It used to be thought that you stopped making new neural connections in your youth and from then on your brain was fixed and it was downhill all the way. But in fact as we know from our own experience we can keep on learning and learning means changing our brain on a physical level.

Beginning a new habit, or ending an old one can feel like letting go of a rope that swings a mile above the ground. So we feel reluctant to let go, after all, we've survived so far doing what we've done, why risk it.

If we are not using our brains' capacity for challenge it feels to me as though it atrophies like an unused muscle.

Meditation is focused attention and the more we practise focusing our brains the more connections we build up.

A sense of achievement improves general confidence and self-esteem.

If we keep practicing mental skills it is likely we can strengthen neural connections and make new connections.

We don't have to have suffered brain damage to take advantage of the plastic nature of our brains.