Retraining the Brain: A 45-Day Plan to Conquer Stress and Anxiety
By Frank Lawlis
Published September 29, 2009 (Paperback) Plume
Living your best life. That’s the goal. Who would want anything less. Not so long ago, science stated that your brain was set by the time you were five. When I was five, I was being raped by my stepfather. That kind of thing screws with your brain chemistry — big time. Dr Frank Lawlis opens his book Retraining the Brain: A 45-Day Plan to Conquer Stress and Anxiety with a story about Maria, very much like my own. Maria and I both have re-scripted our lives from torture, trauma, stress, and anxiety, thanks to this new knowledge about brain plasticity.
I use EMDR – Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing to normalize my brain. I am recovered from PTSD – Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, and from DID, dissociative identity disorder. Dr Lawlis says this rewiring is called neurogenesis. Hopeful word. The scientists say “that which fires together, wires together.” Simple example: ever fall in love with someone who wore a specific fragrance all the time? What do you think of when you happen upon that same fragrance? Uh huh. So when terrible things happen, and get wired with innocent things in life, you get anxious, you stress at the most minor of obstacles.
Lawlis calls what goes on in the mind a “storm.” It’s nearly impossible to simply “change your mind.” Rhythm, scents, breathing, nutrition, neurotherapy. even gum-chewing, all help. You’ve got to change what you do because you want to, and it feels good. Practice. Get support. And, celebrate.
I’m way over-simplifying here. If you are stressed or anxious or an addict, you will discover amazing insights in this book. For me, the storm has passed, and I’ve noticed that I do have a GPS system in my mind, whereas before I would get lost immediately, my brain in a fog. And that I can easily learn new things – like hula-hooping. Next up tennis and golf and ballroom dancing. It’s stunning how easy life is now that the storm is gone.
