Prakash is a high school student, passionate about nature and functions of the brain. He writes a blog, chalagullaprakash.blogspot.com/, and has developed an app for mental wellness, SOLACE. He wants to study neuroscience to understand how memory works.

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Prakash Chalagulla

<h4
 class="has-black-color has-text-color"
 id="h-prakash-chalagulla-explores-the-process-of-change-and-turning-routines-into-habits"
 >
 PRAKASH CHALAGULLA
 explores the process of change, and turning routines into
 habits.
 </h4>

 
 Are you happy with the person you have become? Most of us experience a
 disparity between who we are and who we wish to be. To attain the
 desired goal, it may seem essential to alter our personalities. We get
 frustrated and irritated with ourselves, more and more with each failed
 attempt. As with most things in life, knowing “why” makes things
 simpler.
 

 
 Due to the preconditioning of the brain, it is increasingly difficult to
 change old habits and form new ones. To explain, imagine your brain as a
 rich and dense forest. It is challenging and energy-consuming to move
 through it. All of our actions and behaviors leave trails in the forest
 of the brain because our brain dislikes expending energy, so it uses a
 trick. We begin by trampling some plants to make routes through the
 bush. The more we do it, the more noticeable the trail becomes. Over
 time, it is a more pleasant road to travel, so we use it more frequently
 and eventually it becomes a street. When we do the same thing again and
 again over the years, the roadway transforms into a motorway. It becomes
 effortless, familiar, and pleasant to traverse. The more apparent the
 brain highways, the more involuntary they become. We keep using them,
 which means we keep doing what we’ve always done. This is why change is
 difficult, especially when we are adults, because our brains have
 already created concrete paths and roads.
 

 
 To understand how such highways are built, we must first distinguish
 between routines and habits.
 

 
 A routine is a series of acts that we repeat over and over because they
 are successful. For example, we buy the same ingredients for cooking,
 then cook them in a specific order to get the desired flavor. Or we set
 an alarm for 6:30 a.m. to wake up at that time every day.
 

 
 Imagine you have a smart planner that plans all your routines
 thoughtfully, with awareness of the future and careful consideration for
 the results. Based on that, you choose actions to achieve specific
 outcomes, even if they are uncomfortable, like taking a shower after
 waking up. Routines can eventually become habits.
 

 
 Habits seem much more comfortable because they happen without thinking,
 which is why they are also called muscle memory. We’ve done those things
 so many times that the brain finds them rewarding and an excellent
 response to the problem. As a result, a habit makes us feel like we’re
 on autopilot. We don’t have to persuade ourselves to do something when
 it has already become a habit. The crucial thing to remember about
 habits is that they are put in motion by triggers, which have context
 cues, that send a signal to the brain to begin the behavior or activity.
 We may have many triggers in our life, such as when we see our phone we
 almost always unlock it. When we sit in a car, we put on the seat belt.
 When we buy coffee before work, we get a cookie even if we aren’t
 hungry.
 

 
 Toddlers help us understand habits. They react to their current desires
 based on what is nearby, without regard to any longer-term objectives.
 Toddlers have no concept of the future, so when they detect a trigger,
 they steer down the simple path inside the brain that leads to a
 familiar pleasant outcome. Most of our challenging habits began with
 this satisfying feeling: chocolate is good, or browsing Reddit is
 moderately entertaining. This is why we continue to do these things,
 even if they are unhealthy for us. Rewarding feelings are linked to an
 active urge for repetition, thus forming habits.
 

 
 While toddlers may appear to have built-in sabotage mechanisms, they are
 just as necessary as the smart planner, and they function well together
 most of the time. We need our smart planner for big ideas, parallel
 parking, and tax preparation. However, allowing our smart planner to
 accomplish everything would consume too much energy. Outsourcing dull
 and repetitive chores to toddler-managed habits lets our brain manage
 daily life, while also coping with more sophisticated mental issues. So,
 if we wish to modify and incorporate new behaviors into our lives, we
 need to employ these energy-saving methods to help us.
 

 
 We can concentrate on minor details rather than major ones. Improving
 our life incrementally is far preferable to aiming high and altering
 nothing. Tiny adjustments can have a big impact over months and years.
 If we want to make change easy, the greatest solution may not be to push
 but to convince our brain that it isn’t such a huge problem. We simply
 develop new routines and make them habitual. We want our smart planner
 to build the initial trail and then utilize our toddler to smoothly
 launch the action.
 

