Daily brain training can moderate moods
Stress for Success
May 29, 2012

Brain training based on current brain research can help diminish what haunts you mentally and cultivate better moods.
According to the authors of “Buddha’s Brain” Drs. Hanson & Mendius, to make progress on this, you must let go of regretting what has already happened and worrying about what the future may hold. Both the past and the future are beyond your control. All you can do is deal with is your present reality.
Evolving brain research, as covered in their excellent book, offers suggestions on how to shape your present reality to influence your future in a variety of ways. For instance, if you’re trying desperately to stop a defensive reaction to someone who hooks you emotionally, when you’re with this person take a very deep, slow breath and exhale more than you just inhaled. This breathing style triggers the relaxation response (the calming parasympathetic nervous system). It allows you to “choose” a more appropriate and hopefully calmer response. Doing this won’t guarantee you’ll actually change your defensive reaction but it facilitates the change if you want to make it badly enough.
Or when you relive an upsetting experience, like doing poorly in an interview, make yourself recall the feeling of an experience when you were very competent, impressive and successful. Relive the positive experience for several minutes. Allow the image to sink into every part of your mind and body. This gradually permeates the upsetting memory with a positive feeling.
Another small strategy done often that can gradually lead you to better mental states is to deliberately extend feelings of happiness. This increases the level of the neurotransmitter dopamine, which helps your attention stay focused.
The book’s authors tell us that doing little things like this throughout your days, month after month, changes your brain “from the inside out.” They caution that to be successful with the techniques you have to be kind to yourself and forgiving of whatever created in you the emotional states that now inhibit your happiness. You must simply accept that your only influence is in the here and now. Any blaming, complaining, worrying, or regretting what made you the way you are will only reinforce the moods you want to change, making them more difficult to alter.
The authors also say the major roadblocks your mind (your brain) constructs to inhibit change are usually ones that involve some kind of suffering. After all, it is only we humans who worry about the future, regret the past, and blame ourselves for the present. We become frustrated when we don’t get what we want and disappointed when others don’t behave as we wish they would. We become angry with other drivers on the highway, sad about seeing the same person in the mirror every morning.
But Drs. Hanson & Mendius share some very good news: since this anguish is constructed by the brain, the brain can also create other mental states like contentment. I’ll share more of their ideas next week
Jacquelyn Ferguson, M. S., is an international speaker and a Stress and Wellness Coach. Order her book, Let Your Body Win: Stress Management Plain & Simple, at http://www.letyourbodywin.com/bookstore.html. Email her to request she speak to your organization at jferg8@aol.com.