Eric Kandel’s pioneering work from the 1960s through the 1990s revealed, with unprecedented clarity, how learning and memory are encoded at the synaptic level, beginning with his elegant studies of the sea slug Aplysia californica. In a series of landmark experiments (e.g., Kandel & Tauc, 1965; Kandel, 1976; Hawkins, Kandel & Siegelbaum, 1983), he demonstrated that short-term memory arises from transient changes in neurotransmitter release, while long-term memory requires structural synaptic growth driven by gene expression and new protein synthesis, a discovery that earned him the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. By showing that even complex human capacities rest on modifiable biological mechanisms, Kandel illuminated how experiences can reshape the brain throughout life, offering scientific grounding for therapy, education, resilience training, and recovery from trauma. His work not only transformed neuroscience but also empowered individuals and societies with the hopeful understanding that learning, healing, and personal wellbeing are supported by the brain’s inherent ability to change and grow. We cannot choose all our experiences but let us seek to be responsible and wise in relation to those we can, knowing that experience shapes neurology. Above all, let us choose life (Deuteronomy 30:19).