Self-Improvement Through Cognitive Training

 It is important to use your thoughts to gain the attributes that point you toward the proper way. 

All of us are bound by some sort of obligation. It's impossible to live a fulfilling life without making  a number of commitments. You make promises to yourself when you sign up for a task. Make a pact with yourself and start keeping your end of the bargain. I make a firm commitment to letting go of bad habits that are getting in the way of my achieving my goals and improving my personal life.

You can use your abilities to improve your life by evaluating them. Keep looking for new abilities while you evaluate your current ones. Embrace the things you don't like and look past them in order to learn new things.

Do you know what's most important to you? Do you have a clear picture of everything you have in mind? To ensure that you're on the proper track to better your personal life, reassess your plans. Don't be scared to make changes if you see room for improvement. If you want to better your life, taking action is the final step you'll take.

When it comes to failure, how do you see it? We all experience failure on a daily basis. When we fail, we learn how to grow and become better people. If you're constantly worrying about failing, you won't get anywhere fast. Failure is a normal part of life. Accept responsibility for your mistakes, learn from them, and take action to improve your situation.

As soon as someone hears the word "no," they become nervous. The word "no" is not a form of rejection. That means that when you answer "no, I'm not going to the bar," it's implying that you have other things to do with your time. You have to tell someone you care about no from time to time. If your partner asks you to watch TV when you know you have homework due, you may have to say no. Your partner should not be able to hold you back. It's perfectly acceptable to decline.

We all adhere to the same set of regulations. Rules are a necessary aspect of life, although they can be difficult to understand at times. If you don't want to speak up and protest in a constructive way, you'll have to learn to open up your pathway and digest them nevertheless. It's a waste of everyone's time when people whine about regulations they don't like and don't do anything about it. You have the ability, but you must use it.

There will be a series of practise rides:

It's all about the rides. Every time we get out of the house, we're taking a test ride. Every day brings both good and negative experiences. How do you tackle difficulties? Risk-takers tend to be better able to deal with adversity. For those who dread change, however, they will need to discover a manner of dealing with the difficulties of life. Sadly, too many people resort to excessive drinking or drug use as a means of coping with these difficulties. Be careful not to become one of these people.

You have a wide range of choices to make in your life. You'll be presented with both good and terrible alternatives on a daily basis. Even if you make a mistake, don't linger on it; instead, use your resources to learn from your mistakes and try to avoid them in the future.

How does failure kick you in the butt in order to achieve your goals?

The need to associate only good feelings with our heroes is innate in us.

As a result, our heroes have taken on a life of their own. We don't want our favourite athletes to engage in doping or other unethical behaviour. We don't want our humanitarian or political heroes to be embroiled in sleazy scandals or illegal behaviour.. Our heroes in science should avoid the greatest of all scientific sins: admitting that they were mistaken.

When they fail to match our expectations, we feel justified in criticising them.

We think they're entitled to this humiliation.

Because of their failures, those who backed them in the past have always been questioned by history.

When people establish unrealistically high expectations for themselves, they react by judging themselves harshly for even the slightest accomplishments, such as proving a point in politics or winning an argument. They wind themselves in bitter arguments and ruminating for days about it for no good reason.

Rather than being a solo undertaking, living is an experience shared with millions of other people throughout the world. When you get it wrong, it's not a death sentence, but rather a springboard for more achievement.

The adage "once a failure, always a failure" is simply not true. Some of history's biggest failures were followed by a success that no one could have imagined, even our greatest heroes.

Despite this, we persist in our pursuit of perfection and accuracy as our two closest allies on the road to greatness. Is it true that failure weakens our thinking? Is it possible that by embracing failure, we are making the other person less driven and callous? People who believe that being severe on failure is a good approach to spur growth will be relieved if that response is yes.

Failure is a scientific fact

An MRI study by the University of Southern California and a team of international researchers has found that failure may be turned into a good experience by the brain if it chose to learn from its mistakes. 2.

Researchers have known for years that our brains learn in two different ways.

Avoidance learning is the practise of teaching children to avoid making the same mistakes again by punishing or condemning them when they make mistakes.

The reward-based learning approach is less common, but it works by rewarding the neurons in the brain each time they arrive at the correct response and rewiring their connections in the process.

Redefining mechanisms are activated in instances where there is enough information to assess and analyse the options, rather than defaulting to avoidance.

The finding of a brain region that makes you ponder if you've made a mistake and whether you've been urged to learn, take things in stride, and work on your mistakes was made by Oxford University scientists.

There are a dozen smaller areas in this part of the brain based on scans from 25 men and women. Afterward, the brain scans were compared to those of monkeys.

Incredibly, the brains of the macaque monkey and humans were found to be very different, even though they are our closest cousins. Why we are so good at working with our species and growing to a stage that no other species has even come close to reaching is most likely explained by this fact.

Among the 12 sections of the network, 11 were present in both humans and monkeys, and they were related to other parts of the brain in similar ways.

