Brain Archives - Page 28 of 29

Intentions: Mistakes Were Made

July 23, 2013 by Joycelyn Campbell Leave a Comment

Creating an intention seems like something that should be pretty straightforward. So why isn’t it? There are three common mistakes almost all of us have made when we’ve set out to do something.

Mistake #1

The clue to Mistake #1 appears in the first sentence of this post: the word should. We have many concepts about the way things should be, but even more about how we should be and what we should be able to do. In the context of creating intentions, the word should needs to be banished. It isn’t helpful, and it sets us up to have unrealistic expectations. Why start out by pitting your actual self against an idealized self who can easily do whatever it is you’re currently struggling with? That makes absolutely no sense, yet we do it all the time.

If you have created an intention to do something because you think you should do it or you should be able to do it, let it go. You’re not going to be able to commit to something you should do, and you’re probably not willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish it since you think you should already be doing it. The fact that you aren’t doing it means you’re just not trying or you’re lazy or incapable or have no will power. You’ve prejudged yourself as somehow lacking, so you’ve lost before you’ve even begun.

Mistake #2

Sometimes there are entire areas of our lives we want to revamp, so we create an intention to do just that. No baby steps for us; we’re going for the gold! But trying to tackle too much all at once is another recipe for failure because the chance of succeeding is miniscule at best. When we take baby steps we have a much better chance of accomplishing what we set out to do. Then we can build on our success. When we aim to do it all at once and miss the mark, we end up with nothing but a reinforced sense of ineffectiveness or inadequacy.

Another thing to remember is that when you try to do many things at the same time, you’re giving yourself many opportunities to fail. If you want to develop a habit that involves doing something multiple times during the day, start out by creating an intention to do it once or twice a day—or even every other day. Once you’ve succeeded with that, you can expand on it. This is the kind of mistake we often make when starting an exercise program. Add Mistake #1 to the mix—the belief that you should be exercising for a certain number of minutes every day—and you might as well just pick up the remote and head for the couch.

Mistake #3

The third mistake we make when creating an intention is that we are vague rather than specific. Maybe we aren’t consciously trying to give ourselves wiggle room, but that’s what vagueness does to intentions: it paves the way for us to wiggle right out of them. There are a lot of reasons we’re vague. Maybe we think just creating the intention should be sufficient. (Is there a voice in your head that says if you really want to do something, you’ll do it? Tell it to shut up.) Or our schedule is too variable for us to be specific. Or we want to maintain our flexibility. Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle.

The reason for being specific when creating an intention is that vagueness simply doesn’t work so creating a vague intention is a waste of time. If you want to do something twice a week, decide on the days of the week and the time of day you will do it. If your schedule varies, make appointments with yourself and write them on your calendar or in your planner. Treat your appointments with yourself the same way you would treat an appointment with someone else. Give yourself a little respect. If you know what result you want, think through the steps you’ll need to take to achieve it. Make the steps your intention and the result will follow.

Creating an intention really is pretty straightforward, but only if we know what works and what doesn’t work.

Perseverance Is Magic

July 21, 2013 by Joycelyn Campbell 5 Comments

Perseverance Trail Head (Photo credit: AlaskanLibrarian)

After creating an intention and choosing a tool or technique to help focus our attention on it, we will surely achieve quick and easy success.

Are you laughing? That was supposed to be a joke. Remember, doing something intentionally and deliberately—and staying focused on it—requires conscious attention. If we’ve already got a habit in place that we’re trying to change, we have to convince our brain to go along with the plan, and that isn’t going to happen overnight.

The problem is that we’d prefer instant gratification, while our brain requires persistent effort on our part to convince it that we really do want X instead of Y. When at first we don’t succeed, we might decide it’s not worth the effort. Why bother? Just go with the flow. Or we might chalk it up to being weak or lacking discipline or having no will power. So we give up—to prove the point, apparently.

Perseverance isn’t the same as dogged persistence. Sometimes there’s a good reason to stop attempting to do something. One of the reasons for paying attention is that we might recognize that it isn’t precisely A we want; it’s more along the lines of B. Or we might realize we’ve bitten off too big a chunk and need to pare down our intention. Perseverance just means we keep moving toward the desired outcome. It’s incredibly simple. We don’t need to chastise ourselves. We don’t need to make up excuses. We just pick up where we left off and keep going. It isn’t a competition or a race. It doesn’t matter when we get where we’re going, just that we get there.

Continuous effort—not strength or intelligence—is the key to unlocking our potential. ― Winston Churchill

It helps to have a cheerleader—a person or a group of people—who can encourage us. We don’t need someone to call us out on our failure to achieve instant results. We need someone who recognizes that what we’re trying to do isn’t easy, not because we’re incapable or lazy, but because we’re human and our brain is very set in its ways.

Perseverance gets a bad rap in some quarters. It isn’t flashy or catchy or stylish. It’s often linked with discipline and endurance and sounds like something that’s good for you or that builds character. But perseverance is the key to accessing the brain’s autopilot. It really is magic.

Intention Is Powerful

July 17, 2013 by Joycelyn Campbell 8 Comments

Autopilot Off (EP) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We humans have a propensity for following the path of least resistance. We tend to do the easier thing, the thing that takes the least time or requires the least effort. Often the result is that we do what we’ve always done because that’s what’s familiar. We know how to do it so we don’t have to put much thought or effort into it. In fact, we can—and do—do what we’ve always done on autopilot. Because it’s so easy, operating on autopilot is very appealing, even compelling.

