These days there is a lot of mention of the importance of learning beyond our schooling. Commercials advertise adult brain-training games and computer programs. Doctors recommend keeping the brain active to reduce the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s.

In Maximum Brainpower, authors Schlomo Breznitz and Collins Hemingway give insight into how our brains function. They provide understanding into the way in which our brains evolve over time. They talk about how we can take an active role in our ability to learn.

Physical Changes from Learning

In one section they talk about neural plasticity. “Neural plasticity is the formal phrase for the brain’s ability to physically change as the result of new stimulation.”

They dive deep into the physiology of the brain. They discuss the ability to create new brain cells through a process called neurogenesis. They state, “These insights about brain plasticity help us understand the importance of stimulation for learning and for brain health. The degree of our brain’s plasticity is directly related to the degree we are being challenged. This is equally true whether we’re trying to master difficult new tasks or information or to recover from a major trauma.”

Challenging Situations

But how many of us strive to learn and challenge ourselves mentally? Even when we do, how often do we take it from a systematic standpoint? When we are challenged mentally, what is our response? My response for years was to try and avoid the challenge. I wanted to stay in my comfort zone. I didn't want to put myself in a challenging situation that could mean that I fail.

But we need to realize that great things can come from challenging situations. They might be uncomfortable, but we need them. By facing challenges, we grow our abilities and literally grow our brains.

The authors explain, “A thousand new neurons may be born a day in adults, but half or more die within a few weeks. It appears that cell creation is routine, but the survival of the new brain cells relates directly to learning. A strong correlation exists between cell survival, the difficulty of the task that’s being attempted, and how well the person masters the task for which this new cell has been recruited to learn.”

Learning Paradox

I like to reference the Tao Te Ching a lot in my articles because of the paradoxical nature of the writing. It points to opposites and links them in ways we typically don’t. It explains that there is good in bad and bad in good. The easy path is hard, and the hard path is easy.

Looking at learning we can see a paradox. It might seem better to stay within our comfort zones. It might be easier to avoid mentally challenging situations. But the easy path is actually hard because we won’t be expanding our brain. We won't gain the ability to process information at higher levels.

Systematic Improvement

We should take the same systemic improvement focus that we use in other areas of life. We can apply it to mental growth. We can work at a slow and consistent pace. We can stretch our mental abilities with challenging new problems.

By using the idea of slow, incremental improvement we can continue to grow our minds. This will help us to reach new goals and have a clearer understanding of life. This will help us continue to learn and assist our brain in developing throughout our lives.