Evolve Your Brain summary

Taking a closer look at the brain begins to unravel how all this activity is possible. If you could zoom in on a small piece of brain tissue the size of a grain of sand, you’d see it contained about a hundred thousand neurons, or nervous system cells. Your whole brain has over a hundred billion of these cells.

Resembling tiny trees, each separate neuron is adept at gathering information through its branches and passing it along to the next cell at incredible speeds. Electrical nerve signals travel at 250 miles per hour and jump the gaps between individual cells like a spark in a spark plug.

So human brains developed in three increasingly sophisticated parts over the course of hundreds of millions of years, yet function as a single organ. How? Chemistry.

Along with electrical signals, chemicals known as neurotransmitters carry information through the brain. You’ve probably heard about serotonin or dopamine – two chemicals that play a big role in mood. But there are many others, and it’s these chemicals that conduct the neurological symphony that is your perception of life.

As modern science has accelerated our understanding of the brain’s remarkable abilities and evolution, one thing has become extremely clear: the brain changes and adapts with use, not the other way around. In other words, the brain’s structure is shaped by how you use it. Science has dubbed this neuroplasticity. 

To understand how it works, imagine you could look at brains using an MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, while they were active

Real brain changes are going on inside of you right now as you read this Blink. Your visual and language centers are processing these words, and your brain is organizing the information it’s taking in and testing it against older information. You’ve stored some in your memory too – if your brain decided it was important information to store. In other words, just reading with a curious mind has made your brain change.

Bringing your full awareness to this process can be a powerful tool for overcoming personal challenges and living the life you want. For instance, awareness that the brain will grow new pathways as you learn something means that, even when the process is frustrating, it’ll get better with practice.