However, the macaques lacked the lateral frontal pole prefrontal cortex, which is one of our closest relatives.

It's not the first time the brains of humans and monkeys have diverged, but this is the first time a shift this pronounced has been discovered in the region responsible for the ability to change one's mind.

Rather than dwelling on what we could have done differently in other portions of the brain, this new region muses on what we may have done in the first place.

Basically, the lateral frontal pole is like a spouse who is always ready to tell you how easy it would have been to get it right if you'd just listened. To ensure that you don't do it again, the voice of authority advises you to retire to your room and ponder the consequences of your actions...

As a result, failing serves as a catalyst for growth in these areas. There would be no stress if the brain were not distracted by the negative feedback loops, which in turn stimulate our emotional brain (the amygdala). The rumination and disappointment that follow failure are caused by this self-judgement or criticism from others.

There are two equally sized areas in the prefrontal cortex, one of which Antoine Bechara, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Southern California, believes is the source of our fear of failure and our desire for achievement. The argument between risk and reward arises in this context, he explains. These areas interact during the decision-making process in a way that is reminiscent of the devil and the angel sitting on our shoulders. This is a winner-takes-all situation. The conclusion of the debate, therefore, has a significant impact on our reactions. In the event that our previous failures have permanently etched their unfavourable impressions on our brains, there isn't much we can do to reverse the process.

4.    Endorphins, dopamine, and serotonin are released in our brains when we achieve accomplishment, which encourages us to continue the activity.

Failure causes our bodies to release cortisol, which causes us to feel rejected and unsafe.

Repetitive patterns of neural activity and brain regions connected with stress have been found in neuroimaging investigations. Scan results show a decrease in activity in the higher, reflecting brains at times of acute stress. Emotional and behavioural reactions are influenced by increased activity in the lower, reactive brain. Reactive networks in the lower brain get more dense and faster, while prefrontal cortex conscious control centres become less connected to each other.

It's better to rewire your brain to grow acclimated to the sense of success than to expect failure, because concentrating on outcomes can strengthen and autonomous neural networks. It is because of this that we react to failure before we are even aware of it. It's easy to remember how many times you've had that sinking feeling before the results are announced.

It is possible to use failure as a springboard to reevaluate our approach and turn adversity into opportunity.

Basically, there are two types of mindsets: one that pushes for perfection and the other that expects it. In order to achieve perfection, one must be willing to recognise that mistakes are a part of the process.

In contrast, we know that perfection is nearly impossible, thus demanding it might lead to a lot of terrible experiences.

Emotional exhaustion and burnout can occur in those who believe that failure is not an option, or who place an unrealistic standard of perfection on themselves and are emotionally exhausted all the time because nothing they do is good enough.

Checking in on the facts

It's an ancient saying that "failure is a good teacher," yet most of us, deep down, believe that 'errorless learning' is better. Failure is no longer an option in today's fast-paced environment. It is widely accepted that if educators, managers, and parents encourage failure, it will lead to a negative future for the person who fails. Some people end up producing a horrible experience because they think they won't do it again.

Suicides and mental health issues in schools and universities are on the rise. This isn't only a problem in the United States; it's a worldwide phenomena. Burnout at work and the desire to change jobs every day is nothing more than an attempt to live up to one's own unrealistic ideals. Boredom is the most frequent disease of the previous decade, and it is simply the human brain's way of expressing "enough" to itself.

Do you have any ideas?

If you're passionate about what you do, failure will sound like a beautiful melody. It will inspire you to keep going.

Set goals that give you "regular acknowledgment feedback of incremental success." Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that promotes motivation, curiosity, perseverance, and memory when it is released by achieving these goals."

If you genuinely want to succeed, you may re-wire your brain's expectations so that your efforts will generate improvement even as the issue grows more difficult. Now is not the time to put yourself through something you don't want to do, like dieting, climbing stadium stairs, or flossing after every meal because you feel like you should. Select a goal that you will like both on the way and at the end of the journey."

Remember that there is a silver lining to stress. It's a good idea to write down all of the things that are stressing you out when you're feeling overwhelmed. Make a list of the things you can control and the things you can't manage, and then choose one of the things you can control and come up with a tiny, tangible measure you can take to lessen that one thing. Your brain can be nudged in the right direction by doing this.

It'Is a good idea to learn how to give constructive feedback to those around you. Your husband or child will be surprised when you compliment them on their blunders. A cascade effect on your approach to failure will be the result of this change.

CCreating a Growth Machine from Failure

After putting in so much effort, it is difficult to have an optimistic outlook, especially if we fail. Changing one's view of failure is a long-term process. We need to rewire our brains in order to break the automation that has been built up in our minds. It's better to look at a broken relationship or a lacklustre performance as a chance to learn rather than dwell on the repercussions.

Learning and dealing with failure should be integrated into the education system, so that we are prepared and learn how to trigger the gamma waves in our brains from an early age. We can become more resilient and successful if we learn to respond rather than react to failure.

