Ep. 3 Neuro-Shorts: Rewiring Your Brain in the Heat of the Moment

Practical Techniques to Build New, Healthier Neural Pathways

In this episode of Neuro-Shorts, we delve into the power of neuroplasticity during intense emotional states and explore how to consciously reshape your brain’s responses to triggers like anxiety, stress, or sadness.

Denise Marie shares her personal strategies for emotional preparedness, including how she creates simple, intentional behaviors that help her navigate emotional moments with grace and control.

By understanding how the brain becomes more malleable during heightened emotions, listeners will learn practical techniques to build new, healthier neural pathways in the heat of the moment, transforming emotional challenges into opportunities for growth.

Tune in to discover how you can harness the science of neuroplasticity to master your emotions and live with greater intention.

Transcript

Hello again, beautiful people, and welcome to this special premium segment. 

Today, we’re diving into the fascinating concept of neuroplasticity, particularly how we can harness it to change our brain’s wiring when we’re in the midst of intense emotional states.

In Episode 2 of Grace, Gratitude, and Giggles podcast, we discussed the types of emotional states: depression, anger, grief, and sadness.

Neuroplasticity refers to the brain’s remarkable ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life.

This means that every experience, thought, and emotion can potentially reshape our brain. While this is often discussed in the context of long-term change, it’s equally powerful in the moment—especially during emotional states.

When we’re in the grip of strong emotions, whether it’s anxiety, anger, or even overwhelming joy, our brain is particularly malleable.

The heightened emotional state makes the brain more plastic, meaning it’s primed for rewiring.

The key is to use this moment of heightened emotional arousal as an opportunity to change how we respond, thereby creating new, healthier neural pathways.

Okay…so let’s go over three steps to rewiring your brain.

The first step in harnessing neuroplasticity during an emotional state is to pause and recognize what is happening.

This involves activating the prefrontal cortex—the part of the brain responsible for rational thinking and decision-making.

By simply acknowledging, “I’m feeling anxious” or “I’m angry right now,” you engage the prefrontal cortex, which begins to modulate the amygdala’s intense emotional response.

This simple act of recognition is powerful because it interrupts the automatic emotional reaction.

It’s like hitting the pause button on an emotional movie that’s playing in your mind, giving you a moment to step back and choose how you want the story to unfold.

Imagine you’re at school, and you get really nervous before giving a presentation.

That nervous feeling is your brain’s way of trying to protect you from something it sees as scary.

Your amygdala, the part of your brain that deals with emotions, is firing up to keep you safe.

But when you take a deep breath and tell yourself, “I can do this,” you’re using another part of your brain, the prefrontal cortex, to calm down and take control.

This simple act of pausing and recognizing what you’re feeling is like putting the brakes on a speeding car—it gives you a moment to steer in a different direction.

The prefrontal cortex is one of the most advanced parts of the human brain, responsible for what are often referred to as “executive functions.”

The prefrontal cortex governs the advanced cognitive processes that allow us to think critically, solve problems, plan, make decisions, and regulate our behavior—skills that are essential for mastering complex subjects and engaging in lifelong learning.

Now for step 2. Once you’ve paused, the next step is to reframe the narrative in your mind.

This is where cognitive reappraisal comes into play. Cognitive reappraisal is the process of changing the way you think about a situation in order to alter its emotional impact.

For instance, if you’re feeling overwhelmed by stress, you might reframe the situation by focusing on what you can control rather than what you can’t.

You might tell yourself, “This is an opportunity to learn how to manage stress better,” instead of “I can’t handle this.”

By doing so, you shift the neural activity from the emotional centers to the prefrontal cortex, reinforcing a more balanced response.

This reframing creates new neural pathways.

Each time you practice this, you’re reinforcing the pathway that leads to calm and control rather than stress and overwhelm.

And over time, this becomes your brain’s default route. How cool is that? Here’s something really interesting: when we’re feeling strong emotions, our brain is in a state where it can learn and remember things more effectively. Think about a time when something really exciting or scary happened to you—chances are, you can remember every detail, even years later.

This happens because when your amygdala is activated by strong emotions, it sends signals to the hippocampus, the part of your brain responsible for forming new memories.

The hippocampus then works harder to store that emotional experience in your memory, making it stick with you longer and more vividly.

This is why emotions are so powerful—they can make our brains more plastic, more open to forming new connections and learning new things.

