Your brain is your own powerful personal computer. It controls your decisions, thoughts, and motor skills, coordinates your vital functions, and regulates every system in your body. Awesome, right?
By understanding the basics of brain science, we can work with our brain—not against it—to think positively, act intentionally, and unlock our motivation and potential.
This article will provide all the beginner-friendly information you need to answer the question: How does the brain work? Follow along for the simple breakdown.
What is the Brain?
The brain is one of our vital organs, and by far the most complex. It controls every process and system in our bodies, from sight and touch to memories and emotions, all the way to digestion, temperature, breathing, and hormone regulation.
What is the Nervous System?
The brain connects to the spinal cord at the base of the brain, and together, they make up our central nervous system (CNS). Our nervous system is divided into two parts: The central nervous system, which we described above, and the peripheral nervous system, which is a network of nerves extending outward from the central nervous system.
Our nervous system is responsible for our emotional regulation, hormonal regulation, and controlling both conscious and subconscious actions.
How Does the Brain Work?
Chemical signals are sent and received by the brain throughout the entire body, controlling different processes. Some are kept within the brain for only the brain to interpret, while others are sent down the spinal cord and across the body’s network of nerves (peripheral nervous system) to your extremities—the legs, feet, arms, and hands.
One example is when you touch your hand to a hot stove. Your skin’s nerve endings will send electrical signals to your spinal cord, and those electrical signals travel up to your brain, activating your motor neurons and causing you to remove your hand in pain. Another example is catching a ball. Your eyes see the ball coming toward you, and chemical signals are sent to your brain via the optic nerves. Your brain then interprets that information via the visual cortex and motor cortex to send more signals down your spinal cord and to your peripheral nerves, allowing you to catch the ball.
Brain Science: Where Do Our Thoughts and Emotions Come From?
Our thoughts, emotions, and motivations are rooted in our brain’s wiring. Through our limbic system—the interconnected structure deep inside the brain—we think, feel, process, remember, and have physical reactions to our emotions.
Below are the main parts of the brain responsible for thoughts and emotions. Each one of these brain parts exists within the limbic system, except the prefrontal cortex.
- Prefrontal Cortex: This region, located at the front of the brain, is responsible for higher-order thinking, decision-making, and self-regulation. It helps us plan, focus, and manage our emotions.
- Amygdala: The amygdala is our emotional alarm system, detecting threats, encoding rewards, and triggering emotions like fear, excitement, anger, and pleasure. It also helps us form emotional memories.
- Hippocampus: This part of the brain is responsible for forming and storing long-term memories as well as connecting our emotions to memories.
- Hypothalamus: Think of the hypothalamus as your engine for physical responses to emotion. This part of the brain regulates our hunger, thirst, sleep, libido, and our stress response, acting as a link between the nervous system (fight, flight, or freeze/rest and digest) and the endocrine system (responsible for our hormones).
- Thalamus: The thalamus sends sensory information to specific areas of the brain, based on the sensory stimuli, including the limbic system for emotional processing.
- Cingulate Gyrus: This part of the brain regulates our emotions and pain, and it’s directly linked to our capacity for empathy, decision-making, and emotional self-control.
How Do Thoughts Influence Emotions?
Our thoughts have a direct impact on our emotional states. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), a widely used form of psychological therapy, emphasizes the connection between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. According to CBT, negative thought patterns can lead to negative emotions, creating a cycle that reinforces anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, or other unnecessary emotional blockages.
If you think, “I’ll never get that far,” discouragement and low motivation are bound to follow, and you automatically count yourself out. Inversely, if you tell yourself, “I am capable, no matter how difficult or scary it may feel,” you foster motivation and a sense of high self-worth to keep moving forward.
Here’s what happens in the brain: You think the bad thought (prefrontal cortex), and the amygdala interprets it as a threat, not knowing the difference between a real threat and a perceived one. The amygdala then sends chemical signals to the hypothalamus, triggering an emotional stress response, and you feel anxious, scared, or upset.
The Relationship Between Emotions and Motivation
Emotions tend to be the driving force behind motivation. Whether it manifests positively or negatively, we are driven to act based on our needs, feelings, intentions, and goals. All of which can be emotionally driven in their own right: The need for social belonging, the intention of healing trauma, or the goal of landing a new job.
Positive emotions, like joy and gratitude, can boost motivation and encourage us toward our goals. Conversely, negative emotions, like fear or sadness, can hinder our motivation and create avoidance, self-doubt, and procrastination.
One study tells us that our emotions directly influence our grit and perseverance; the more emotionally regulated we are, the better able we are to overcome challenges. Another study says that we experience motivation (or the lack thereof) through our emotions, which tell the brain what to prioritize.
By this logic, when we feel emotions like fear and anxiety, we are sending signals to prioritize fear, which adversely impacts our motivation. Inversely, when we feel motivated to act through joy or excitement, our brain knows to prioritize that feeling, boosting motivation.
How to Harness Thoughts and Emotions for Self-Motivation: 7 Quick Tips
Harnessing how our brains work to create motivation means adopting healthy strategies to foster positive thinking and emotional resilience. Here are some quick and easy ways to do it.
1. Cultivate a Growth Mindset
Developing a growth mindset is your key to overcoming any challenge. How? You’re treating difficult situations as opportunities to learn and grow. If you can shift your mindset to one that’s growth-oriented, you will solve problems and persevere with confidence.
How to Cultivate a Growth Mindset
- Embrace Challenges: Instead of shying away from difficult tasks, approach them with curiosity and a willingness to learn. Each challenge is an opportunity to develop your skills and strengths.
- Learn from Feedback: Constructive feedback is invaluable. Use it as a tool for improvement rather than viewing it as a personal attack.