Next time we encounter failure, let's remember that "Leaders who have developed a development storey have befriended their worst fear, "Failure," and made them their escorts to drive their success waggon. "

Early childhood brain development-Whats The science dude?

                    Radha was a software engineer and a perfectionist. She was  highly proficient  in her work and was appreciated by everyone with her problem solving skills and her dedication.She was very particular about any project she undertook. She would research the project in length and then after analyzing it, would give the appropriate solutions. She was working from home since the last 4 months as it was mutually decided  by the couple that she was not going to take stress .She was 6 months pregnant and was taking good care of her physical as well as mental health. She planned to get back to work after 3 months of pregnancy and she goes to the doctor to find out how she should manage the child after delivery  and get to work without having any negative effects on the child. She was confused as schooling starts after 3 years and wanted to know how she can nurture her child's early days.This is a very common dilemma of  majority of the working woman .The early childhood years are a period of rapid change in the brain. During early and middle childhood, the brain forms and refines a complex network of connections in the brain through synaptogenesis, pruning, and myelination.

 A child’s brain undergoes an amazing period of development from birth to three years—producing more than a million neural connections each second.
There has been an explosion of research over the past decade that shows how important the first few years of a child’s life are in terms of brain development. 

A newborn at birth has most of the brain cells that we will have for our entire life, but relatively little of the connections, the circuits among the different cells. What happens very, very rapidly is that the brain is building connections, it’s building synapses(connections).  A baby forms 700 new neural connections per second in the first years of life. This process of building the architecture of the brain is dramatically influence by life experiences. It is not genetically hardwired. Literally our environment shapes the architecture of our brain in the first year of life. This we term as neuroplasticity. 
The process of forming connections is biologically driven, but experiences also promote synapse formation. The brain produces many more synapses than it will ultimately use. Researchers describe this process as synaptic overproduction. This rapid synapse formation continues throughout early childhood.The process of myelination(covering of nerve fibres with myelin sheath so can process impulses faster) also continues during early childhood and is the major cause of the increase in a child's brain size.  In the first four years of life, the brain increases to 80% of its adult weight of 2.6 - 3.3 pounds (1200-1500 grams).

Pruning(eliminating unused nerve fibres) is a key process that shapes the brains of young children. Synaptic overproduction causes synapses to develop extremely rapidly. The pruning process refines these connections based on experience. Connections used regularly become stronger and more complex. Connections not used are considered non-essential, and the brain eventually prunes them away to increase efficiency.

As an example, an infant's brain has connections that allow her to hear sounds from all languages in the world. During the early years, the brain strengthens connections for sounds in the languages she hears regularly. Over time, the brain eliminates the connections for other sounds. This is why most adults have trouble distinguishing sounds that are not in our language.An infant's brain is dependent on responsiveness from adults. So all those adorable things that babies do right from the beginning -- coos, gurgles, sounds and smiles -- how an adult responds to those coos and gurgles help shape the brain circuitry. The first sound that a n newborn hears is the mothers voice which is the only familiar voice it hears on birth. This is the probable reason in adulthood when we hear our mothers voice it has a calming effect because of the strong connection.
The baby does something, the adult responds back. Vice versa. And it's the back and forth, the responsiveness, that shapes the brain circuits. We begin to see differences in the size of a child’s vocabulary as early as 18-24 months."These differences are not genetically hardwired. They're based in the differences in the kind of language environment and interactions the child grows up in.

Some of the core principles on which foundation of  brain development rest are

1.   Human development is shaped by a dynamic and continuous interaction between change in structure and experience.
2. Culture influences every aspect of human development and is reflected in child rearing beliefs and practices designed to promote healthy adaptation.

 3. The growth of self-regulation is a cornerstone of early childhood development that cuts across all domains of behavior.

4. Children are active participants in their own development, reflecting the intrinsic human drive to explore and master one's environment.

5. Human relationships, and the effects of relationships on relationships, are the building blocks of healthy development.

6. The broad range of individual differences among young children often makes it difficult to distinguish normal variations and maturational delays from transient disorders and persistent impairments.

7. The development of children unfolds along individual pathways whose trajectories are characterized by continuities and discontinuities, as well as by a series of significant transitions.

8. Human development is shaped by the ongoing interplay among sources of vulnerability and sources of resilience.

9. The timing of early experiences can matter, but, more often than not, the developing child remains vulnerable to risks and open to protective influences throughout the early years of life and into adulthood. 

10. The course of development can be altered in early childhood by effective interventions that change the balance between risk and protection, thereby shifting the odds in favor of more adaptive outcomes.
Early intervention is the most promising strategy to build the nation and form a compassionate and peaceful society  and is the need of the hour.

Radha left the doctors clinic with a firm resolution to dedicate as much as time possible and spending time with her to-be-born child at least for the first two years . 

“Nothing that happens early childhood is going to make a difference .”is not an acceptable statement after  findings of  scientific research on neuroplasticity and early childhood.