The average human brain, while it works all the time, functions at a very low level, unless stimulated and trained. Training your brain to operate at peak efficiency increases your productivity, aids your ability to learn new information, and even stirs the creative juices. While it is a myth that people use only ten percent of their brain capacity, it is true that most people’s brains are not functioning at peak efficiency. However, you can change that and train your brain to be more retentive, more creative, and more productive.

Too often, people, when faced with a problem, slip into confusion and frustration. Once they learn how to train their brains, the ability to switch to logic and clarity becomes second nature. Your brain is capable of intense concentration; you simply need to hone the ability to focus on a problem. The great thinkers of our society have learned this secret. Once learned, you will not fall into the emotional trap of confusion and frustration anymore, and you’ll know how to focus instantly on the problem and the solution you need.

Thanks to research, scientists have discovered that it is possible for you to learn to rewire your brain, simply by changing your thoughts and emotions. They found that certain types of meditation made it possible to increase the activity of the prefrontal cortex. They found a way to increase mental activity without necessarily increasing adrenaline and stress. Their research found that focusing on positive thoughts and emotions gave the greatest increase in brain activity. This doesn’t mean you need to chant a mantra or go to your happy place while meditating. The researchers discovered that just thinking happy, loving thoughts makes your brain go into overtime, making mental connections and being productive and creative. Whether you’ve been trained in meditation techniques or not, you can learn to increase your brain’s activity, without stress.

For starters, give yourself just ten minutes in the morning and ten minutes in the evening to focus on happy, loving thoughts. Changing the way you think and behave is up to you. Henry Ford said, “If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right.” Find a comfortable place to sit, relax and take a deep breath through your nose. Close your eyes and concentrate first on your breathing. Then focus on thinking about being joyful. Push aside the worries and concentrate on nothing by joy, happiness and love.

You can change the way your brain works, but it takes discipline, determination and practice. If you want to be smarter, you must choose to do so, by controlling your thoughts and emotions - by choosing to be happy, grateful, and appreciative. By choosing to be emotionally happy, you are changing the way your brain works, making new connections, in fact rewiring your brain to be more productive, more creative and smarter.

I know you’re asking, why just making yourself feel happy could possibly have anything to do with getting smarter. It’s simple. When your body feels good, blood circulates through the brain freely. This helps you to focus and lets your brain be as creative as it needs to be for the task at hand. Happiness releases hormones and body chemicals that will produce the greatest mental activity. Depression and unhappiness clog up the works, making your mental activity slow to a crawl and creating a sluggishness in the blood flow and thought processes. This is no way to work or live!

There’s enough mental confusion being thrown at you from all directions, the last thing you need is to be bombarded by negative thoughts and emotions. All the worries and upsets, disappointments and anxieties just obliterates the learning process. When you’re upset and confused, it’s difficult to remember things, or even think straight. Even your observational skills are impaired by negativity and emotional upheaval. You can’t enhance your brain while under the onslaught of worries and anxiety.

That’s why the ten-minute twice a day are so important to your brain. During those times, you must not let any negativity into your consciousness. Allow your brain to relax with positive, kind, loving, happy thoughts. Think about all that you’re grateful for in your life, everything that makes you happy. Push aside any worries and upsets, at least for that twenty minutes a day. It’s especially important to start your day feeling happy and relaxed, to get through your workday; and it’s equally important to end the day with those happy emotions to help you sleep soundly, unperturbed by the day’s events, whether good or bad.