E192: Intellectual Habits & How to Incorporate Them, Part Three of The Science & The Spiritual Series
E192: Intellectual Habits & How to Incorporate Them, Part Three of The Science & The Spiritual Series
Using self-directed neuroplasticity as well as different crystals and essential oils to creating habits to make our brain work smarter!
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[00:29] Hello there! Welcome back to the Women’s Empowerment Podcast, I’m really excited about this episode as we continue on with The Science and the Spiritual Series. This is part three: Intellectual Habits & How to Incorporate Them.
If you’re new to the show, or to the series, we are working through the seven dimensions of health and wellness: Physical, Emotional, Intellectual, Social, Spiritual, Environmental, and Occupational. Each episode in the series is dedicated to one of the seven dimensions.
Episode 192: Intellectual Habits
I’ve created a loose structure for each episode to help with the flow, as well as three habit examples of each dimension for each episode. The flexible flow – because sometimes things change – is as follows:
Introduce the series
Describe the dimension and relevance/importance
Discuss the scientific method or formula as well as the spiritual, for creating the three habit examples
Closing the episode
Part three of the series is all about intellectual wellness. Intellectual wellness is often overlooked, and yet it is so incredibly important! This entails: stimulating or creative mental activities. It has everything to do with our minds and continuing to inspire/exercise our minds. Having a high level of intellectual wellness does not mean that you are the smartest person in the room, but rather it is about having an active mind, even an open mind, and the ability to learn. Intellectual wellness is about being resourceful, and having the ability to expand our knowledge base and improve or develop new skills.
To be honest I LOVE this dimension of wellness because I get excited about learning and I know that’s not how everyone feels, so let’s take a look at three habits we can realistically incorporate to help us improve this area of wellness.
Habit number one: Take a course or workshop
Habit number two: Learn (or improve) a foreign language
Habit number three: Read
I want to preface this episode by saying that: just by listening to this episode you are already supporting the growth in this area of wellness, and if you’re a regular listener, you’re already developing the habit of improving your intellectual wellness, because this podcast is about YOU. It's about empowerment, personal development, and all things health/wellness. We discuss all sorts of topics with research and ideas and concepts sprinkled throughout. My intention behind each episode is to inspire you to take action, and it’s within the episode that you learn, grow, and expand your thinking so that you can take new or intentional action for that self growth and self development to occur in your life.
So even if you aren’t signing up for courses, learning a new language, or reading currently, what you ARE doing is still supportive. These are just extra ideas for you, and you can apply the science and the spiritual methods to any intellectual habits you have right now.
[04:05] The Science
And without further ado, let’s dive into a little something called “self-directed neuroplasticity.” or SDN for short.
An article discussing the research of individuals practicing lived experience of SDN describes it as: the mind’s ability to change the brain function through the power of thought and can alter brain structure in potentially beneficial ways, overcoming habituated and maladaptive responses. [source]
In fewer words that means intentionally rewiring the brain to create positive habits. SDN is a powerful and science-based method to not only make new habits, but break bad ones.
Essentially neuroplasticity is the ability of the brain to form, modify, change and reorganize synaptic connections, throughout life and in response to experience. This can be the functional plasticity in the brain as well as the structural plasticity where the brain can physically change its structure as a result of learning. Yes, you heard me correctly. Your brain can and does physically change with each new learning experience. So if you’ve ever listened to an episode of this show and learned something new - your brain has most likely modified because of it!
Anyone who says “I’m too old to learn something new” is casting a hex on themselves because this is one of the biggest mindset blocks I’ve ever known. Yes our brains change with age, but we can also change our brains due to the fact that they are malleable! Since our brains are easily influenced, trained, or controlled (plasticity), we can use our nerve cells as the building blocks to our brain (neurons) to improve our intellectual wellness. This helps us do things like: [source]
Learn new things
Enhance our existing cognitive skills
Recover from traumatic brain injuries and strokes
Strengthen areas where function is lost or has declined
Improvements in brain “fitness” such as memory, reading, etc.
The ongoing process of neuroplasticity means our brain cells, and other neurons will be changing throughout our lives because we are always responding to different learnings and life experiences.
