Hijacking My Own Blog

Bear with me, readers, I'm going to break away from the usual themes for a moment. I really love brains. I mean, I'm sure we all have some attachment to them, but I REALLY love brains. So I'm going to hijack my otherwise focused blog to mouth off for awhile about how awesome they are.

One thing that I find especially fascinating- and inspirational!- about brains is the fact that they can change themselves. Every thought, every sensation, every experience- they all make a slight change into the structure of your brain. As we go through life, we are constantly restructuring our brains. We're strengthening pathways, making connections, and dismantling pathways that as they become less frequently used. Use it or lose. Need it? Build it.

Research is indicating that this flexibility extends far further into adulthood than was previously thought. People afflicted with various troubles ranging from incomplete recovery from stroke to obsessive compulsive disorder, phantom limb pain to blindness from childhood, have broken through what used to be viewed as insurmountable walls. When approached from the perspective of, "How can we rewire your brain?" the possibilities become boundless.

As I make my way through life, I try to remain aware of what pathways I'm strengthening, and what patterns I'm writing in to my structure of my brain. It inspires me to know that I can think a change in my brain right into existence. I am not merely on the ride of where my mind takes me, but can put myself right in the driver's seat.

Since it's been awhile since the last round of trivia-for-free-modeling time* I suppose I'll throw a question out there in time for my travels to San Francisco, then to all stops east. There is a specific term for the brain's ability to change itself. First reader to nail it wins!

*Yes, the rules still apply.