Being there for your kids - Are You Benefiting from Neurogenesis?

Episode Date: August 28, 2026

There's a word you don't hear very often. When your brain is working as it is supposed to, it's shutting down often used but unhealthy neuropathways and shifting to new, healthier ones. Over time, these new pathways become engrained, and you are changing how you think, feel, and react. Andy had a lot of work to do to get unstuck, but he stayed with the process on his healing journey and is now soaring. Find more about his healing in my new book, The Healing Journey: Overcoming Adversity on the Path to the Good Life. Buy your copy at amazonbooks.com. Follow this link: https://a.co/d/0dxH5xOL. Blessings, Dr. Jon

Hi, I'm Dr. John Robinson, and this is Teachable Moments. Let me give you a word of the day, neurogenesis. Okay, so this word doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. But what is it? Why is it important? Breaking it down, neuro is a prefix that identifies brain activity. Genesis is of Latin origin and means beginnings. Put them together, and the word neurogenesis identifies our brain's ability to create new pathways based on our mindset and changing circumstances.

Back in the day, brain scientists believed that our brains matured from birth to age 25. At that point, it was asserted that brain development plateaued. We were left with all those neuro pathways developed up to that point. Historically, this is like the flat earth theory of people long ago before global exploration. In the past 30 years, however, research has found that our brains continue to grow and develop new neural pathways throughout our lifetime. How cool is that? Okay, Andrew, I started with my next patient. You look a mess. What's going on? How are you feeling? You got me, Doc. Andy sighed and sunk his chin into his chest. I'm really stuck. I don't know. Everything's a mess. I keep doing and saying dumb stuff

that just gets me deeper in trouble. Can't get much lower than that. I concluded, can you give me a current example of the mess? Yeah, well, my boss at work gave me. me a project to do. I kept putting it off until the due date and then threw something together. Of course, the project sucked and he cheered me out. Andrew took a deep breath and then paused. And then, I encouraged. Well, I got home in a bad mood after that and just let Crystal have it, even though she hadn't done anything to provoke me. He got up and paced the office. She fussed at me, cried, and then went to our bedroom and locked herself in. I got a six-pack, slumped in my recliner, and got drunk. I slumped.

slept on the couch that night. Wow, I offered in conclusion. Yep, that's a mess. Let me help you break it all down and then forge a new path so that something similar never happens again. We spent the rest of his session and several more, including some couple therapy, understanding his presenting problem, and then retooling his response pattern. Andrew was stuck on events in his life, feeling incapable of, quote, making it right. I encouraged him to him to start with his feelings and focus on parts of the stuff over which he has control. He embraced how extreme words and actions exacerbated his response pattern. I cued him to avoid absolutes like always ever, never, only should, could, would, and must. I helped him develop a

to do-do list to avoid falling behind, and he started using catchphrases like, How was your day, dear, to include others in his debriefing and emotional space. With these, and other tools he started using daily, Andrew found himself approaching life in a proactive, engaging, more positive way. Clearly, his brain had discarded broken and unhelpful neural pathways. Neurogenesis was now fully engaged with his brain. Neurogenesis was now fully engaged with his embrace of mental and psychotherapy, that's MPT, strategies of mindfulness, positive psychology, and cognitive behavioral interventions. To read more about Andrew's healing journey, copy of my new book, The Healing Journey, Overcoming Adversity on the Path of the Good Life,

on Amazonbooks.com. If my comments start questions of your own, contact me through my website at www.org, thereformykids.com, or email me at John Robinson 0.0. at bell south.net. I'm Dr. Jonathan C. Robinson, licensed clinical psychologist and author of Teachable Moments in my new book, The Healing Journey, Overcoming Adversity on the Path of the Good Life. Blessings, Dr. John. Teachable Moments, Building Blocks of Christian Parenting is available online at AmazonBooks.com and in local and national bookstores. More on Dr. Robinson at TMC-P-I-N-C.com.