# The Brain & Neuroplasticity

The human brain is a network of approximately one hundred billion neurons. 
Different experiences create different neural connections and these bring 
about different emotions. Depending on which neurons get stimulated, 
certain connections will become stronger and more effective while others 
may become weaker. This is referred to as neuroplasticity. Someone who 
trains to be a musician will create stronger neural connections that link 
the two hemispheres of the brain in order to be musically creative. 
Virtually any sort of talent or skill can be created through training. 
Rudiger Gamm for example, who was a self-admitted hopeless student, used to 
fail at basic maths and went on to train his abilities to become a famous 
mental calculator, capable of performing extremely complex mathematics.

Rationality and emotional resilience work the same way, these are neural 
connections that can be strengthened. But this also applies to negative 
thinking. It's possible to have two elderly people who may have had similar 
lives, yet one person is perfectly happy while the other is very unhappy 
and has a negative view on the same things. Everything depends on which 
neurons they have been stimulating throughout their lives. Whatever you are 
doing at any time, you are physically modifying your brain to become better 
at it.

Since this is such a fundamental mechanism of the brain, being self-aware 
can greatly enrich our life experience.