 <hr class="vertical-space1" />

 <hr />

 <h4 class="has-text-align-center">
 If we want to make change easy, the greatest solution may not be
 to push but to convince our brain that it isn’t such a huge
 problem. We simply develop new routines and make them
 habitual.
 </h4>

 <hr />

 <hr class="vertical-space1" />

 
 So, we begin by attempting to establish a pattern, and add clear
 triggers that the toddler can take up later on. Remember that a trigger
 is simply a signal that we always identify with an action. It can be a
 visual cue, such as seeing our exercise attire, a specific time of day,
 or a specific location. What matters is that we always begin the action
 in a precise setting. This trigger is the start button that will
 initiate the activity. If we continue, it will transform from a routine
 into a habit, from a path to a highway. Don’t get me wrong, squats will
 still require energy, but doing them will seem less like a job and more
 like a regular part of your day.
 

 
 Wanting to exercise to get into shape is a relatively common objective.
 The first step is to break down this generic goal into distinct,
 discrete activities, to make the action as simple as possible – small
 enough to be feasible, and detailed enough that we don’t have to think
 about it. For example, a tangible, controllable action could be
 “performing ten squats” every morning.
 

 
 While this is straightforward, it is not simple. Many things you want to
 turn into habits don’t provide as much immediate enjoyment as
 squandering time on Reddit. The trick is to make the new activity
 delightful, so it is easier to repeat and more likely to be picked up by
 the toddler.
 

 
 Try to make the action or behavior more joyful in and of itself, for
 example, listen to your favorite music or podcast while working out. The
 beginning is the easiest phase, especially during the first week or two.
 The difficult part is continuing every day, however, as you progress, it
 will become easier. Finally, change is a continuous journey, leading to
 a destination.
 

 
 “Sow an act, you reap a habit; sow a habit, you reap a character; sow a
 character, you reap a destiny.”
 

 <hr />

 <hr class="vertical-space1" />

 References:

 
 Manson, M., 2022. How to Change Your Life. Mark Manson. 10 June
 2021. Web. 28 Aug. 2022:
 <a
 href="https://markmanson.net/how-to-change-your-life"
 target="_blank"
 rel="noreferrer noopener"
 >https://markmanson.net/how-to-change-your-life</a
 >.
 

 
 Kurzgesagt. Change Your Life – One Tiny Step at a Time.
 Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell. 07 June 2022. Web. 28 Aug. 2022:
 <a
 href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75d_29QWELk"
 target="_blank"
 rel="noreferrer noopener"
 >https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75d_29QWELk</a
 >.
 

 
 <a
 href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1097/00004647-200110000-00001"
 target="_blank"
 rel="noreferrer noopener"
 >https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1097/00004647-200110000-00001</a
 >
 

 
 <a
 href="https://www.cell.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0960-9822%2817%2931258-7"
 target="_blank"
 rel="noreferrer noopener"
 >https://www.cell.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0960-9822%2817%2931258-7</a
 >
 

 
 <a
 href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11468377-thinking-fast-and-slow"
 target="_blank"
 rel="noreferrer noopener"
 >https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11468377-thinking-fast-and-slow</a
 >
 

 
 <a
 href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/229351035_How_do_habits_guide_behavior?%20Perceived_and_actual_triggers_of_habits_in_daily_life"
 target="_blank"
 rel="noreferrer noopener"
 >https://www.researchgate.net/publication/229351035_How_do_habits_guide_behavior?
 Perceived_and_actual_triggers_of_habits_in_daily_life</a
 >
 

 
 <a
 href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00560/full#h5"
 target="_blank"
 rel="noreferrer noopener"
 >https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00560/full#h5</a
 >
 

 
 <a
 href="https://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/change-any-habit-painlessly-6-tips.html"
 target="_blank"
 rel="noreferrer noopener"
 >https://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/change-any-habit-painlessly-6-tips.html</a
 >
 

 
 <a
 href="https://learningcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/changing-habits/"
 target="_blank"
 rel="noreferrer noopener"
 >https://learningcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/changing-habits/</a
 >

