Week 112: Why Practicing Helps

There’s a lot of new information from the field of neuropsychology that explains how and why we do the things we do. For me, one of the most useful pieces of information is about “neural networks”, which describes how our brains lay down neural pathways as a result of experience and learning. Repetition creates neural networks that activate automatically in given circumstances and serve to allow us to move through life without having to think through each and every action and feeling. Problems arise when these neural networks develop as a result of trauma or challenges that overwhelmed us in some way. When this happens, we experience responses and behaviors that may not be good for us, or for those around us.

One of the underlying processes of psychotherapy is to create neural networks that are up to date, that deal with more constructive ways of being. Over time, the new neural networks, based on present-day resourcefulness, become habitual and offer a “competing experience” to the old neural networks that automatically respond to old triggers in less-than-skillful ways. To generate effective “competing experiences”, it’s important to practice new behaviors and new points of view. Repetition reinforces new neural networks and makes them more available, so they can become the “loudest”, or most available response to current situations and challenges. In the past, the old neural networks, based on trauma, were the loudest, and it may have been hard to ignore their demand to run away, strike out, or otherwise respond as we did when we were younger or more vulnerable.

Somatic Experiencing, a trauma treatment approach I have mentioned in other posts, is one powerful way to create “competing experiences” in the nervous system, which translates into new response options. Meditation is another way we generate neural networks that help us to deal with present-day challenges in more skillful and resourceful ways. In fact, any process of learning something new offers our mind-body beings an opportunity to develop “competing experiences” that can counter old responses that no longer serve us.

For this week’s experiment, I invite you to focus on some new idea, behavior, state of mind, or way of being that you have recently encountered or developed. Or, choose a response you’ve developed that works well for you and that you’d like to reinforce. Notice what happens when you deliberately return to updated response again and again, practicing it internally or in real-time. You can think of this as engaging in practice sessions for the purpose of reinforcing new neural networks. These, in turn, make new ways of being more available when you need them the most.

Over the years, I’ve noticed that most of us have a tendency to continue to be able to automatically fall into old ways of being and behaving, even when we develop truly useful new options and skills. Because of this, it’s helpful not to be surprised or distressed when old feelings or responses pop up, or when you get caught up in a reaction you thought you’d outgrown. The key thing is to have alternatives available when you do get triggered, rather than to hope to never get triggered. There’s a Buddhist meditation I’ve probably mentioned somewhere along the way that says, “Big surprise” when familiar difficulties arise. You can make “big surprise” a companion on this journey so that when reactions and beliefs you thought you’d left behind surprise you by coming up, you can meet them with an easy awareness rather than becoming distressed that the old ways of being have yet again found their way into your experience. And, when you’ve practiced and reinforced your new neural networks, it’s likely to be easier to move through the old reactions more quickly and into the new responses that more effectively support your present-day experience.

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