Take Control of Your Brain – Your Life Will Follow
Hannah Howell2025-03-17T13:55:15-04:00Take Control of Your Brain – Your Life Will Follow
How Neuroplasticity & Cognitive Biases Could be Running Your Life
By Eliana Arroyo | Edited by Jaclyn Tipton
Last Updated: 3/12/2025
As we step into the new year, it is important to take a step back and reflect on our relationship with ourselves. If you have had feelings of self-doubt or low self-esteem in 2024, don’t worry; you are not alone. In fact, it is estimated that approximately 85% of people worldwide have low self-esteem. Despite how commonly we tend to view ourselves in a negative light, it does not need to be this way! Neuroplasticity has been shown to improve mental health, and it could likely help you and your loved ones as well.
What is Neuroplasticity?
The word “neuroplasticity” has been growing in popularity recently, being casually thrown around in self-help books and psychology lectures. So what exactly does it mean? In simple terms, neuroplasticity is your brain’s ability to change and adapt to life. Turns out that we can keep shaping our brain our whole lives. Your brain is like plastic, meaning it can be molded by your new experiences.
As you experience new situations, your brain is improving its own connections and eliminating ones that are not useful. This nervous system characteristic has several benefits, one of the main ones being learning. From school children memorizing the alphabet to a stroke patient re-learning how to walk, neuroplasticity is the hallmark of learning.
What Are Cognitive Biases?
Over time, our brains have become great at subconsciously sifting through information and making decisions. These strategies are known as cognitive biases, and though we all have them, these biases can make it hard to see the truth. However, cognitive biases are your brain’s attempt to simplify our thoughts to make life easier for us. Even though this is useful, biases can also be very limiting and, well, biased. Some of the most common biases include the following:
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What is Confirmation Bias?
: prioritizing and looking for information that aligns with our pre-existing beliefs, while possibly discounting information that does not align with our pre-existing beliefs.
“For example,” says Kendra Cherry, MSEd, “imagine that Mary believes left-handed people are more creative than right-handed people. Whenever Mary encounters a left-handed, creative person, she will place greater importance on this “evidence” because it supports what she already believes. Mary might even seek proof that further backs up this belief while discounting examples that don’t support the idea.”
Having these biases can hinder your confidence, because if you view yourself in a negative light, you are more likely to search for evidence that supports your beliefs. For example, if you fail a test that you studied hours for, you may tell yourself that you are not smart because you are choosing to look solely at a failing grade. But you are forgetting to congratulate yourself for all the time you spent studying and improving!
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What is Negativity bias?
: our brain’s tendency to focus more on negative aspects of life instead of the positive. As well as the tendency to ruminate on that negativity.
The amygdala (a major emotion-processing part of our brain) is strongly activated when responding to negative events. That makes our brains remember negative events longer than positive!
For example, you can have a good day, but the second somebody says or does something that hurts you, you are likely to remember that day based on that one negative instance, instead of, say, the really tasty sandwich you ate at lunch. This negativity bias can, over time, impact your memories and perspective on life negatively. Because of this bias, we are more likely to remember criticism than praise.
These biases prove that we must be willing to be uncomfortable to grow. If we practice tools such as gratitude and reframing, we can encourage ourselves to focus on the positive parts of negative situations. Maybe that person hurt your feelings, but hey, at least you’ll have a story to tell your friends! Doing this will train neural pathways in your brain to see obstacles as an opportunity for growth, rather than a kick to your self-esteem.
If you’re looking to raise your self-esteem with like-minded individuals in the mental health community, click here to see our weekly and monthly Zoom support groups.
Neuroplasticity and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
As someone who has struggled with depression, I am no stranger to the feeling of hopelessness. For quite a long time, I felt constantly trapped in a cycle of self-doubt and negative self-talk. However, a sliver of hope presented itself when I got familiar with the science of neuroplasticity. I learned that although we cannot change the root causes of depression, we can certainly change the way we train our brains.