When we do not set goals, or create habits for our intellectual wellness, we participate in something called experience-dependent neuroplasticity. Which is the “passive process of reinforcing habits by doing them unconsciously over and over again, whether they’re good or bad.” [source]
The key to improving this area of wellness is through, formerly mentioned, self-directed neuroplasticity. SDN is the active process of consciously reflecting on our habits and how they make us feel.
Already existing habits are automated, and therefore mostly unconsciously done. Think of how you brush your teeth. You pick up the toothbrush the same, you put on the toothpaste the same; there is minimal effort and thinking to how you do these daily habits.
One of the reasons why I am so enthusiastic about habits is because they become automated. When we’re automating healthy, positive, helpful habits we have a higher quality of life and are generally happier humans.
However a habit is not formed instantly, it requires some effort in the beginning. They start with an action, followed by a hit of a reward chemical in the body called dopamine. I have a habit of cracking my knuckles. Sometimes I crack them without realizing it, and also without recognition my body feels that relief, that reward following this particular habit.
Our sensory nervous system is designed to monitor our body and it’s looking for that connection between action and satisfaction. Once it comes across this connection, it stores it in an area of our brain called the basal ganglia. This is also where we develop our memories and emotions, but it is not where we make conscious decisions. Hence why it can be so difficult to break habits, since they are mostly done unconsciously.
[08:40] The Habit Loop
To practice SDN we create habits through reflecting on the habit loop:
Cue: this is the trigger to your habit.
Craving: the urge or desire to motivate you
Response: engaging in the action, thought, or behaviour
Reward: the satisfying outcome you were craving
Let’s create specific habit loops for each of our examples:
Take a Course or Workshop
Cue: You were scrolling instagram when you saw a friend talking about their Human Design Profile. Your friend’s excitement and experience becomes a trigger for you to learn more.
Craving: After reading a few blog posts on Human Design, and downloading your own unique profile, you crave more information and want to go deeper into the subject. One of the blog posts you’ve been reading offers an eight week workshop promising to guide you through the fundamentals of Human Design and interpreting your profile.
Response: You sign up for the course and attend each week. Throughout the course you keep an open mind, you’re fully engaged and present, and even begin to connect with the other students outside the course to learn and discuss further.
Reward: Through this experience you feel a sense of accomplishment and purpose because you’re able to understand once unfamiliar concepts, and these concepts explain unique parts of yourself. You wake up excited to connect with new friends and leave those conversations feeling satisfied and inspired.
Learn (or Improve) a Foreign Language
I am currently on day 739 of learning French with the app Duolingo and I highly recommend this app for learning a language, so I’m going to use this app as an example for this habit.
Cue: Notification on your phone from Duolingo reads “Keep your streak going! Practice 5 minutes of French!”
Craving: Wanting to feel confident and sexy speaking French, possibly while walking through Paris, France eating a croissant one day.
A more immediate craving: The app gives you fire emojis, trophy emojis, and special badges for completing the daily and monthly challenges which has you feeling accomplished and excited with all the bright colours and GIFs.
Response: Open app, complete a few different lessons, practice learning french.
Reward: Lots of colourful images, videos, and sounds (think of a casino slot machine) for achieving a lesson, or earning a trophy, or continuing your streak. Little characters are sending you “high fives” and accolades for your progress with stats of your accomplishments. There are also friends of yours on the app you can enter challenges with and send emojis like stars or nudges to cheer them on for their success.
Reading
Cue: Replacing the phone charger on your night stand with a personal development book.
Craving: Wanting to improve your mindset, your brain, your relationship, or whatever other topic is important to you.
Response: Read a minimum of two pages before bed (this is a little tip here if you’re starting this reading habit, start with just two pages!)
Reward: Feeling accomplished with each turn of the page. Feeling more rested and ready for bed from reading verses scrolling TikTok and its harsh blue light and EMFs.
An excellent book I want to share with you about training your brain is called LIMITLESS by Jim Kwik. The book is all about intellectual wellness and how you can become better at using your brain through various exercises and techniques.
These three habits require a little more conscious effort than cracking knuckles or biting nails, but through self-directed neuroplasticity, they can become effortless habits in our daily lives. Connect to the feeling; the reward each of these habits gives you and you’ll be improving your intellectual wellness!