How to change your life

<h4>
 PRAKASH CHALAGULLA shares his insights and some
 research findings on being open and staying relaxed while navigating the teenage years. It’s all in the
 attitude!
</h4>



<hr class="vertical-space1">



Being open is a fundamental <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/basics/personality">personality</a> trait
 that indicates receptiveness to new information, ideas, and experiences. So that we can retain new knowledge in our
 memory, related brain changes need to occur. New connections between neurons and synapses are formed in places such
 as the amygdala, the hippocampus, the cerebellum, and the prefrontal cortex, which are all involved in memory
 processing. It was once believed that, as we age, the neural networks became more rigid due to insufficient exposure
 caused by lack of learning. But in the past two decades, research has revealed that the brain never stops changing
 and adjusting. This capacity of the brain to change with learning is called plasticity.



Neuroplasticity is the capacity of neurons and neural networks in the brain to change their connections.
 Neuroscientist <a href="http://www.ucl.ac.uk/cdcn/aboutus/steering/Maguire">Eleanor Maguire</a> of University
 College London conducted a study on London’s taxi drivers. They navigate the smog-filled streets with ease,
 instantaneously calculating the swiftest route between any two points. In her <a
 href="http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/364/1522/1407">earliest studies,</a> she discovered that
 London taxi drivers had more gray matter in their posterior hippocampus (responsible for memory) than people who
 were similar in age, education, and intelligence, but who did not drive taxis. Although some neural functions appear
 to be hard-wired, certain neural networks exhibit adaptability and carry out specific functions while also retaining
 the capacity to deviate from their usual functions and reorganize themselves. Hence, neuroplasticity is generally
 considered a complex, multifaceted, and fundamental property of the brain.



<hr class="vertical-space1">



<hr>



<h4 class="has-text-align-center">Neuroplasticity is
 considered a complex, multifaceted, and fundamental property of the brain. We have exceptional brain
 flexibility as teenagers.</h4>



<hr>



<hr class="vertical-space1">



I feel we have exceptional brain flexibility as teenagers. Personality traits and interactions with family, friends,
 and the community play a vital role in our holistic development. The studies of adolescent health and well-being
 also show the importance and impact of such interactions in shaping our resilience, self-esteem, self-efficacy,
 sense of coherence, and level of perception.



Adolescent psychological well-being includes self-acceptance, positive intrapersonal relationships, autonomy, and
 life satisfaction. It’s important to observe and adjust our attitude as we journey toward adulthood. A major
 milestone of becoming a teenager is finishing one phase of life, childhood, and entering another. Being independent
 is paramount. This, in turn, causes a lot of stress and anxiety, and they build up, leading to attitude issues.
 Relaxing activities like gardening, meditation, reading, drawing, etc., help to de-stress. If we embark on this
 phase with the right attitude, our life journey will be smoother.



Motivational speaker and author, Zig Ziglar, once said, “Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your
 altitude.” Our mental attitude makes the world what it is for us. Our thoughts make things beautiful or ugly.
 According to the Oxford dictionary, “Attitude can be described as a settled way of thinking or feeling about
 something or someone.”



<hr class="vertical-space1">




<figure><img decoding="async" width="700" height="464" alt="" class="lazyload has-img-center"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Being_Open2_700x464_1500f7dfd1.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-12T05:41:11.996Z">
</figure>



<hr class="vertical-space1">



<hr>



<h4 class="has-text-align-center">Positive thinking fosters a
 positive attitude that improves self-esteem and promotes resilience even in difficult times.
</h4>



<hr>



<hr class="vertical-space1">



Most successful people, including professional athletes, actors, business people, artists, politicians, and spiritual
 leaders, attribute their success to one thing – the “power of positive thinking.” Positive thinking fosters a
 positive attitude that improves self-esteem and promotes resilience even in difficult times.



Research has shown how a regular practice of meditation can relieve stress and anxiety and enhance the state of
 awareness and concentration level, thus elevating positivity and level-mindedness. One of the most interesting <a
 href="http://www.pnas.org/content/108/50/20254.short">studies</a> in the last few years, carried out at <a
 href="http://www.forbes.com/colleges/yale-university/">Yale University</a>, found that mindfulness meditation
 decreases activity in the default mode network, the brain network responsible for mind-wandering and
 self-referential thoughts – the “monkey mind.” A channelized mind works as an effective and efficient tool for our
 overall well-being.



