The good news is that we can change the actual physical structure of our brain to make our lives easier, with less anxiety, less fear and less negativity.

The bad news is that it takes attention and effort…and the job is never done.

Recently I came across Dr. Rick Hanson, neuro-psychologist, www.rickhanson.net, and listened to the first two parts of a four part series of lectures called “Taking the Good” (www.audiodharma.org) about positive thinking research primarily out of UW/Madison’s Waisman Institute for Integrative Health (www.investigatinghealthyminds.org).

While the purists among us might want to read/listen to the research at its source, I found Dr. Richie Davidson’s rendering dry, unnecessarily long and boring, while Dr. Hanson takes the same information and makes it interesting and easy to listen to and comprehend.

The short version, without all the science about neurons, neuro-transmitters, and impressive-sounding names of brain sections, (which is fascinating and definitely worth listening to) is that we can create and fortify new neuro-pathways with mental exercises.

That while we’re wired to live by an emphasis on negativity (those laid back, it’s-all-good type animals and humans became someone’s dinner while the fearful, careful, anxiety-ridden became our grannies and granddaddies), we can carry out exercises in positive thinking 2-3 times a day for a couple of minutes each time, and thicken right up our left frontal lobe, creating a life of more personal comfort, altruism and even stave off Altheimer’s.

As some Canadian neuroscientist said “the neurons that fire together, wire together.”

Used to be we thought our brain cells died off all the time leading inexorably and inevitably to a feeble old age. Turns out that we do, indeed, lose 10,000 brain cells a day (and 10,000 for every alcoholic beverage…yikes!). But we can also add new brain cells and, actually better yet, expand the ones we have left.

Hanson describes it sort of like this – When there’s a forest fire, after awhile there are lots of little saplings. A decade later those saplings haven’t become an equal number of big trees. They’ve thinned out. The remaining trees, though, are not only way taller but have branched out with their branches reaching to each other in an”arborization” effect.

That’s what our brain cells do. But only through brain exercise.

Luckily, we all get lots of brain exercise without making a conscious effort. There are billions of synapses that send trillions of messages daily. Wiggle your big toe and you’ve sent hundreds of thousands of messages in a flash.

Our brain never rests. Not even when we’re asleep.

But there’s brain exercise and there’s brain exercise.

Wiggling your big toe is great but research has shown that meditation is greater.

What do I, with my daily meditation practice,  have in common with a Tibetan monk who lives in a monastery and a Christian contemplative nun who lives a life of service? We all have three areas in our brains which light up like a campfire when seen on an MRI slice. The area responsible for executive decisions, the area where enjoyment of reward shows up and the left front lobe with self-awareness and positive sensations.

Aside from the usual meditation practice of quieting thoughts to be present in the here and now – what Hanson calls stage one “let it be” and stage two “let it go”- research has shown that a practice of stage three “let it in” can make those brain changes to improve our lives vastly.

What do we let in? We let in positive thought to counter our great-great-grandparents fear of the tiger who doesn’t exist (we still don’t want to ignore the tiger who does exist) and antidote thought to counter holes of lacking from our early development. And we practice both daily to keep those neurons firing and wiring.

Positive Thought Practice

1. Choose a positive experience from today or yesterday and think about it

This can be something as small as a kind word from someone, completing a task you’ve set for yourself like washing the car, or as huge as getting a raise or getting pregnant.

2. Move the experience from your mind to your body

Let your thought become the feeling associated with it. Does it translate into a smile? A feeling of an expansion in your chest? A relaxation of your brow and other face muscles?

3. Let the thought and feeling sink more deeply into you and stay with it for a minute or two.

We have a tendency to have negative thoughts pop up to the surface. “Yeah, but washing the car is something I should do much more regularly.” “Yeah, well, the job won’t last because I probably won’t be able to fulfill her expectations.” Just note what comes up and bring the positive thought and feeling back into the foreground.

Antidote Thought Practice

We all have at least one narrative of “not enough” from our formative years. Not enough love. Not enough recognition. Not enough power. And it becomes a theme for how we react to our lives and the events and people in them.

A meditation practice can help us slow down, take a deep breath, and respond differently.

Neuroscience has now shown that we can also do exercises to change the physical structure of our brain to direct our reactions toward a new neuropathway.

1. Think of the hole of whatever was lacking (most of us know what it is but if you don’t, just choose “not enough love” since that’s a generic fallback that’s true for almost all of us) and then choose an experience from today or yesterday that shows the exact opposite and think about it.

If your particular hole has to do with not having been seen/recognized by your family of origin or your peers, you might think about a conversation with someone wherein they really “got it”.

Or if you felt powerless, perhaps you can call to mind a few of the decisions you made today which were totally your own.

Let the hole remain in the background while the positive opposite stand firmly in the foreground.

2. Move the positive experience from your head to your heart; from thought to feeling. Like the “positive thought practice” but take along the hole of lacking in a much smaller dose.

3. Let the thought and feeling really sink in and hold it inside for a minute or two. Note all the thoughts that arise, often thoughts of negativity, and the feelings, often of sadness, getting choked up, or of fear or anger.

The hole may gape ever larger and threaten to swallow up the positive. Pay attention but return it firmly to the background.

I’ve been talking about all this to the women in my Monday night yoga and meditation group. A few of them have taken it to heart and are trying to do their brain exercises 2-3 times a day. It will be interesting to see if a few months of it make a difference, or as Hanson says, the difference that makes a difference.

And now I have to go…it’s time for my brain exercise.