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Exercise Your Veto Power

March 10, 2014 by Joycelyn Campbell Leave a Comment

truck under lake
(Photo credit: Never Photo)

The unconscious part of the brain—also called the subliminal brain or System 1—is a much faster processor and reactor than the comparatively plodding conscious part of the brain—the only part of the brain we’re aware of. The unconscious responds quickly, automatically, and without thought. This often works to our advantage. I once found my foot slamming on my car’s brake before I was even aware that a speeding pickup truck outside my line of sight was about to run its red light.

Had my unconscious brain not reacted as quickly as it did, I would have been in the middle of the intersection at the same time as the truck. The conscious part of my brain needed a lot more time to process all the information. I didn’t fully grasp what was happening until after the pickup ran the red light, the driver recognized the near miss, and the truck came to a screeching stop at the shoulder of the road on the other side of the intersection.

In a situation like that, stopping to think through what to do could have proven fatal.

Most of us don’t find ourselves in life-threatening circumstances on a regular basis. But the unconscious brain reacts or responds just as quickly in our ordinary, everyday situations. It is notorious for jumping to conclusions. And in many cases, the unconscious response, reaction, or conclusion isn’t the most accurate or appropriate one. Those are the times when it pays to slow down, consider what the best response might be, and make a conscious choice. We can choose to go with the flow and accept the initial reaction or impulse generated by our unconscious. Or we can exercise our veto power and choose a different response.

A participant in one of the courses I teach came up with the acronym STOP. When she notices herself engaging in automatic behavior, she reminds herself to Stop, Think, Observe, and then Proceed.

We can’t prevent the unconscious from doing its thing—and we definitely wouldn’t want to. But learning when to trust it and when to STOP and exercise our veto power can help us avoid doing and saying many things we might later wish we hadn’t.Enhanced by Zemanta

Filed Under: Brain, Choice, Consciousness, Living, Mind Tagged With: Brain, Consciousness, Thought, Unconscious mind

Reinvent the Wheel

March 3, 2014 by Joycelyn Campbell 2 Comments

Personal Training Overlooking Melbourne Catego...
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Last spring when I was clearing stuff out of my apartment and garage, I noticed that none of my exercise equipment or paraphernalia ever made it into the recycle piles. I simply left it where it was without even considering letting go of it. I had to question the hands-off attitude since I hadn’t used any of that stuff in at least a couple of years. Then I realized that, of course, I intended to use some or all of it again…one of these days.

I had been thinking about getting back into strength training for several months. I already had a fold-up weight bench, two sets of dumbbells, and a program I had followed here in the privacy of my own home. So when I imagined doing strength training, I automatically thought of re-starting that program. That’s what I had done before. I knew how to do strength training.

The problem was I didn’t want to do that program; I didn’t want to do any program in the privacy of my home. I wanted to join a gym and work with a personal trainer. It took me a while to realize that the strength training program I had used in the past wasn’t right for me now. Holding onto the exercise equipment—and my belief that what I needed to do was what I had done before—was actually keeping me from doing what I wanted to do. In fact, it was keeping me from doing anything.

So I got rid of most of the exercise stuff, joined a gym, connected with a great personal trainer, and have been working out four times a week for the past four and a half months. I love it, and I feel great.

This wouldn’t be particularly interesting if were nothing more than a personal anecdote. But I’ve noticed I’m not the only one with this mindset. Two friends—one male and one female—both want to lose weight. Both successfully lost significant amounts of weight in the past. Both have grappled with the conviction that they know what they need to do, which is to replicate what they did in the past. And just like me and my desire to re-start a strength training program, that conviction has delayed their taking action.

Another friend wants to get a better handle on her day-to-day finances. She developed a system that she used in the past, and her first inclination was to go back to that system because it worked before. But she readily admitted that she didn’t really like it and didn’t particularly want to start using it again.

Whether it was exercising, losing weight, or keeping track of money, all of us got hung up on whatever we did that worked in the past and assumed that was the only way we could be successful in the present. Rather than using our past successes as motivation to figure out what would work now, we focused on the details of what we did before. We forgot that when we were successful the first time, we weren’t relying on past experience. We had to figure it out. (We also may have forgotten other failed attempts that preceded our successful ones.)

