What you practice really does strengthen those circuits in your brain, according to some recent breakthrough findings about how the brain makes space to build newer and stronger connections. But our ability to learn is more than building and strengthening neural connections. It’s in our ability to break down the old ones, or “synaptic pruning” as it’s called.
Compare the brain to a garden, with synaptic connections between neurons in place of the plants. There are glial cells that act as gardeners, which speed up signals between certain neurons. There are other cells, microglial cells, that are the pruners, getting rid of waste and pulling weeds.
How do the pruners tell the difference between plants and waste? It’s the difference between what connections get used and which don’t. Translation: what you think about a lot gets stengthened, what you don’t think about gets trashed.
If you’re in a fight with someone at work and devote your time to thinking about how to get even with them, and not about that big project, you’re going to wind up a synaptic superstar at revenge plots but a poor innovator.
So another reason to be mindful of the thoughts twirling around in your head. Think about the things that are important to you (goals, accomplishments, learning) rather than the things that aren’t important to you (the past, the obstacles, the pundits).
