A really important question for all of us this: Can I change?
By change we often mean, change how we feel, change how we experience things and ultimately change those aspects of ourselves that cause problems. To change is to learn. But we have always been taught that neurons in the central nervous system, (brain and spinal cord) don't grow. Implying that to change is to over-write the existing learning with the new learning. But recent research has show that the most important brain structures actually grow new neurons ever day. Furthermore there are things we can do to facilitate this and things we can do to impede it. New neurons means that can are not automatically in perpetual decline but we can continue to develop and change ourselves.
This is particularly relevant to mental health problems like depression. Because greater neurogenesis seems to be linked to less depression.
In this TED talk the neuroscientist Sandrine Thuret show some evidence that we are able to shape our life throughout the lifespan by attending to our neurogenesis.
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