[12:50] The Spiritual
In the last couple episodes of the series I share specific “spiritual tools” for each habit. For this episode I will share a few different spiritual tools to support you in this particular area of wellness rather than each specific habit.
Here are five crystals that can improve mental health [source]
Clear Quartz: is known to amplify energy, support concentration, memory and can aid in balancing your energetic system. It can also help with clarity in thoughts and intentions.
Green Tourmaline: is meant to be beneficial for studying and concentration since it stimulates mental activity and can increase creativity.
Green Aventurine: helpful in concentrating on studies as it has been known to help inventors focus on ideas, artists concentrate during work, and athletes and dancers as well.
Red Jasper: Enhances energy and helps feel more calm and stable during difficult situations. Can provide calmness and concentration during stress.
Blue Lace Agate: a gemstone for concentration, increasing creative thinking and improving communication, especially if you’re studying a foregin language. Sounds like I need to get me some blue lace agate for my confident and sexy trip to France. Hahaha
Here are five essential oils that can help with supporting your intellectual wellness:
Basil: the oil of renewal can bring strength to the heart and relaxation to the mind. It’s excellent for feelings of nervousness, anxiousness, or despair. It helps anyone who is under mental strain by bringing rejuvenation of vital forces after long periods of burnout and exhaustion. It is also helpful in recovery from negative habits.
Blue Tansy: the oil of inspired action supports people in taking action to change or transform circumstances, especially if they are feeling stagnant. It encourages people to live in alignment with the whispering of their inner voice, prompting them to make necessary changes.
Dill: the oil of learning helps us to learn new things, think rationally, and integrate different thoughts into coherent ideas. It encourages us to embrace the many facets of life by engaging in the learning process and challenges us to become self-motivated learners and to find excitement for discovering new things.
Green Mandarin: the oil of pure potential. This bright and cheerful aroma reminds us that we have direct access to pure potential and boundless opportunities. It encourages us to experience the joy in the journey and never stop becoming.
Rosemary: the oil of knowledge and transition assists in the development of true knowledge and true intellect. It brings expansion to the mind, supporting individuals in receiving new information and new experiences.
Before we wrap up I do have a few little ritual notes I want to make. When you’re learning something new you often hear of the “learning curve.” this is a literal graphical curve that represents the relationship between how proficient people are at a task and the amount of experience they have [source]
The curve is steeper in the beginner because we are usually a little overwhelmed with all the information about this new skill or topic. It’s important to take small steps, and even some breaks when learning new things.
Make your new habits simple as you begin them, like my tip about reading for two minutes or only two pages a day. You don’t have to finish the whole book in one sitting! That’s not how habits are formed.
Try taking a course or workshop with a friend and sign up together, share excitement, compare notes, etc.
If you’re learning a new language, try different methods to see what works for you. Maybe you can hire a tutor, or have a bilingual friend/neighbour you can practice with. Duolingo works really well for me for how I want to learn, and in the past immersing myself in language and culture has been exponentially beneficial, and I also understand that we can’t always do that. It’s important to learn little by little every day and improve over time with methods and practices that work best for us.
I know this was a pretty heavy science episode, and I’m sure there will be a few episodes that are more spiritual and wooey haha
Over the next couple weeks we have some special guests on the show and then we’ll return to the series again! Find me on instagram @vallavignelife and share some of your habits with me! I love meeting you!
Also, if you’re interested in building new habits, routines, rituals, or supporting your intellectual wellness, connect with me and we can set up a call to see if we’re the best fit for each other. As a Healthy Habit Mentor I’ve been able to support my clients in all areas of their health, and we’ve even been able to watch all areas of health and wellness improve, even though we’ve focused on one specific area, the others grew! You can email me at www.valerielavignelife.com/contact and let me know you’re interested in ways to work with me so we can meet virtually.
Take care for now!
Podcast Host
Valerie LaVigne
Valerie is the creator and founder of Valerie LaVigne Life and the Women's Empowerment Show. She helps busy and empowered women create healthy habits so that they can become the best version of themselves and transform their lives. Learn more about Valerie here!