This is heavily associated with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). A therapist’s purpose for introducing CBT to clients can be to alter negative thought patterns that may not be causing depression but are contributing to it. This showed me and millions of other people that change truly is possible. With the combination of CBT and neuroplasticity, I was able to alter my negative thought patterns and, in turn, I learned to be kinder and more accepting of myself.
The Color of Our Thoughts
Marcus Aurelius, a famous Roman emperor, once said, “The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.” In this powerful quote, Aurelius is trying to tell us that our version of reality is heavily dependent on how we view our lives. How we view ourselves and the world around us is shaped by complex interactions, experiences, cultural backgrounds, beliefs, and those we surround ourselves with. So the key to fighting this cycle is to feed your brain new, positive influences.
For example, having emotionally safe people affirm you (such as compliments or praise) can be a wonderful and loving way to boost your self-confidence. In time, these affirmations coming from yourself and your loved ones can help you start seeing the positives in yourself!
NAMI Tallahassee is known for its amazing, free support groups, where people can enter a non-judgemental space and speak openly about their struggles. The group facilitators and participants themselves can help you feel better and leave the group with a fresh change in perspective. If you are interested in seeing all NAMI Tallahassee’s current support groups, click here.
Neuroplasticity Brain Exercises
There are countless actions we can take to increase our neuroplasticity and resilience. To start, try these brain-hacking tips:
- Chase Change: Experiences like traveling or even a small shift in routine (like waking up ten minutes earlier) can offer new perspectives and prepare your brain to adapt to changes and be able to perform when unexpected events occur.
- Learn a new skill: Practicing a new instrument or learning a new language can force your brain to be exposed to unfamiliar territory and maneuver through uncomfortable learning situations. It will also improve your memory and form new, strong connections in the brain!
- Exercise: There is a ton of evidence to support the perks that physical activity has on the brain. And though the brain and body are often talked about separately, we know now more than ever that the two are unquestionably connected. Exercise also has been known to release feel-good endorphins that improve confidence and self-esteem!
- Stay Mindful: Activities that encourage focusing on the present moment, like meditation, can lower stress levels and improve emotional coping skills. Even just a 5-minute meditation daily can be a game changer. Being in the present also trains your brain to stop thinking about the future or the past. And being too deep into the future or past can cause stress, anxiety, and depression!
- Sleep: It’s true: quality sleep is one of the healthiest things you can do for your brain. Research has shown that sleep enhances “dendritic” growth. In layman’s terms, dendrites transfer information across the brain, so the more dendrites present means that your brain is faster at learning new material AND storing that material in our long-term memories.
Be forgiving
Of course, implementing these lifestyle and brain changes is no easy feat. There will always be bad days, and sometimes you won’t have the mental or physical energy to apply any extra effort. And in these times, remember that you can lean on your support system; it’s okay to be comforted! Remember to always be proud of yourself for trying. No amount of knowledge or creativity will make everything negative go away, but they can offer us hope in stressful situations and amplify that light at the end of the tunnel… even just a little.
My own experience
Understandably, someone reading this might just think it’s a bunch of toxic positivity and fake science trying to motivate you to do something you never wanted to do in the first place. But neuroplasticity truly has transformed my life. During my freshman year of high school on Zoom, during the peak of the COVID pandemic, I was failing out of classes and constantly felt like I was gaining nothing by watching my teachers through my computer screen. Even when I returned in person to high school during my sophomore year, I still felt lost. I prioritized entertainment and having fun, and I did, but every night when I went to sleep, I felt like something was missing. I felt like I could be doing more, but everybody I knew who had good grades was “naturally smart,” so I thought I could never be like them.
Being introduced to neuroplasticity gave me tangible evidence that the biggest barrier stopping me was myself. This fascination drove me to fall in love with personal growth and testing my limits. I went from not having a clear vision of my future to being a proud freshman at Florida State University and writing this blog! So, to everybody reading this: stay hopeful and remember that progress always starts with the smallest steps.