Boomer News

Competitive Plasticity

Well kids, we left off the last blog asking how we could replace  erroneous thoughts or beliefs with more factual information. (critical thinking). It’s not easy. The neurons that make up the erroneous thought or belief covers an area on the “brain map.” They do not want to give up that space without a fight. Those neurons are very competitive. However, these  stubborn neurons have plasticity and can be rewired with new thoughts.

Here is what a neurologist in the book “The Brain That Changes Itself” says;

“When we learn a bad habit, it takes over a brain map, and each time we repeat it, it claims more control of that map and prevents the use of that space for good habits. That is why unlearning is so often a lot harder than learning, and why childhood education is so important – it’s best to get it right early, before the bad habit gets an advantage.”

That is why a very bad habit, like addiction, is very hard to get rid of and  requires some real pain and a sense of survival to quit. So kids, if you ever felt the notion to smoke cigarettes … think again … critically!