As human beings, we possess the extraordinary ability to identify, achieve and maintain optimal levels of intelligence, mental health, peace and happiness, as well as to prevent diseases of the body and mind.
Modern neuroscience research has proved this ability, which on an instinctive and spiritual level, we already knew long ago: what we think in every moment of our life has the capacity to become physical reality, and therefore have an impact on our physical and mental health. A thought or a choice that we make can mean either a positive or negative change in our brain cells: it is something big and profound, and we control it.
Until only a few decades ago, scientists thought that the brain was a fixed, hardwired machine, whose functions were predefined. According to this view, therefore, a damaged brain would simply have been incurable. Today we know that this is not the case: our brain is not something static and unchangeable.
On the contrary: neuroscience has discovered a very important feature of the brain, namely brain plasticity or neuroplasticity. This is the brain's ability to be malleable and adaptable, constantly changing in every moment of the day and night. Scientists are therefore beginning to recognise the renewable characteristics of the brain: the fact that the brain can actually be modified by the mind can give us great hope, regardless of the biological circumstances in which we are born and live. Such circumstances have far less impact on our mental and physical health than we think: how we deliberately choose to react to them matters much more.
So, the key to activating the brain to achieve happiness and mental health lies in understanding that, through the very thoughts that we think and the choices that we make, we can modify our brain and free ourselves from the genetic constraints we believed to be inevitable.
