One of the things I find so fascinating about neuroplasticity is the idea that our brains aren’t fixed. We can create new neural pathways. We can interrupt old patterns. We can learn new ways of thinking, responding and behaving.
But we have to give our brains the conditions and the experiences that make change possible.
Five Things Your Brain Needs
There are five practices I keep coming back to:
1. Sleep and rest. Give yourself at least seven hours whenever possible. Our brains need downtime to restore, integrate and consolidate what we’re learning.
2. Nourishment. Eat foods that support your body chemistry. How we fuel ourselves affects our energy, clarity and ability to regulate ourselves.
3. Movement. Walk. Hike. Cycle. Dance. Lift. Stretch. Move. Our bodies and brains aren’t separate systems.
4. Learning and newness. Read something different. Learn a language. Take another route. Meet someone outside your usual circle. Try something you’re not already good at.
5. Mindful time. Give your brain periods when you’re not consuming, producing or reacting. Meditate. Sit outside. Walk without your phone. Breathe. Be still.
And there’s one experience that can bring many of these together:
Travel.
Are You a Tourist or a Traveler?
I’ve been thinking about the difference between being a tourist and being a traveler.
A tourist often experiences a destination from the outside. What should I see? Where should I eat? What’s the famous thing I’m supposed to photograph?
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. I love a spectacular meal and a beautiful view as much as anyone.
But being a traveler can be different. A traveler enters a place. You walk the streets. You hear another language. You notice how people eat, work, gather and move through their day. You taste something you’ve never tasted. You get lost. You ask questions. You sit somewhere long enough to stop observing and start experiencing.
Instead of asking: What can this place give me?
You begin asking: What can this place teach me?
That’s when travel becomes more than just a pleasurable experience. It becomes an opportunity to wake up the brain.
New Places. New Experiences. New Pathways.
When we immerse ourselves in newness, our habitual ways of thinking are interrupted. We have to pay attention. We become curious again. We navigate uncertainty. We notice things we’ve stopped noticing in our everyday lives. And perhaps most importantly, we become present.
I experienced this over and over again in France. Hiking through the Pyrenees. Spending long stretches in silence. Experiencing Lourdes. Standing in Monet’s gardens at Giverny and thinking about how much imagination, design and human labor went into creating the beauty we now casually stroll through. Walking the streets of Paris with nowhere I had to be.
The most meaningful moments weren’t things I could check off a list. They were the moments when I was completely there. Looking. Listening. Learning. Feeling. Not rushing toward the next thing.
That reminded me: Newness always come from going somewhere new. It comes from how we experience where we are.
You Don’t Have to Get on a Plane
You don’t need France. You don’t need the Pyrenees. You don’t even need a passport.
You need newness.
Take yourself somewhere you’ve never been in your own city. Talk to someone you normally wouldn’t. Try a different workout. Take a class. Read something that challenges the way you think. Learn something that has absolutely nothing to do with your career. Eat something you’ve never tasted. Turn off your phone and walk somewhere without an agenda. Do something that requires you to become a beginner again.
Because if we want different thoughts, different responses and ultimately different results, we can’t spend every day feeding our brains the exact same experiences.
This October, Let Something Change You
Nature doesn’t fight the changing season. The leaves don’t cling to the tree insisting that last season was better. They change. They release. They make room for what comes next.
Maybe that’s our invitation this October, too. Sleep. Nourish. Move. Learn. Be still. Explore. Read the book. Take the walk. Climb the mountain. Talk to the stranger. Taste the food. Sit in the silence.
Wherever you go—across the world or across town—don’t just visit it. Experience it. Let yourself be surprised. Let yourself learn. Let yourself change. Because the world gets a lot more interesting when we stop simply moving through it and allow ourselves to be changed by it.
What will you do differently this month to give your brain—and yourself—something new to experience?
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