Habits get etched into the neural patterns of your brain. They don’t require conscious thought — which is one reason they’re so darn hard to break. However, science shows that there’s a pause, a “mindful quarter second”, in between awareness…

A year and a half ago, I was sitting in a room with my mother and she didn’t know who I was. We were having a polite conversation, like two strangers. She didn’t realize that she was talking to her…

At the most basic level, your reality is constructed by your brain. Making sense of the world and its happenings is nothing more than your individual brain’s interpretation of the signals it receives as you go about your days interacting…

Every minute of every day, your body is physically changing in response to the thoughts that run through your head. Just thinking about something causes your brain to send signals and release neurotransmitters. These chemicals control virtually all of your…

Michelangelo had obsessive-compulsive disorder. Sir Isaac Newton was bipolar and depressed. Abraham Lincoln was known to have depressive episodes and anxiety attacks. Winston Churchill accomplished all that he did with bipolar disorder and dyslexia. Princess Diana was depressed and bulimic,…

There’s always a light at the end of the tunnel so the saying goes. Faith is believing that it’s not a train barreling straight at you. I had a serious brain injury in 2007, the result of a suicide attempt…

We all know what our brain is, right? It’s the three pounds of “convoluted mass of gray and white matter” in your head that “controls and coordinates all mental and physical actions.” Easy enough. Now, define the mind. Not so…

Resilience is not a trait that you are either born with or without. It’s a set of behaviors, thoughts, and actions that can be learned and developed. When you break it down to the physical level in your brain, resilience…

When unpleasant and painful experiences get stored in your brain, they can have real negative mental and physical consequences. An accumulation of negative subconscious material, from past stress, hurts, and trauma, can eventually show up as a wide array of…

For years she had tried to be the perfect wife and mother but now, divorced, with two sons, having gone through another break-up and in despair about her future, she felt as if she’d failed at it all, and she…

Memory is an active and ongoing process in your brain. It involves chemical and structural changes in brain cells and their connections at the moment you want to store something in your brain and when you want to recall it.…

I bet you knew that alcohol use, including routine binge drinking, heavy social drinking, alcohol abuse, and alcoholism, leads to serious brain changes. These brain alterations can negatively impact a person’s cognitive thinking skills, visuospatial perception, motor skills, short and…