The positive tetris effect

This post is extremely important for us to ensure that the big C does not reappear in R's life. I am convinced that it is an overload of negative thoughts and energies that opened the door to Sir Hodgkin and thus the only way to keep him out for the years we have left on our planet is to rewire R's brain for positivity. This is no easy task and has required some research on my part. Here are the fruits of that research.

It is said that we need to rewire our brain for positivity and happiness. The power of the negative seems stronger than that of the positive and there is a reason to that. So why is it, that our brains have a such a negativity bias? The reason is quite simple: They’re actually wired to pay more attention to negative experiences. It’s a self-protective characteristic. We are  scanning for threats from when we used to be hunter and gatherers. But such vigilance for negative information can cause a narrowing, downward spiral and a negative feedback loop that doesn’t reflect reality. If you just press on your pause button - not an easy task for hyper people like me - and reflect on your thoughts, you will, if you are honest to yourself realise how much time you spend on negative thoughts as compared to positive ones. I often tell the pwhy kids how we remember for long the ONE time our mother put too much salt in the food and forget the hundreds of time she did not.

 Now we all know that negativity in any form is bad for us in every which way possible. We know that negative emotions can eat away at our productivity, creativity, decision-making skills and health. What is amazing is that we have the ability to break out of that negative feedback loop and we can actually rewire our brains to think positively. Understanding how the brain can refashion its own connections is the key to unlocking the durable power of positive thinking.

Fortunately we can rewire our brain. It is called the Tetris effect. Anyone who has played the brick falling game knows the game’s surreal ability to spill into real life. After you shut off the game, you still see those Tetris blocks falling in your mind’s eye. A recent study found that playing Tetris can grow your brain and make it more efficient. 

Since Ranjan started feeling sick, I realised that he was losing his concentration be it his ability to play the piano or his propensity in reading books. I am not a brain game fan but have found myself playing them sometimes as I was told it was a way of exercising the brain and keeping it from rusting. I also found how one got better and better at a particular game if one played regularly or how quickly one's scores dropped if one had not played for a while. I suggested this to Ranjan but he was not at all willing. It was a time when we did not know of his cancer.

Tetris affects the brain’s plasticity, or the brain’s ability to change structurally.  Every time you reactivate a circuit, synaptic efficiency increases, and connections become more durable and easier to reactivate. So to sum up, whenever you do specific tasks over and over again, they take up less of your brain power over time. And that’s pretty amazing, as this will be the basis for a huge opportunity to change our behaviour for the better.

The question that arises then is how to fight or negative bias? We can harness the brain’s plasticity by training our brain to make positive patterns more automatic. We need to practise looking for, and being aware of the good and positive things in our life and thus we fight off the brain’s natural tendency to scan for and spot the negatives. Naturally we bring ourselves into better balance. We can retrain the brain to scan for the good things in life!

Yes, so something as trivial as the game of Tetris can have a scientifically measurable effect on people’s brains and invade their dreams. If that’s the case, the impact of practising and retaining a more positive thinking pattern, especially on our well being and happiness, can be even more powerful.

The question you may ask is how does one go about it. It is like learning a new language and so though at the beginning. We need to build a habit. I as once said it takes 66 days!

So let us get started:

1. Scan your brain for three daily positives. Every evening think of 3 good things that happened to you and ponder over the and record them. It could be anything: a call from a old friend, the sound of rain, a nice meal: try and celebrate every small moment of joy.

2. Give a shout out to someone daily. Take the positive you are now noticing and let one person know, your partner, a member of your family. You can send an e mail to someone who cares. I do this daily with my blog:)

3. Do something nice. Acts of kindness bounce back on you. I am a veteran on and have said it from day 1 more than 13 years ago. I get more than I give. If you pause to do something nice for someone you get out of your negativity loop and is the best way to make yourself happier. Say something nice to someone, buy them something or just smile and say thank you to those around you.

4. Mind your mind. Pay attention to the present moment without judgement. Open your mind beyond your negativity. mindfulness meditation has also been shown to affect the brain’s plasticity, increasing gray matter in the hippocampus, an area of the brain important for learning, memory, and emotion, and reducing gray matter in the amygdala, an area of the brain associated with stress and anxiety.

The best teacher of mindfulness is undoubtedly Thich Nhat Hanh, Zen Buddhist monk. I had given Ranjan a book of his but at that time I did not know how much it could help him and though Ranjan read it, I do not think he implemented the approach.

To be mindful, this is what the master suggests:

1. Do one thing at a time. Single-task, don’t multi-task. When you’re pouring water, just pour water. When you’re eating, just eat. That means that if I am pouring water I should do it with full concentration. Let us remember the Zen proverb: Zen proverb: “When walking, walk. When eating, eat.” Again an toughie for me

2. Do it slowly and deliberately. You can do one task at a time, but also rush that task. Instead, take your time, and move slowly. Make your actions deliberate, not rushed and random. It takes practise, but it helps you focus on the task.

3. Do less. If you do less, you can do those things more slowly, more completely and with more concentration. Not easy for me.

4. Spend at least 5 minutes each day doing nothing. Just sit in silence. Become aware of your thoughts. Focus on your breathing. Notice the world around you.

5. Stop worrying about the future – focus on the present. Become more aware of your thinking — are you constantly worrying about the future? Learn to recognise when you’re doing this, and then practice bringing yourself back to the present.

6. Keep practising. When you get frustrated, just take a deep breath. When you ask yourself, “What should I do now, Self?”, the answer is “keep practicing”

When I look back at the past 5 years or so, I can now pinpoint when Ranjan's descent to hell started. From that moment most of his time was spent talking about the hurt he had been subjected to and he entered a negativity loop that he has still not broken out of. And what is worse is that keeping the topic on the front burner turned on high, more and more negativity was unearthed, even things unknown and forgotten. he has to get out of the loop otherwise no matter what we do, what course of treatment we take, what nutrition programme we follow, it will all come to nought.