We have all been witness to the changes the pandemic has brought throughout the globe. I feel qualities like
 compassion and empathy are essential for my generation as future leaders to develop an attitude of openness.



<hr class="vertical-space1">



<hr>



<h4>References</h4>



Openness. Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers: <a
 href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/basics/openness">www.psychologytoday.com/intl/basics/openness</a>.



Rugnetta, M. Neuroplasticity. Encyclopedia Britannica: <a
 href="https://www.britannica.com/science/neuroplasticity">https://www.britannica.com/science/neuroplasticity</a>.




Hoiland, E. Brain Plasticity: What Is It? Learning and Memory.&nbsp; <a
 href="https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/plast.html">https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/plast.html</a>.




Walton, A.G., 2015. 7 Ways Meditation Can Actually Change The Brain. Forbes Magazine: <a
 href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2015/02/09/7-ways-meditation-can-actually-change-the-brain/?sh=39c975f14658">https://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2015/02/09/7-ways-meditation-can-actually-change-the-brain/?sh=39c975f14658</a>.




Chou, W., 2018. The Difference Between Open-Minded and Closed-Minded People. <a
 href="https://willyoulaugh.com/open-minded">https://willyoulaugh.com/open-minded</a>.



Spring, S., 2015. &nbsp;6 Keys to an Open Mind. The Good Men Project. <a
 href="https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/six-keys-to-an-open-mind-fiff/">https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/six-keys-to-an-open-mind-fiff/</a>.




Cherry, K., 2021. How to Become More Open-Minded. Verywell Mind. <a
 href="https://www.verywellmind.com/be-more-open-minded-4690673">https://www.verywellmind.com/be-more-open-minded-4690673</a>.




Gordon, S., 2022. 16-Year-Old Child Development Milestones. Verywell Family. <a
 href="https://www.verywellfamily.com/16-year-old-developmental-milestones-4171922">https://www.verywellfamily.com/16-year-old-developmental-milestones-4171922</a>.




Malinowska-Cieslik, M., J. Mazur, H. Nalecz and A. Malkowska-Szkutnik, 2019. Social and Behavioral Predictors of
 Adolescents’ Positive Attitude Towards Life and Self. International Journal of Environmental Research and
 Public Health. MDPI, 11. <a
 href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6888235/">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6888235/</a>.




Jabr, F., 2011. Cache Cab: Taxi Drivers’ Brains Grow to Navigate London’s Streets. Scientific American. <a
 href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/london-taxi-memory/">https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/london-taxi-memory/</a>.




<hr class="vertical-space1">

Being open and relaxed – for teenagers

<h4>
 PRAKASH CHALAGULLA explores the
 relationship between memory and concentration. He suggests
 that one of the common reasons we forget things is because we are unable
 to concentrate due to so many distractions. He also provides the
 solution!
</h4>

<hr class="vertical-space1" />

<hr />

<h2 class="has-text-align-center">
 Connecting Concentration and
 Memory
</h2>

<hr />

<hr class="vertical-space1" />


 Do you sometimes forget your cell phone? Have you ever walked into a room
 for something then forgotten what it was? Are you unable to recollect names,
 phone numbers, or street names?&nbsp;You probably answered yes to at least
 one if not all of these examples. You are not alone. We are all prone to
 absentmindedness at times. These lapses in memory are caused by breaks in
 attention, which happen when our focus is somewhere else.



 Professor of Psychology at Harvard University, Daniel Schacter, offers seven
 ways our memories fail us1. He calls them the seven sins of
 memory and categorizes them into three groups: forgetting, distortion, and
 intrusion. One of these sins is absentmindedness, forgetting caused by
 lapses in attention.