- Don’t Let Setbacks Throw You Off-Track: If you stumble, resist any urges to let it get you down. Get back up, try again, and know you can keep moving forward. Part of growth is knowing you’ll make mistakes (and being OK with it!).
2. Practice Positive Self-Talk
The way we talk to ourselves significantly impacts our thoughts and emotions. The way you talk to yourself can make or break your self-esteem, stress levels, and motivation. Be kind to yourself, and watch as challenges get easier.
Strategies for Positive Self-Talk
- Identify Negative Thoughts: Recognize your existing negative thought patterns. Take note of what your inner critic says to you and when it typically happens. Knowing what triggers negative self-talk is a great way to prevent it later.
- Challenge Negative Beliefs: Challenge your inner critic by asking yourself if your negative thoughts are based on facts or assumptions. For example, if you think, “Everyone will hate this presentation,” ask yourself: What makes me think that? Do I know that’s true? Chances are, your answer is no.
- Use Positive Affirmations: Speak to yourself as you would to a friend. It’s doubtful you’d be as mean and unforgiving to them! Use supportive and encouraging language, especially when you’re facing challenges.
3. Use Visualization Techniques
Visualization is a powerful technique that can enhance motivation and performance. By creating a mental movie of your goals, you can create a positive emotional response that drives action. With this method, you can even trick your brain into believing your goals have been achieved!
How to Use Visualization
- Create a Clear Mental Image: Picture yourself achieving your goals in vivid detail. What does success look like? How does it feel? What does the air feel like? What do you hear around you?
- Embody the Emotions: To truly trick your brain, you need to fully feel the emotions of having your success. Feel the joy, excitement, gratitude, and love deeply in your body. Sit in that feeling while visualizing for as long as you can.
- Practice Regularly: Make visualization a part of your daily routine. Spend a few minutes each day imagining your success and the emotions associated with it. It works especially well right before bed when your brain slows down and produces alpha waves—this state heightens subconscious programming.
4. Embrace Mindfulness and Emotional Awareness
Mindfulness is the practice of being present and fully engaged in the moment. By cultivating mindfulness, we can develop greater emotional awareness, enabling us to manage our thoughts and feelings more effectively. In other words, you control your emotions, not the other way around!
3 Mindfulness Practices to Try Now
- Meditation: Set aside time for meditation to quiet your mind and focus on your breath. Use a guided meditation or sit in a quiet, comfortable place. Remember, meditation isn’t about “shutting off your thoughts”—for many of us, that’s not even possible. It is simply the state of quiet observance (that will get easier with practice).
- Body Scan: Take a moment to quietly settle into your body and notice any areas you may be carrying tension or pain. Consciously relax your muscles in each area, and sit in the comfort of muscular release.
- Gratitude Journaling: Keep a gratitude journal to make note of what you’re thankful for. This practice helps cultivate a positive mindset, especially when done consistently, to remind you of all of the positive things in your life. Use your gratitude journal when you are stressed or upset for an instant mood boost.
5. Set Achievable Goals
Setting specific goals you can meet relatively easily helps boost motivation. As you meet your goals, no matter how small, you get lovely dopamine rushes while fostering a sense of trust and reliability within yourself. As self-trust grows, you’ll feel more motivated to take on bigger goals.
Tips for Setting Achievable Goals
- Start Small: Commit to making your bed every morning, drinking at least 6 full glasses of water a day, or stretching daily. This helps mitigate feelings of difficulty while still allowing you to feel accomplished.
- Slowly Build Responsibility: Once you meet your initial, smaller goal, ramp it up one level. If you committed to 10 minutes of exercise every day for a week, try out 20 minutes of exercise every day the next week.
- Reward Your Progress: Set milestones and track your progress. Once you meet your goal, give yourself a nice reward. This plays right into the limbic system of your brain, which is responsible for rewards and punishments.
- Go Easy on Yourself: If you slip back into old habits of procrastination, self-doubt, or a lack of motivation, go back to step 1. Don’t get down on yourself; get up and try again. You got this!
6. Build a Supportive Environment
Ever heard the expression, “You are the 5 people you spend the most time with”? Our environment plays a crucial role in shaping our thoughts and emotions. By creating a supportive environment, we can enhance our motivation and emotional well-being.
How to Build a Supportive Environment
- Surround Yourself with Positivity: Spend time with people who uplift and inspire you. Their positive energy can be contagious and motivate you to pursue your goals.
- Limit Negative Influences: Identify and reduce exposure to negative influences, whether they are people, places, or things that drain your energy (yes, that includes social media!).
- Create a Motivating Space: Design your workspace or living area to reflect your goals and aspirations. Surround yourself with inspiring quotes, images, and reminders of your journey.
7. Embrace Resilience and Adaptability
Life is filled with challenges and setbacks. Developing resilience and adaptability allows us to bounce back from adversity and maintain our motivation.
Tips to Build Resilience
- Learn from Failures: View failure as a learning opportunity rather than a setback. Reflect on what went wrong and how you can do it better next time.
- Practice Self-Compassion: Treat yourself with kindness and understanding during difficult times. Recognize that everyone faces challenges, and it’s okay to ask for help or make mistakes.
- Stay Flexible: Adaptability is key to overcoming obstacles. Be open to adjusting your plans and strategies as needed and remain focused on your long-term vision.
Using How the Brain Works to Your Advantage!
By understanding how the brain works, we can rewire the brain to cultivate positive thinking, emotional well-being, and motivation.
Our brain is our most powerful tool, putting the systems in place to either set us up for success or make achieving it that much harder. By working with your brain, not against it, we can program our mindset to believe in our talents, gifts, and success.
We’d love to hear what gets you motivated. Tell us in the comments, and check out this article for some quick, easy self-motivation practices!