Today I wanted to add a little more on the subject of “the male brain,” or on the subject of the brain in general. The question behind it is: How can I gain more vitality and more joy in life? Because more joy in life automatically means more vitality.
In my opinion, the most interesting aspect of the brain is its openness to change. It used to be thought that only children had brains that were open to change. We now know that we can learn new things throughout our entire lives. This is called “Use it or lose it” – use it or lose it!
But how do we achieve this openness? After all, we are no longer toddlers. We have all learned to walk and speak. Now we are adults – we have stopped growing. As a rule, we act like automatons; we reproduce the past over and over again, and life gradually fades away until it eventually runs aground.
What fascinates me about children are two things in particular: 1. Their boundless enthusiasm and wonder at the world, and 2. Their unyielding willingness to experiment.
When we ask ourselves how we can bring more life into our lives, we first have to ask ourselves what truly brings us joy. And then we simply have to do it. But by “do it,” I do not mean “try” or do a little bit.
What I mean is that we start acting the way nature itself demonstrates: experiment! Keep what works, continue from there, and forget the rest. When we do this – overproduce and then build on what works – we go through evolution in the flesh. And then we also remodel our brains.
The American psychologist Martin Seligman – what a name! – called this “grit” in his book ‹Flourish – Wie Menschen aufblühen›, meaning the relentless determination to keep going; ultimately, that is what determines success. In the long run, this determination to keep going makes the crucial difference between success and failure, defeat and achievement!
I describe how this ability to “keep going” can also be applied to optimism and self-efficacy in Optimism can be learned.
You can find the complete overview in our comprehensive salutogenesis overview.