Super human.

I recently heard the most fascinating talk about the brain. Neuroscience has been a fascination for me for many years. It is so complex, but in my opinion, the best knowledge to acquire. It usually takes me a few hours to begin to comprehend half of the information, but this particular Neuroscientist, Ana Ibañez, mind trainer, does it so well. The question she answers in this video is this: could we possibly train our brain to live better? Her answer is yes. I would love to share my humble English translation, to the best of my abilities, and it is a synthesis of her video in Spanish. If you understand Spanish, go directly to the link.

This is the original video

Can we train our brain to live better? Can we change our abilities to do something? Can we change our moods, our emotional responses to life in general, and take away the insecurities we feel? The answer is yes. Our brains can be retrained and we can change our neurological connection. The mind is what leads us to have success and failure. It is the one that makes us see the world as a place of opportunities or dangers. When Ana became a swimmer, she realized that physical training was important to win, but the brain was the entity that determined her outcome in its entirety.

There are many different branches of thought throughout Neuroscience. Two of the main branches are developmental and cognitive. She primarily focuses on the cognitive perspective to retrain the brain through thoughts, problem-solving, and memory.

How does our brain boycott us? We need to understand that our brain is at a level of evolution below where we need it to be today, more suited for a past environment filled with different dangers and circumstances than this age. We need to program our brain so it can give us the right tools that it naturally would not give us on its own, given that the brain, biologically speaking, is programmed to have our safety as its main priority.

We must change the narrative to take advantage of those opportunities that arise once something different approaches us. We must train our brain so it can propel us towards growth when we face novelty or adversity.

Our brain is programmed to feel scared when it encounters a situation with an unknown result. We need to aid our brain to understand that the novelty will have a happy ending.  When you can’t do it naturally it will inject you with fear, doubt, and insecurities. That’s how the brain boycotts our experience.

We are constantly encountering new situations. A new project, a professional task, an exam, or a new activity are all real threats to the brain. The brain doesn’t know what the final result will be. So its tendency will be, if we don’t help it, to supply us with fear and anxiety. This is where our knowledge of neuroscience comes in.

Knowing that if we want to avoid this boycott what we need to do is give it the safety that it biologically is not giving us. A helpful tool for this can be giving the mental images from our memory of when we previously experienced a novelty, and it resulted in having a happy ending. To avoid this boycott we must try to resurface these successful thoughts.  There’s a wise phrase, “Fear is the anticipation of suffering when something goes wrong”.

 If we analyze it, everything that our brain is telling us to fear very rarely goes wrong.

We have two main brain circuits. One has to do with fear and it defends us.  The other has to do with opportunities and the benefits of trying new things. This circuit of rewards activates when we can calm the brain and deactivate the alarm signal. If it’s not so active the two circuits can connect.

We now know that if we put the brain into an uncomfortable situation the brain can generate a biochemical response to help us go through that fear. Fear cannot be conquered if it's not faced. When our brain is exposed to a stressor, it generates fear and produces an adequate neurochemical response that makes our brain go on high alert. Now it can focus on that situation. If the situation is resolved the reward is dopamine.

We should look at our brain as our ally. It works for our well-being.

What is the most uncomfortable place for the brain to be in?

The mental state we are in when we make mistakes. When we make a mistake it tells us something is happening. We need to take advantage of our mistakes because that’s where change happens. There are chemical substances we release when we make a mistake.  Epinephrine is a chemical substance that puts us on alert. It starts working towards finding a solution. Secondly, it produces acetylcholine, which makes us focus so we can resolve the problem.  Here is the key, where the transformation occurs. This is where the plasticity happens. If we don’t take advantage of this process and focus properly this is where the frustration begins. If we work through frustration we can keep generating energy to keep going and support the processes to get to a resolution. The transformation will be the result of all the efforts to resolve these situations.

It is normal for our brain to be overstimulated. We need to train our brain to contradict itself and focus on multiple things while feeling uncomfortable. But first, we need to calm the brain. If we do need to focus on one particular thing we must silence the noise around us.  Breathwork is a great tool for that. We can also try giving the body physical activity like a short high-intensity movement. A quick jog, squats, or even jumping jacks. Music can also be a great tool. You need to develop an element that is constant during your focus time like a candle or a specific song. A good exercise for the brain to develop focus could be moving your eyes around the room and naming five things you see.  Another exercise could be to imagine measuring the distance between your nose and your left ear, the distance between your nose and your right ear, and between your nose and your chin. This is a great three-dimensional exercise for your brain.

