the “feel good” circuitry in our brains. Over time this equates to a greater sense of happiness.
We actually change the structure of our brains as a result of what we choose to attend to in our lives. This is extraordinary. We used to think that we were born with all the neurons that we would ever have in our lives, and now we know that we can grow our brains, and literally shape them moment to moment. This is a concept that neuroscientists refer to as neuroplasticity.
Neuroplasticity is the term used to describe how the brain changes based on our experiences. These experiences may be our mental habits, behaviors, biases, beliefs, even physical injury.
Many people refer to mindfulness and compassion as practices that strengthen our muscle for presence. When we practice mindfulness and compassion, waking up when our mind wanders away from our object of focus and purposefully directing our attention back to the present moment with kindness, we are literally rewiring our brains.
At Awake Wellness, we have experienced this transformation process firsthand. Having worked with, and cultivated, the capacities for mindfulness and compassion for over 15 years, we can attest to the validity of neuroplasticity. We are committed to the further exploration of this intersection of mindfulness and cutting-edge science, and developing partnerships with others who share a common vision of using this information to further awaken hearts and minds.