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The Science of It All.

In the year 2019, I leaned forward with my guitar goals. I’m not alone. People all over are buying guitars according to Fender, Gibson and luthier extroidinaire, Dean Zelinsky. Younger people are learning, shredding and making music with a guitar like never before. The pandemic increased it. 

Learning the guitar, is a forward-looking process, kindling hope and optimism. I am a big fan of hope.  God is hope.

I believe one of the greatest gifts God has given you is hope. After all, that is what his promises are designed to do – inspire hope. It gives us the ability to look at any situation and know that regardless of how it may appear God is going to come through. This is the essence of what hope is.

 

However, if you are honest, the challenges of life can sometimes seem overwhelming. I know because I have faced those challenges just like you have. When these challenges attack, the thing they often come after is your hope. They try to move you from hope to despair, but that doesn’t have to be the case.

You may not know this but it helps regulate stable mood chemicals like serotonin and dopamine. There is a science to it.

The process, according to smart guy Dr. Levitin, is “neuro-protective” in that it “requires that you grow new neural pathways — something you can do at literally any age.” He added that “using your brain for something that is challenging, but not impossible, tends to be rewarding, and hence comforting.”

Learning the guitar, does this.

This dopamine tells individual neurons to fire off a signal or not. It influences other brain signals and pathways, and essentially, serves as the traffic cop for motivation, emotion, and social behavior. Dopamine is also an important chemical messenger in the brain. It’s the thing that involves reward. It’s motivation. It’s memory. Its attention even regulates our body movements. When dopamine is released in large amounts, it creates the feeling of pleasure and reward, and it motivates us to repeat a specific behavior. 

For me, it gives me joy. What makes the guitar good is that you can physically chart your progress. It is cheaper than therapy and doesn’t leave me any bad side affects. 

The journey has been combined with a new understanding and learning of video editing. I am still learning and haven’t mastered editing by a long shot, but what I am doing is helping me post more confidently. A few of the videos I posted are in the "pages." on this site.  

Continue on your journey. There is nothing to be afraid of. I’m starting to understand a few things. It feels kinda cool. Speaking of cool, please subscribe to this blog if you know how. 


Listening to this now makes me whence.  Hope you think it sounds better the next time I do it.







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