Change has a metabolic cost.
Our brains are very.. VERY good at conserving energy when possible. Of preserving what is already very well-worn and used.
Patterns that have repeated many times require less energy.
Anything that requires less energy in the brain will generally be favored against something that requires more energy AND has no guaranteed return or reward.
Even ways of thinking, reacting and behaving that no longer serve us can become efficient simply because they are familiar, well-used, often repeated...
This is why i am so passionate about looking “under the hood” at human experience…
Years ago, when I started showing people maps of their own brain activity, I watched something shift in them.
There were often these incredible aha moments.
They would express to me that things that they found really challenging weren’t just “in their imagination.”
Their history had left traces..
Certain patterns - even if they weren’t really helpful - had become easier for their brain to run.
And for the people supporting them, those maps gave us another way of understanding what we were seeing in that person’s attitude and behavior.
It gave the person and the people around them more compassion. But not compassionate view that lets people off the hook and lowers the standard for who they are now… or that erases accountability and the need for self-leadership…
It was a view that held compassion AND higher standards for what might be possible.
Because, when it comes to brain activity… those patterns aren’t permanent.
And when we could see changes in those maps over time, we had something concrete in front of us:
the brain can update.
What once felt sooo hard for someone can, incrementally.. With EFFORT… become easier.
New patterns can become more efficient.
A different way of responding can become more available.. and then eventually, more automatic, familiar…
This is a big reason I love teaching the neuroscience of change.
It gives us a way to hold two truths at once:
“Of course this is hard.”
“AND…
“ look at what this system is capable of.”
When we understand the mechanisms underneath change, we can find better words, metaphors and explanations for the people we support, (and for ourselves) too.
We can help someone understand why change can feel so expensive...
without accidentally teaching them that they are destined to stay where they are.
And (in my experience) even help them become fascinated and excited by what their own brain-body system is capable of becoming.
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This is some of what we'll explore in Phase 3 of the Super-Regulators™ Neuroscience Academy :brain maps, prediction, energy, plasticity, and what is actually happening inside a human system as new patterns begin to emerge.
I cannot wait to look under the hood with this group.
Neuroscience becomes so powerful when it offers us new ways to see what's possible for us.
→ Explore the 2026 Super-Regulators™ Neuroscience Academy