Our brains create the sense (illusion) of a continuous self. But our present self is not our past self, nor is it our future self. When we imagine that we “know how to do that” because it worked in the past, we forget we’re not that person anymore. Instead of trying to repeat what our past self did, we’re more likely to be successful if we start fresh—if we start by assuming we don’t know how to do that. Then we have an opportunity to find out what might work this time around.Enhanced by Zemanta

Filed Under: Beliefs, Brain, Choice, Habit Tagged With: beliefs, Brain, Exercise, Habit, Mind, Weight Loss

Destiny

February 22, 2014 by Joycelyn Campbell 2 Comments

English: The path goes on
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If you do not change direction, you may wind up where you are heading. —Lao Tzu

Enhanced by Zemanta

Filed Under: Beliefs, Choice, Consciousness, Creating, Living, Mindfulness, Purpose Tagged With: Choice, Destiny, Direction, Lao Tzu, Living, Purpose

4-Step Program for Reason Addicts

February 20, 2014 by Joycelyn Campbell 4 Comments

Pawn
(Photo credit: abbyladybug)

Believing that reasons are responsible for what we feel, think, and do is a habit of thought that has many characteristics of an addiction. We have to have reasons. We can’t imagine living without them. Coming up with a good reason for something is one of the most satisfying experiences we can have.

Even when we recognize–conceptually–that reasons don’t actually exist and that the reason habit is self-destructive and delusional, we still can’t just quit reasons cold turkey.

So here’s a 4-step program that may help.

Step 1

Admit that you can’t do (or not do) anything without having a reason for it.

I did (or didn’t do) Y because of X.

You can’t think, feel, or do anything other than what you think, feel, or do because reasons cause you to think and feel certain things—and do (or not do) the things you do. You are at the effect, and at the mercy, of all the causes surrounding you. You are powerless. A pawn in the Game of Life. (Too melodramatic? Not really.)

Step 2

Question the assumption that reasons have both an independent existence and a direct cause-and-effect relationship with what you think, feel, and do.

X happened, and so I decided to do (or not do) Y.

Take a deep breath. Insert yourself into the equation. When you take some responsibility, you also regain some of your autonomy and power. Notice your reaction.

Step 3

Recognize that no direct cause-and-effect relationship necessarily exists between what happens (or what happened–especially in the far distant past) and what you think, feel, or do.

X happened and I did (or didn’t do) Y.

When you stop habitually turning situations, events, conditions, encounters, and incidents into reasons, you reclaim even more of your power. Notice that far more possibilities exist than you may have previously recognized.

Step 4

Free yourself from the habit of creating reasons to justify and explain every little thing. Just do it. Or don’t do it.

I did (or didn’t do) Y.

Discover and exercise your amazing ability to simply act. Experience the freedom of being a cause rather than an effect.Enhanced by Zemanta

Filed Under: Beliefs, Brain, Choice, Creating, Habit, Living Tagged With: beliefs, Brain, Consciousness, Habit, Mind, Reasons

Alive in The World

February 15, 2014 by Joycelyn Campbell Leave a Comment

Alive In The World

Jackson Browne

I want to live in the world, not inside my head
I want to live in the world, I want to stand and be counted
With the hopeful and the willing
With the open and the strong
With the voices in the darkness
Fashioning daylight out of song
And the millions of lovers
Alive in the world

I want to live in the world, not behind some wall
I want to live in the world, where I will hear if another voice should call
To the prisoner inside me
To the captive of my doubt
Who among his fantasies harbors the dream of breaking out
And taking his chances
Alive in the world

To open my eyes and wake up alive in the world
To open my eyes and finally arrive in the world

With its beauty and its cruelty
With its heartbreak and its joy
With it constantly giving birth to life and to forces that destroy
And the infinite power of change
Alive in the world

To open my eyes and wake up alive in the world
To open my eyes and finally arrive in the world
To open my eyes and wake up alive in the world
To open my eyes and finally arrive in the world

Filed Under: Choice, Consciousness, Creating, Living, Meaning, Purpose Tagged With: Alive in The World, Being Alive, Jackson Browne, Living, Music

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