Did you know your brain can change its shape?
Neuroplasticity refers to the ability the brain has to change. The term Neuroplasticity is derived from the root words Neuron and Plastic. A neuron refers to the nerve cells in our brain. The word plastic means to mold, sculpt, or modify. For years, scientists thought the brain did not change past the age of a young adult, but we now know that the brain has the ability to create new neural pathways as it deems necessary. Like a muscle, the brain can physically change based on the pathways that are being created. As Sharon Begley simply states in her book ‘Train Your Mind Change Your Brain‘, “the brain can change as a result of the thoughts we have”. The more you focus and practice something the better you become at the new skill that you are learning or an obstacle you are trying to overcome. By doing this new neural connections are created in the brain as synapses that don’t usually fire together do, which help us to sharpen our new skill.