<hr class="vertical-space1" />

<figure class="block-table overflow-auto">
 <table class="mb-3">
 <tbody>
 <tr>
 <td>
 Sin
 </td>
 <td>
 Type
 </td>
 <td>
 Description
 </td>
 <td>
 Example
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Transience</td>
 <td>Forgetting</td>
 <td>Accessibility of memory decreases over time</td>
 <td>Forgetting events that occurred long ago</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>absentmindedness</td>
 <td>Forgetting</td>
 <td>Forgetting caused by lapses in attention</td>
 <td>Forgetting where your phone is</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Blocking</td>
 <td>Forgetting</td>
 <td>Accessibility of information is temporarily blocked</td>
 <td>It’s on the tip of your tongue</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Misattribution</td>
 <td>Distortion</td>
 <td>Source of memory is confused</td>
 <td>Recalling a dream memory as a waking memory</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Suggestibility</td>
 <td>Distortion</td>
 <td>False memories</td>
 <td>Resulting from leading questions</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Bias</td>
 <td>Distortion</td>
 <td>Memories distorted by current belief system</td>
 <td>Aligning memories to current beliefs</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Persistence</td>
 <td>Intrusion</td>
 <td>Inability to forget undesirable memories</td>
 <td>Resulting from traumatic events</td>
 </tr>
 </tbody>
 </table>
</figure>

<h4>
 Is it a memory problem or a concentration
 problem?
</h4>


 Concentration is our ability to focus the mind on one subject, object, or
 thought, and at the same time exclude other unrelated thoughts, ideas,
 feelings, and sensations. As my mother often likes to point out, when I play
 games or watch movies everything else ceases to exist for me.



 Memory is our ability to store information, past experiences, and events for
 future learning and understanding.



 “For the majority of people, [forgetting] is not a memory problem per se,
 but it’s more of a concentration or organizational problem where they’re not
 getting the information initially or they’re not processing it correctly in
 the first place,” says Aaron Bonner-Jackson, a neuropsychologist with
 Cleveland Clinic’s Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health. “They say they have a
 memory problem when in fact trouble with concentration, focus, or
 organization is the underlying issue.”


<hr class="vertical-space1" />

<hr />

<h4 class="has-text-align-center">
 One of the biggest challenges our generation faces
 is lack of
 focus. Due to constant distractions, we are unable to come out
 of the clutches of scattered thinking. Lack of focus means we
 either don’t complete tasks or don’t execute them well.&nbsp;
 
</h4>

<hr />

<hr class="vertical-space1" />


 One of the biggest challenges our generation faces is lack of focus. Due to
 constant distractions, we are unable to come out of the clutches of
 scattered thinking. Lack of focus means we either don’t complete tasks or
 don’t execute them well.&nbsp; “We’re really wired to be mono-taskers,
 meaning that our brains can only focus on one task at a time,” says
 neuropsychologist Cynthia Kubu of the Cleveland Clinic. “When we think we’re
 multitasking, most often we aren’t really doing two things at once, but
 instead, we’re doing individual actions in rapid succession, or
 task-switching,” she says.



 Improving concentration and memory power is important when we want to
 accomplish anything. The age-old mantra – to have a sharp memory we need
 complete focus – is really vital. Meditation plays a significant role in
 improving concentration. In meditation, we focus the mind on a particular
 object, thought, or activity in order to train attention and awareness, and
 achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state. In other
 words, it is a tool to create a state of mind where one thought prevails. It
 helps us move from fickle-mindedness to one-pointedness.


<hr class="vertical-space1" />

<div class="text-center">
 <img decoding="async" width="700" alt="" class="lazyload has-img-center"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/do_you_forget_things2_e3eaa9aa7b.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-10T13:57:25.677Z" />
</div>





<hr class="vertical-space1" />


 As a meditator, I feel it enhances my ability to focus a million-fold,
 enabling me to be resourceful. Because of meditation, I am able to strike
 the right balance between hard work and smart work. One prominent change I
 have noticed is a drastic improvement in my level of concentration. Tasks
 that would earlier take two to three hours to complete, I can do in half
 that time now. I am more level-minded in demanding situations and as a
 result I am less stressed.


<hr class="vertical-space1" />

<hr />

<h4 class="has-text-align-center">
 As a meditator, I feel it enhances my ability to
 focus a
 million-fold, enabling me to be resourceful. Because of
 meditation, I am able to strike the right balance between hard
 work and smart work.
 
</h4>

<hr />

<hr class="vertical-space1" />


 Our generation faces a lot of challenges today, but we also have a lot of
 tools we can use to overcome them and set the right example for the future.


<hr class="vertical-space1" />


 1Schacter, D., 2002.
 The Seven Sins of Memory: How the Mind Forgets and Remembers. Mariner Books, USA.


<hr class="vertical-space1" />