March 2008

Beyond Ordinary Thinking

For most of us in high school biology class we learned that adult brains don’t make new brain cells, (aka neurons). That is until recently. The creation of new neurons in the adult brain, neurogenesis, was first discovered in the 1960s in animals, but not found in humans until the 1990s. This unveiled the concept of an adult brain having a way to change or adapt, known as “plasticity” that was only previously attributed to children’s brains. So, there goes the oft used excuse of “I’m just too old to change!”

A study published this past year found that when new neurons are formed in an adult brain there is about a 6 week period of time after their birth when they act like those of a newborn baby…their synapses, or communication connections with each other are stimulated to become stronger. This strengthening, know as “long term potentiation”, resulting in more efficient information transferred between cells, and primes them to learn. “From these data it seems that for high levels of plasticity what matters is the age of the single neuron and not the age of the brain…” according to Nikhil Swaminathan in Scientific American, 5/23/07.

What does this mean to you? It means that every day that you choose a new thought or attitude, it has the potential to link with similar other thought-neurons and create a pattern or attitude that can differ from your past. Imagine no longer having the automatic response of “I am not smart enough, or I am not worthy of such happiness or abundance.” But it does require that you focus on a new thought, attitude and self-perception for at least 40 days for it to become hardwired into your system. Real change really is possible with focused attention. The adage “It’s all in your head” has more truth than many of us may have realized!

On a personal note, I would like to thank each one of you who have in some small way allowed me to have had the opportunity to serve you these past four years. It was in March of 2004 that we opened the front door of The Chiropractic Zone, and without you, we would not be here. I am immensely grateful and just wished to take the opportunity to say thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Namaste,
"Dr. Craig"