Rewire Your Brain: Think Your Way to a Better Life

effortless
to do so. She worked with focus and effort 
until it was effortless, feeding her brain for several weeks; then she 
came back in and said, “ Well, I don ’ t have to work on that anymore —
I ’ ve got that down. ”
I told her that she needed to continue working with
determination
to solidify the new habit. Rather than become lazy and take a break, 
she had to continue to “ work out ” in order to “ stay in shape. ” It is only 
by staying determined that she will be able to rewire her brain.
Test Yourself 
Here is a quick quiz that will get to the heart of what ’ s holding you 
back from rewiring your brain.
1.
To rewire your brain, it ’ s important to do what?
a. Stay within your comfort zone
b. Do what comes naturally to you
c. Challenge yourself to change your behavior and then 
stay with it
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F i r i n g t h e R i g h t C e l l s To g e t h e r
23
d. Wait until you feel motivated to change
2.
What does the acronym FEED, a mnemonic device to help 
you remember the steps to rewire your brain, stand for?
a. Feel good, Exhale, Excite, and Dictate
b. Focus, Effort, Effortlessness, and Determination
c. Fail, Engage, Encourage, and Describe
d. Freedom, Effortlessness, Entertainment, and Doing little
3.
If you ’ re troubled by anxiety, it ’ s best to do which of the 
following?
a. Avoid what makes you anxious so that your amygdala 
will calm down
b. Take some medication to numb your amygdala
c. Expose yourself gradually to what makes you anxious
d. Ask your family to shield you from stress
4.
If you ’ re down in the dumps, it ’ s best to do which of the 
following?
a. Hide out from family and friends until you feel up to 
seeing them
b. Draw the drapes, stay inside, and rest
c. Get out of the house, exercise, and engage in activities
d. Self - medicate with alcohol and/or sweets to soothe your 
feelings
5.
When you ’ re trying to improve your memory, it ’ s best to do 
which of the following?
a. Rest your mind so that you will have enough energy to 
remember
b. Multitask
c. Rely on your friends to remember things for you
d. Focus your attention, form associations, and review your 
memories
6.
What should you do to improve your diet so that you can more 
easily rewire your brain?
a. Eat large amounts of fried foods, sugar, and processed 
foods
b. Eat three balanced meals per day and hydrate with 
water throughout the day
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24 Rew i r e
Yo u r
B r a i n
c. Eat one good hardy meal and consume plenty of caf-
feine for energy
d. Vary your food intake to meet your hunger pains
7.
In old age, what is the best way to boost cognitive reserve 
and delay or prevent dementia?
a. Minimize your mental strain by staying with a monoto-
nous routine
b. Vary your activities, learn new things, and stay socially 
connected
c. Rest and stay away from any kind of stress
d. Have a cocktail in the evening and ruminate about the past
8.
Five habits that form the foundation for a healthy brain can 
be remembered as “ planting SEEDS. ” What does this acro-
nym stand for?
a. Safety, Escape, Exit, Distance, and Soothingness
b. Sensation, Entertainment, Ecstasy, Distraction, and 
Slipping away
c. Stifl e, End, Execute, Do, and Stonewall
d. Social medicine, Exercise, Education, Diet, Sleep hygiene
9.
To build a resilient brain, you should do which of the 
following?
a. Cultivate optimism, inoculate yourself with manageable 
stress, and challenge yourself
b. Make pessimism your default mode so that you will 
never be surprised
c. Avoid stress at all costs
d. Save your energy for times of need
10.
A mindful brain does which of the following?
a. Shuts down, checks out, and is otherwise mindless
b. Is in the here and now, savoring every moment and 
sensation
c. Looks for constant distraction from the stress and strain 
of the moment
d. Is holier than thou
I will explain in detail what you need to know to an swer these 
questions in the remaining chapters of this book. 
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25
J
ane came to see me for help with her fear of public speaking. 
She had been asked by her employer to give a presentation on a 
new product line that her department had developed. She told me 
that she was chosen to make the presentation because she was one 
of the principal designers of the project. However, the thought of 
standing in front of fi fty people made her fear that she would “ make 
a fool ” of herself. 
I agreed to help her succeed and offered to go one step further: 
to help her become profi cient at public speaking. She fi rst said that 
she thought I was joking. Then she became curious. 
Jane had experienced frightening public speaking episodes in the 
past. One time in particular had made an indelible impression on 
her mind. It occurred moments after she was asked to report on her 
college class project. She remembers standing in front of her peers 
and freezing like a deer in the headlights. After a few terrifying 
moments she rushed out of the classroom. 
I told her that public speaking is one of the most common fears 
that people report in surveys. Although she had the full - blown stress 
2
Taming Your 
Amygdala
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26 Rew i r e
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response associated with this fear, she could learn to modify it and 
eventually turn it off. 
I suggested that we work together to rewire her brain so that her 
fears about public speaking could be neutralized. Her frontal lobes
could be trained to have better veto power over her amygdala. Then 
she would be better able to present her thoughts and feelings about 
the new product. 
To begin to rewire her brain, Jane fi rst needed to shift her
f ocus 
to an enjoyable aspect of her subject matter, and it had to be some-
thing she wanted to share with others. This shift in focus engaged 
her frontal lobes, which helped her to distance herself from the 
over whelming anxiety about standing up in front of people. The 
engagement of the frontal lobes helped to boost the neuroplasticity 
that was necessary for rewiring her brain. 
When I told her about the importance of focusing and the other 
elements of FEED, she said, “ All I can focus on is all those people 
watching me trip over my words! ”
I explained that she could choose to focus on a constructive part 
of speaking in front of people. She could shift her focus from the 
speaking performance to the subject matter. This was simply the fi rst 
step in activating her frontal lobes to calm down her amygdala, 
which was overreacting with fear. 
Since Jane was a principal designer of the new product, there was 
an opportunity to tap into her enthusiasm for it. She had to make a 
concerted