Carole Rehbock: coach specializing in life planning, team building, life balance, transition management, personal and professional development

Issue #18:
The Brain and Joy:
Facts, Tips, Benefits

Facts about the Brain That Incline the Mind to Joy

#1 The mind and the brain are mainly (and perhaps entirely) one unified system.

Almost every - and perhaps every - subjective state is correlated with an objective, material brain state. Think of it this way: everything we are aware of, including our own sense of self, has a one-to-one correspondence with underlying, physical, brain structures and activities. Just like a letter to friend or a picture of a sunset on your computer requires and represents an underlying pattern of magnetic charges onyour hard drive.

First, this means that, as your experience changes, your brain changes. It changes both temporarily, millisecond by millisecond, AND - as we will discuss in a moment - it changes in lasting way. Second, this means that, as your brain changes, your experience changes.

Therefore, you can use your mind to change your brain to benefit your mind. And this has profound implications – and opportunities.

#2 Neurons that fire together, wire together.

This creation of neurological structure happens both over brief time intervals – through fairly ephemeral electrochemical changes – and over longer time periods as new synaptic connections form.

#3 Fleeting experiences leave lasting traces in the brain.

The fleeting flow of experience leaves behind lasting marks on your brain, much like a spring shower leaves a trail of little gullies on a hillside. Examples from pianists . . . and meditators. This means that your experiences are important not just because of their momentary effects on your subjective quality of life, but also because they produce enduring changes in the structure of your brain, which affects your well-being, functioning, and sometimes your physical health for days and decades to come. Which of course affects others besides yourself.

#4 Crucial traces are found in implicit memory.

Implicit memory - emotional/somatic memory - is different from remembering ideas or concepts: this kind of memory is in your "gut." It's visceral, felt, powerful, and rooted in the fundamental and ancient – reptile and early mammal – structures of your brain. The inner atmosphere of your mind – what living feels like – is rooted in implicit memory. In a profound sense, we are what we remember - the slow accumulation of the registration of lived experience. That's what we have "taken in" to become a part of ourselves. Just as food becomes woven into the body, memory becomes woven into the self.

#5 Unfortunately, the brain emphasizes negative experiences.

These have survival value. The amygdala – the switchboard that assigns a feeling tone to experience (pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral) and indicates a response (desire, aversion, ignore and move on) – is neurologically primed to label experiences as frightening and negative. This means that negative experiences generally trump positive ones: A single bad event with a dog is more memorable than a 1000 good times. The brain is like Velcro for negative experiences and Teflon for positive ones. This can lead the interior landscape to be unfairly tilted in a negative direction.

Tips to Incline the Brain toward Joy

Positive experiences are best registered through conscious attention.

1. Help positive events become positive experiences.

You can do this by:

Paying attention to the good things in your world, and inside yourself. So often, good events roll by our eyes without us noticing them.
You could set a goal each day to actively look for beauty in your world, or signs of caring for you by others, or good qualities within yourself, etc.
Deciding to let yourself feel pleasure and be happy, rather than feel guilty about enjoying life. In particular, release any resistance for feeling good about yourself. You've earned the good times: the meal is set before you, it's already paid for, and you might as well dig in! You are just being fair, seeing the truth of things. You are not being vain or arrogant - which distort the truth of things.
Opening up to the emotional and sensate aspects of your responses to positive events, since that is the pathway to experiencing things.
Sometimes doing things deliberately to create positive experiences for yourself. For example, you could take on a challenge, or do something nice for others, or bring to mind feelings of compassion and caring, or call up the sense or memory of feeling contented, peaceful, and happy.

2. Extend the experience in time and space:

Keep your attention on it so it lingers; don't just jump onto something else. Notice any discomfort with staying with feeling good.
Let it fill your body with positive sensations and emotions. (That’s the space part.)
In sum, savor, relish the positive experience. It's delicious!

3. Sense that the positive experience is soaking into your brain and body - registering deeply in emotional memory.

Perhaps imagine that it's sinking into your chest and back and brainstem.
Maybe imagine a treasure chest in your heart.
Take the time to do this: 5 or 10 or 20 seconds. Keep relaxing your body and absorbing the positive experience.

By inclining the mind to JOY there are many benefits:

emotions organize the mind as whole, so positive feelings have global effects.
the stress response in your body is lowered by dampening the arousal of the sympathetic nervous system (the “fight or flight” wing) and by activating the parasympathetic nervous system (relaxed and contented).
there is an increase psychological resilience.
your mood is lifted and protected against depression.
promote optimism – highlight key states of mind so you can find your way back to them in the future. So you can more readily tap into peace, contentment, and well-being, etc.
promotes steadiness of mind

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ALIGNING WHO YOU ARE WITH WHAT YOU DO is ©2007 Carole Rehbock. All rights reserved worldwide. No part of this publication may be reproduced without express written permission from the publisher.

Carole Rehbock is a career and life coach, and consultant, who specializes in helping people align who they are with what they do in life. Learn more at www.rehbocksolutions.com or give her a call at 510-843-6417.

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