Coping- Rewiring your brain

 

It is amazing how much we can write and discuss coping. Yesterday after I sent the article out I called my sister to get her feedback. She immediately said so the way I understand is if I am unable to deal with stress it is because of some neuron in my brain. True, however, that also led me to think something on lines of rewiring of the brain. Something called neuroplasticity, a concept I had read long back.

When I was trying to explain the science behind coping, I also wanted to establish that coping skills can be developed or learnt. As part of my learning series, I spoke about the RDA theory. It is a thought chain, Retract-detract-Attract, a practice if you consistently follow can help rewire the brain systems to cope better. The details of the theory can be referred from this link. https://nupurdwivedipandey.blogspot.com/2020/09/learning-what-stops-you.html

Before coming back to neuroplasticity and its role in changing behaviour, let us first identify the changes in our body when confronted with a stressful situation or our triggers. Even before I researched this I was aware of some of the signs that my body told me. Public speaking, for example, was always my weak point and to top it all my job profile required me to take sessions and training programs. By virtue of my experience in the field, I was also called to be a TEDx speaker, except I did not know it was a big deal then. In all those opportunities I fumbled and scrabbled my way through the speech.  Safe to say, I performed poorly. I also remember the feeling. It was nothing less than torture, standing in front of people, having the content ready but words won’t come out. Being aware of each every movement, and trying to gage through all reactions in the room was too much effort and then finally focused on my content. Meanwhile, my body followed its own trajectory, breathlessness, loss of focus, the problem in speech. Apparently, your body also gives others signals as well, increased blood pressure, muscle pain, fatigue, stomach upset, heart palpitations, irritability, headaches etc.

Since life is all about to survive or perish, I learned to cope. I remember practising for hours together in front of the mirror just so my delivery was to the tee. I  worked on throwing my voice, which took a lot of time. My mentor trained me on body language, tone, speaking styles, to help me make an impact.

I remember my last live session was with a group of trainers, and one of the compliments I received was my delivery style and engaging session. Clearly, they did not how far I had come to achieve the feat.

 The thing with neuroplasticity or rewiring the brain is based on the growth of new neurons and new connections between neurons. Meditation, learning new skill, exercise and praying, can help build up neurons and connections between the neurons. Visualization also helps, envision your goal, and it will help you in realizing it.

Our brain needs work and practice. Persistence and resilience help. Do not give up.

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