We can create a concentration bubble around us.  When we feel calm we generate alpha-frequency waves in the brain. Other things to generate these vibrations are nature, water, exercise, music,  yoga practices, meditation, etc.

What is anxiety? Uncertainty comes in different forms for everyone. It could be felt physically as in heart palpitations, lack of air, ruminating thoughts, and digestive issues. One of the important things to know and understand about anxiety is that the symptoms that we feel are real and uncomfortable, but anxiety is a cerebral process.

Our brain is telling you a story when you feel anxiety. It is fear stored in your brain,  to alert you and keep you safe.  It comes from your subconscious. It is fear of something that is not real,  it’s just being imagined.  This is the difference between anxiety and stress. Anxiety can happen at any given moment, even when you least expect it. Especially when you are in a calm place. And without warning. Our brain is constantly feeding us with information that is stored in our subconscious. The strongest thoughts stored are the ones that put our existence in danger. The memories that make you have a hard time in life. Because the brain has interpreted that as a dangerous thing. As we know, the main reason for our brain to exist is for our survival, it is not for our happiness and our development.

Our brain is constantly feeding those thoughts and they are mostly negative even though there are some positive ones too. Our subconscious, to understand it better,  works like the stars, they’re always there, but we can only see them at night.

The good news is that we can change that narrative. 

Here is how. Let’s take our brain outside our heads with our imagination.  Let’s place it right in front of us on a table. This is not a perfect brain. It is like a little child.  We need to picture a scared brain that feels anxious. Anxiety is a way that our brain has to tell us it’s scared to death. When we use some common sense and view our brain as a scared child it is easier to figure out ways to calm it down. When our heart starts beating fast our brain sends us the signals to pay attention to it. To take care of the fear.  When you have a scared child you need to acknowledge with empathy what he is feeling and with calm eyes. So he doesn’t feel the anguish in you and the fear. The fastest thing to physically calm ourselves is to breathe.  Exhaling longer than the inhales.

1.  Breathe

2. Empathize (telling ourselves we understand we are afraid but it’s not real)

Let’s not fight the symptoms but distract the brain to look at different things and not at the symptoms. What can aid these? Our senses.

Connecting with them is so important. Listening to music that makes you happy, movement and stretching of the body,  smelling something pleasant, moving your eyes around. Worrying for too long is perpetrating the symptoms and the anxiety because the brain likes attention. It’s like giving the child reasons to be afraid.

Anxiety is present in all of us.  The key is to not let the anxiety become chronic. There is anxiety that comes from childhood trauma. Connecting to this through therapy or journaling will allow us to understand its roots and overcome feeling it subconsciously so that it doesn’t manifest in the present anymore. This is the principle of EMDR. Bringing awareness going through and accepting it has ended, it is in the past and cannot be re-created.

What is the difference between stress and anxiety? Stress is necessary to achieve certain tasks, the ones that are out of the norm and make you feel uncomfortable. Stress happens when there’s a stressor element present. Stress doesn’t happen just because.  Anxiety is a mechanical cerebral process. It appears for no reason. Without the need for an external factor.  Anxiety in most cases is the chronic stress that has been stored and makes you feel anxious.

When you are calm this is when anxiety identifies that it is a safe time to show up.  To manifest.  Like a little child would come to you when you're calm to get the attention he needs. He is going to try to tell you, “You think you're good but in reality, you’re not and I will prove it to you”. And how?  With a panic attack, sweat on your hands,  palpitations, etc.

There’s a recent study at Harvard that demonstrates how reprogramming our brain can give stress a different meaning. Instead of focusing on the high heart palpitations, sweaty hands, fast breathing, and anxiety symptoms, we tell our brain that those signs we are feeling are not negative and that what’s in front of us is not a threat.  All of those signs are positive.  Our body is working for us to make us superhuman! To become empowered to face the present situation. Instead of looking at it as a survival skill, we will look at it as an act of empowerment. It makes us stronger.  

