Airports, airplanes, and neuroplasticity.

    When I wrote my last post, I told a story about how much I hate flying, and how that changed when I recently flew back East to surprise my niece and nephew. I developed my aversion to flying during 2010, when I kept flying back and forth from Denver to Pittsburgh to help support my parents during the last year of their life as they were battling the end stages of the same disease.

    During that time, I was happy to be able to be with them, and give them the help and support they needed. However, each trip took a little bit more out of me as I watched them go through the process of dying. At the Denver airport, I had no idea what awaited me at the other end. At the Pittsburgh airport, I would have major anxiety over leaving them and worry if I had passed on all of the pertinent information to the next sister on deck. It's not like we didn't all have cell phones on high alert as well as each other on speed dial, but I still worried endlessly. To further complicate matters, I am self employed, and the possibility of losing my business was quickly becoming a reality. No wonder why I hate flying.
 
    However, during my recent trip to Pittsburgh, my intense aversion to flying slowly changed over the course of a few days. Somehow, my nervous system remembered a "feel good" quality triggered by flying home for a fun visit, a party and a whirlwind of activities, much like I did before my parents became ill. This wasn't something I experienced in a cognitive way, but more as a vague sensation of anticipation and well being. That pleasant sensation stayed with me during the weekend and was gently reinforced with each positive experience.

    The plasticity of my nervous system was able to interrupt the pattern of stress, grief, loss and worry and allow for a new pattern to emerge. Actually, the "new" pattern was one of anxiety related flying and had only been reinforced over the past two years. The synaptic connections were not as strong as the previous ones that I had related to flying, and therefore were more malleable and receptive to allow for change to occur. What I experienced was an emotional neuroplasticity. The change was gradual and subtle, but it was there.
 
    The point is, our nervous system is always "listening" and readily available to change and learn new patterns of feeling, sensing, thinking and moving. The science of neuroplasticity is not a highly complicated subject limited only for the neuroscientists to explore; in reality it is far more simple than that and is accessable for all of us to understand. I like to call it "the simplicity of plasticity". Trust the intelligence of your nervous system. It knows what to do, but sometimes we just have to get out of it's way.

Be healthy!
Cheryl Ilov, PT, GCFP

I can see clearly now....

    Spring cleaning started a little bit early this year. Well, I have to be honest. This is only the second consecutive year that I have subscribed to the idea of spring cleaning. But that's another story.

    Anyway, one of the first items on my agenda were my windows. I have cleaned them before, of course. Or at least, I've tried. Many times. But instead of getting them clean, all I've ever managed to do was to rearrange the dirt and grime. But I kept trying.

    Taking the windows apart to clean them was difficult enough. Putting them back together was a nightmare. And yet I kept trying, doing the same thing over and over with the same grime streaked results. Finally, I gave up. If my windows were gong to be dirty, at least I had the satisfaction of doing nothing about it. But then the glorious morning sun would come beaming through my windows, clouding my view and mocking me at my failure to get them clean. I thought about getting professional help.

    I once mentioned in front of my father that I needed to hire a professional window washer. He was horrified. He said "You're kidding me! Can't you clean them yourself?" Apparently I can't, which is why I was considering having a professional clean them for me.

     But he did get me thinking. Why couldn't I clean them myself? Maybe I wasn't trying hard enough. Maybe I was doing something wrong. Maybe there was something wrong with me. My windows were representing a part of my belief system and my self image that I am not a very good housekeeper. It sounds silly, but it really bothered me. So, I quadrupled my efforts and tried again. And still I failed.

    I finally hired a professional window washer two weeks ago. And he did a wonderful job! My windows are clean, crystal clear, with not even a streak left behind. The morning sun coming through my windows is beautiful, giving me a clear, uninterrupted view. So much light is coming through, I can see the corners of the house that need to be cleaned. And I am attending to them with a new sense of enthusiasm and awareness.

    Life's a lot like those windows. Sometimes we get layers of muck that we simply can't clear away on our own. Sometimes we can't see clearly through the layers of dirt that we have accumulated through the years. We get stuck in patterns and we can't find our way out. It may have a negative impact on our self image, even if it seems trivial to someone else. And it takes away our ability to really enjoy the most simple things in life. Sometimes we all need a little professional help to improve our awareness and see through our problems more clearly. All we have to do is remove the judgment, stop worrying about what other people may think of us, and open ourselves up to new possibilities.


Be healthy!
Cheryl Ilov, PT, GCFP