But autopilot only works when we’re in familiar territory. Novel situations require conscious thought, and conscious thought requires more energy than autopilot requires. We’re sort of programmed to conserve energy by continuing along the path of least resistance. That’s why habits are so difficult to change or break. The way our brains conserve energy is by developing subroutines whenever they can and turning them over to the unconscious. This enables us to get by without having to think about a great many things we do. Yes, my brain made me do it is a valid excuse.

Our brain’s autopilot keeps us alive every day, but it can be difficult to interrupt. Autopilot behavior could be called habitual, unconscious, automatic, unmindful, or routine. What it can’t be called is deliberate.

If we want to do something deliberately, as opposed to habitually, the first thing we need is an intention. If we don’t have an intention in place, we’re likely to succumb to the siren song of the path of least resistance. That’s just the way we’re wired.

An intention is more than wishful thinking or a good idea. An intention is something specific we are committed to doing and willing to put the necessary time and effort into. Creating and acting on an intention requires our conscious thought. If we want to break away from the path of least resistance and carve out a new path, we need to ask ourselves if we’re committed to doing it and if we’re willing to do whatever it takes, including feeling uncomfortable.

We also need to get very, very specific. It’s fine to begin with a vague or general objective. That’s the way most ideas start out. But if we want to give ourselves a fighting chance at succeeding, we need to spell out the what, when, where, and how of what we intend to do.

Acting deliberately and thoughtfully is the opposite of running on autopilot. It takes practice. It requires energy and effort. But first of all, it requires an intention.

Neuroscience, Buddhism, and the Enneagram

July 15, 2013 by Joycelyn Campbell 7 Comments

Note: A greatly expanded version of this post can be read here.

Current neuroscience research supports the Buddhist belief that we are sleepwalking through life (“budhi” means to wake up), as well as the theory behind the Enneagram that we are all on autopilot most of the time. Although we have the impression that our behavior is consciously chosen, consciousness comprises only a small part of our brain’s activity—and consciousness is both limited and a huge energy hog. The vast majority of our thoughts, feelings, and actions are the result of brain activity we aren’t even aware of.

It can be hard to come to terms with the idea that we’re not consciously choosing every single thing we do. Even if we don’t always like what we’ve done—or at least the results—we want to believe we have freely chosen to do those things. Choice and freedom go hand-in-hand for us, and free choice means we have the ability or power to decide and to act of our own free will. But the reality is that our unconscious rules us to a considerable extent; and there is no way for us to directly access the unconscious.

We evolved this way in order to increase our chances of surviving. If we were forced to consciously think about everything we do, starting when we get out of bed in the morning, we would quickly deplete our brain’s reserves of conscious attention. Then, when a situation arose that required conscious attention, we wouldn’t have any left to devote to it. The expression “brain dead” aptly describes this state.

When we’re “brain dead,” our brain hasn’t really stopped functioning. We probably can’t solve a tricky problem or plan a complex project or learn and retain new information. But our unconscious is still operating just fine. It can get us home while looking out for any potential danger, take us through the operation of familiar kitchen appliances or drive-through restaurants to get us fed, and make sure we complete our regular bedtime routines.

Those are the kinds of things our unconscious does best. It’s always looking out for us, which is a very good thing. However, it has much more influence over us than we’re aware of, and it’s been influencing us our entire lives. After decades of believing we’re running the show, it can be tough—and initially alarming—to recognize how little control we actually have.

Yet, waking up to this state of affairs and figuring out where to find the autopilot switch is the only chance we have of actually gaining some control. Neuroscience is now giving us an opportunity to take a peek under the hood, so to speak. It’s fascinating to me. The research supports what I’ve been aware of ever since I was introduced to the Enneagram nearly 20 years ago–and what Buddhism has been telling us for centuries.

Breaking those Synaptic Connections

April 18, 2013 by Joycelyn Campbell Leave a Comment

Some new research indicates that as we age we don’t have a harder time learning new things because we can’t absorb the information but because we can’t forget “the old stuff.” There are two proteins in the brain that play a role in synaptic connections: NR2A and NR2B. NR2B weakens synaptic connections, essentially creating “space” for new ones to be formed. NR2A inhibits the process. Before puberty, our brains produce more NR2B than NR2A; adult brains produce more NR2A and less NR2B. When it comes to learning, it’s just as important for our brains to be able to weaken synaptic connections as it is for them to be able to strengthen new ones. A year or two ago, I remember reading about a study suggesting that one of the purposes of sleep was to “prune” some of the brain’s synaptic connections. Recently, SF Gate ran an article linking brain deterioration and sleep woes, although with a different slant:

After comparing the brains and memory skills of young study participants and older subjects, researchers found that age-related brain deterioration contributes to poor sleep and, in turn, recollection problems.

The article goes on to say that poor sleep then contributes to brain deterioration, creating a downward spiral. It doesn’t say anything about NR2A and NR2B but attributes the brain deterioration that results from poor sleep to a reduction in the amount of long-wave sleep. Whatever the mechanism, sleep seems to be pretty important to our ability to learn, especially as we get older.

Processing Regret

Mental (psychological) health and brain health are not identical, but they go hand-in-hand in many cases, to some extent because of the brain’s plasticity. Forgive and forget is an old adage that may now be scientifically validated. One of the things we may have difficulty forgetting are thoughts and feelings of regret over events from the past, either losses or missed opportunities—which represent a different kind of loss. How our brains “process regret” (read article) is a factor in our mental health. When our brains actively mitigate our experience of loss, we are much less likely to experience ongoing regret over them. Learning to let go turns out to be good advice. Another way to visualize it is breaking the synaptic connections of regret.

Mistake #1

Mistake #2

Mistake #3

Note: A greatly expanded version of this post can be read here.

Processing Regret

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