In a study with the brain connected to magnetic radio frequencies, researchers could tell that the brain, even in the presence of heart palpitations, remained calm because it was no longer a threat. This is a huge discovery.  We can connect with stress from a positive way or point of view. The outcome is not negative; it’s about evolution and it is going to help with our development.

The important thing to remember is that there are two types of stress. The eustress and that distress. The first one is the positive one. Distress if left untreated in our body for a long time can become anxiety. We can tell our brain there is a limit for that stress so it doesn’t worry about it lingering.  It could be a few minutes of discomfort, it could be a few months like with a professional task, it could be a transitional stressor but the key is to have a time limit.  An expiration for the discomfort.

What is self-esteem?

It is the ability to feel Love by ourselves and others. In our brain, it starts from birth. It is what our brain uses for survival.

Our two main human necessities are:

1) Feeling loved and taken care of which is key to our survival.

2) Feeling accepted in a group.

If any of the two are missing, if we don’t feel loved taken care of, or accepted, we won’t be able to survive. Our brain in its quest for protection has been programmed since birth, to be very aware of this.

The first thing that it starts gathering as data is how we look against others and how loved we are by others also. Our human conditioning since we’re little is to find ourselves lovable and accepted.

We create a series of traits to fit in the family and be accepted and loved.  It goes into our subconscious.

The second part comes with how we perceive ourselves and how much we love ourselves. This is where the reprogramming can be done. Our self-esteem can be reprogrammed with new information about who we are right now on a more conscious level. Now we are loved, not just because of all the past things, but because we have a better understanding about who we are. Our talents and our strengths. And this is why our survival is not in danger. We are already in a safe place. It doesn’t matter what others think of us because we know who we are. It is not a life or death situation like what our childhood brain was constantly thinking. The more direct way to remind our brain of who we are is to go to previous success stories. They don’t have to be huge ones. The stories where our brain worked well. What we feel proud of ourselves for an achievement and when we feel good about ourselves. Those moments of triumph. Bringing those to the surface so they can become a part of the new programming for our brain.

Independently from what we hear externally, we will be certain of what we know about ourselves. The most selfish act of generosity we can make for others is loving ourselves.  If we love ourselves we change our surrounding world.

Self-esteem can go up and down and this is ok. Nothing is perfect.

 Life is full of changes.  Our brain doesn’t like changes it likes routine.  Uncertainty is not what it likes.  It will start saying “you know…you don’t need this or the other” But our organism will start asking us for change.  Through ailments, depression, etc., the brain will say “No! stay here, this is what we know!!!  It is very stubborn and it doesn’t want to help. How come my organism knows this particular thing or habit or action is not working for us and I am suffering?   How come my brain is not helping me resolve it? How come it’s not giving me the tools optimism and strength to change? Because the level of evolution of the brain is lower than what we need it to be.  So we need to help it.  Anytime we have the chance, let’s show the brain that changing has a purpose and benefit and it will take us to a better place where we will be fine. It doesn’t have to be extraordinary, it only needs to know that You will survive.  The change doesn’t have to be huge just needs to know that it’s better. Let’s help the brain let go of the fear, and show it a positive outcome. When we are going through a hard time, it’s difficult to concentrate, sleep and eat well. Our organism suffers. This is a moment of transition between hardship and a better place.  We need to help the brain look at the outcome. Because it will try to tell you it’s better to stay where we are, don’t go to the unknown!!! It will start creating obsessive thoughts to try to convince you to stay in the same place.  You might try to change the negative memories and make them positive so that you want to stay in the same place. Simply because it doesn’t know what’s coming and it is so scary. But that is false. We know now it is a mechanical function, and what it was trying to do for us is to survive. To stop these thoughts, a great exercise is to connect with our physical sensations of being ok.  It is so important to show the brain how we feel when we are okay emotionally. If we close our eyes we can connect with those good feelings and remind the brain of those good emotions. The brain does like those emotions of wellness and happiness. If we tell our brain that this is the objective of our actions right now and that we visualize ourselves well in peace and happiness, it will work in our favor.  In any crisis, it is very important to give it the meaning of a TRANSITION,  towards something better. The healing, the strength, the resilience, and the knowledge we will receive after the transition will be our reward, our dopamine.

We have the power to live happily and calmly and retrain our brain with love, perseverance, and patience.