As I was reading an article on neuronal plasticity this morning, I had a bit of an epiphany. There were no really new facts to me: your brain is constantly rewiring itself in response to your needs and environment. However, I really felt this plasticity of the brain as a physical thing for the first time.
Of course it takes time for the brain to physical build up/tear down synapses, create new cells, development new feedback loops etc. I realized it was like developing a callus on your finger when you write a lot for several days in a row or how your muscles ache and hurt when you start exercising again after a long break from being active, or how your knees and ankles hurt when you start running again after months of inactivity.
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| from this morning's article |
I have a picture in my mind of my mind (recursion alert!) getting pressed upon by some kind of complex cheeseboard with an elaborate pattern engraved on it (representing the external stimuli or my own efforts to change my mental paradigm). Of course one imprinting will not do the trick. I'm not going to go through all the work and trouble of tearing down synapses and making new ones unless you hit me with that cheeseboard several times and, even then, it will take me a while.
So I plan to be a bit more forgiving to myself when it takes me a while to break out of an unhelpful mental loop or retrain myself to think about something or someone differently than I did before. Just like I know I will have to ease back into my yoga routine if I haven't done anything for months...
It's funny how you can know something (as in knowing the facts) for years but you may not really understand it at all.
(For those who don't get the reference, the word 'grok' is from Heinlein's classic Stranger in a Strange Land)
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