So, when you’re in a strong emotional state, it’s a prime time to learn something new or practice a new behavior, as your brain is more likely to hold onto it.

Now that you’ve recognized and reframed, the final step is to engage in a new behavior that aligns with the reframe.

If your reframe involves seeing a stressful situation as a learning opportunity, your new behavior might be to take a few deep breaths, break the task into smaller, manageable steps, or even take a short walk to clear your mind.

Engaging in this new behavior, especially while you’re still in the emotional state, strengthens the new neural pathways you’re creating.

The emotional intensity actually helps to ‘cement’ these pathways, making it easier to access them the next time you’re in a similar situation.

Each time you pause, reframe, and choose a new behavior, you’re weakening the old, unhelpful neural connections and strengthening the new, adaptive ones. Neurons that fire together wire together, as the saying goes.

The more you practice this in-the-moment rewiring, the stronger and more automatic these new pathways become. And over time, your brain begins to favor these new pathways over the old, reactive ones.

This is the essence of neuroplasticity in action: your brain physically changes to support the emotional responses you’ve consciously chosen to cultivate.

Practices like mindfulness are incredibly effective for engaging this process of neuroplasticity, particularly when you’re in an emotional state.

Mindfulness involves staying present and fully experiencing what’s happening in the moment without judgment.

When you practice mindfulness, especially during emotional times, you’re actively strengthening the neural circuits that help regulate emotions.

This not only helps you in the moment but also rewires your brain over time, making it easier to manage emotions in the future.

Mindfulness has been shown to increase neuroplasticity in the prefrontal cortex.

By regularly practicing mindfulness, you’re essentially training your brain to handle emotions more effectively, making it a powerful tool for emotional mastery.

Let me share a little bit about how I navigate these moments in my own life.

I like to be prepared, and for me, preparation means creating new behaviors ahead of time.

This way, when an emotion like anxiety, stress, or sadness arises, I can head it off immediately with a pre-planned response.

The way I do this is by creating what I call “events” or a “series of events.”

These are simple, intentional actions that I can take as soon as I become aware of the emotion.

For instance, if I’m feeling sadness or anxiety, I stop what I’m doing and take three deep breaths.

That might seem small, but for me, those three deep breaths are an event. An event that takes me out of the space that I don’t want to be in.

If I can, I’ll follow that up with a walk. With two or more events, such as the deep breaths and a walk, it becomes a “series of events.”

And if I add in making myself a green smoothie afterward, I’ve created a full sequence of events that support my well-being.

This might sound simple, but it’s incredibly powerful.

By having these actions ready to go, I’m not just managing my emotions in the moment–I’m actively rewiring my brain to respond to these triggers in healthier, more adaptive ways.

Each time I practice this, I’m reinforcing new neural pathways that lead to calm and balance instead of stress and overwhelm.

As we wrap up this segment, remember that neuroplasticity is a powerful tool that’s always at your disposal, even in the heat of the moment.

By consciously choosing how you respond during emotional states, you’re not just managing your emotions—you’re reshaping your brain to support a more balanced, resilient, and intentional way of living.

Until next time, continue to pause, reframe, and engage in ways that nurture your brain and your well-being.

References:

Research on emotional arousal and memory:

https://www.cell.com/trends/neurosciences/abstract/S0166-2236(97)01214-9?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0166223697012149%3Fshowall=true 

https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev.neuro.27.070203.144157 

Research on enhanced learning during emotional states:

https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01454/full

About Grace, Gratitude, and Giggles

Each "Grace, Gratitude, and Giggles" episode is a journey toward emotional mastery and personal growth.

On the podcast, I blend emotional mastery with artistic expression, holistic practices, and neuroscience insights to provide you with lucid (laughable) life lessons, practical strategies, and inspirational stories to equip women with the tools to navigate life's complexities, not just to survive but to emerge stronger, wiser, and more capable.

 

Disclaimer:

My content is for educational purposes only. Information provided on this podcast is not intended to be a substitute for in-person professional medical advice.

It is not intended to replace the services of a therapist, physician, or other qualified professional, nor does it constitute a therapist-client physician or quasi-physician relationship. 

If you or someone you know is in immediate danger, please call a local emergency telephone number or go to the nearest emergency room immediately. 

If you are having emotional distress, please utilize 911 or the National Suicide Hotline: 1-800-273-8255.