Showing posts with label habit change. Show all posts
Showing posts with label habit change. Show all posts

Sunday, September 7, 2014

The Tyranny of Familiar Truths



When the 'Jack The Ripper DNA' story hit the headlines today, I was interested and intrigued by the variety of responses; especially how people clung to their conspiracy theories despite evidence to the contrary. At the same time I was having an interesting conversation via The Energy Code Facebook Fan Page about the nature of ideology and dogma.

It got me thinking about how many of us have 'sacred cow' beliefs that we will defend bitterly, sometimes violently, and how the tyranny of truth has held back advances in science, the arts and philosophy throughout the ages, mainly via religion's repression of thought and freedom of expression.

Before anyone gets offended here, I would like to add that academic and scientific edifices are just as capable of repressing ideas that challenge the accepted wisdom of the age, although historically, science has been more ready to adapt than religion; with change measured in decades for science versus centuries for religion.

I believe that our attraction to holding on to cherished beliefs has a lot to do with the way our brains create mind-maps for familiar activities. Mindmaps are life-hacks, they allow us to reduce the amount of effort required to think and do. Once we have performed a task, or acquired knowledge, or taken on a belief, it is easier to rely on the existing mindmap than to edit or replace it. Think of mindmaps as being paths of least resistance, a lot like a pathway through deep snow. Once we have trod a path through the snow, it is easier to retrace our steps, making that path more obvious, and requiring less effort. The more we walk along the same path, the easier and easier it gets.

Now we may discover there is a shorter route to get to where we want to go, but it is through virgin snow, so it is going to require a lot more effort to go that way at first. Here's the caveat, however, once we have walked the new path a couple of times, it too will become ingrained and be the path of least resistance, as well as more efficient.

So next time someone presents you with evidence that challenges a cherished belief or way of doing things, don't just resist it out of habit. Sit back, take a moment and assess if this new information is useful, and then allow yourself to update your mindmaps to accommodate it. The first few times might feel like trudging through foot-deep snow, but believe me, pretty soon you will be be glad you made the effort to escape the tyranny of a familiar truth.


Elisabetta is the author of The Energy Code, The Infidel, Veritas, and D'Arc the Legend of Saint Joan.

Visit her website 

Preview or Purchase The Energy Code from Amazon 

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

An introduction to The Energy Code by Elisabetta L. Faenza


When I began studying human performance back in the early ‘80s I was full of questions. There was in fact very little published literature on the impact of the environment on DNA, our cells and the brain, and how these influence the way we develop behaviors.

The classical literature in the field treated the brain as a black box (to borrow an analogy from my good friend Dr. Dan Diamond). We had evidence of people’s response to the environment in the form of the things they did, and we could ask them about how they felt about their experiences. Behavioral scientists could even predict certain behaviors based upon reflex and the theory of conditioned response. But we had little idea how behaviors linked together neurologically, how habits were formed, or how we could unlearn an old behavior and adopt a new one. These things were literally hidden from view inside a black box that some believed we would never be able to peer into.
Whenever researchers proposed a theory or created a new therapy to treat behavioral problems they were often guessing, and hoping that these methodologies would help people, and make a positive difference to their lives. As a result psychology, psychiatry and neuroscience were not considered ‘hard sciences’ because much of the theory was untestable.

All the while, biologists, quantum physicists, psychologists, psychiatrists and neuroscientists, assisted by breakthroughs in the technology of peering into the black box, were gathering two types of evidence:

1.    Evidence that the brain’s functions are localized and fixed and therefore would one day be able to be predicted, and controlled.

2.    Evidence of anomalies to the accepted map of brain localization that signaled the brain might be plastic - highly changeable and not fixed, and that our approach to the brain and behavior was built on a false premise.

Today, some thirty years later, science has accepted the view that the brain is plastic, and that behaviours and memories are not stored in fixed locations. The evidence is overwhelming.
This new science is starting to be taught in universities all over the world, although it will be years before high-school biology textbooks reflect it. And in the ‘real’ world where people work and live together, we behave as if the older theory is still intact. We count humans as a cost rather than an exceptional resource, and change as something to be feared and survived rather than embraced.

In our interactions with each other in our homes and workplaces, in our hospitals and communities, many of us labor under the illusion that once injured, the brain cannot heal itself, and that ‘old dogs cannot be taught new tricks.’

My own experiences and obsession to understand the deeper biological underpinnings of behavior has of course influenced my practical work as a hypnotherapist and personal effectiveness expert.
In working to improve the performance of groups and individuals in the workplace, I was aided by my knowledge of the mind, and assisted by productivity and time-management tools.
Over and again I would be asked by managers to help them teach Stephen Covey’s ‘Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’ to their teams, or embed the ideas in the latest Time Management Blockbuster into the workweek. Books like David Allen’s ‘Get Things Done’ or Tim Ferris’ ‘4 Hour Work Week,’ contain helpful strategies to more effectively manage the things we do in the limited time available to us.

These strategies cannot and should not be undervalued. They provide useful tips to getting more done in less time.

However, unless we address the workings of the ‘black box’ of the mind, all we are ever doing is tinkering around the edges of productivity. While it is important to know how to handle the ‘stuff’ of our lives - the stuff that happens to us, the stuff we experience around us, and the stuff we do - our habits do not change through intellectual realization alone.

The reason for this is that habits are laid down over time and by repetition. Any new habit has to compete for resources within the brain and is competing with well-resourced, highly entrenched older habits. This is why, for most of us, habit change is a difficult process filled with fits, starts and reversals. It’s why our old, bad habits reassert themselves so prominently when we are under pressure and most in need of newer, better ones, and why we resist change in any area of our lives.
It is when our jobs are on the line, our company is in trouble or budgets are squeezed that we should be able to rise to the challenge and demonstrate highly productive behaviors. In my experience, working with sales teams around the world, the opposite is usually the case.

Eleven years ago I met Matt Church, the founder of the ‘Thought Leaders’ community, and he encouraged me to turn my passion for understanding the ‘black box’ of the mind into a practical guide for individuals and managers. ‘The Energy Code’ is the end result of that process.

My purpose then in writing this book is to provide a practical guide for the layman: extending the influence of complex multi-disciplinary fields like epigenetics, neuroscience, quantum biology and concepts like brain plasticity into our homes and workplaces and into our schools and hospitals, so we do not miss the opportunity to revolutionize the way we work together, the way we heal after trauma and build resilience into our personalities.

The Energy Code is a very practical book designed to help people to understand how the mind works and how three things determine behavior:

1.    Our genetics,
2.    Our environment, and
3.    Our energetic health

It is my sincere wish that you, the reader, embrace the ideas and concepts in this book and question them, test them and prove them for yourself. If out of that comes a positive change in the way you interact with your family, work colleagues and community, my purpose will have been met.


The Energy Code is published by Motivational Press and due for release in the Northern Hemisphere summer of 2014.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Monkey See, Monkey Do?

Monkey See, Monkey Do?

I was recently drawn to an article in Science Daily about the role of 'mirror neurons' in Human Behaviour.  Below is an article that summarises the most recent discoveries and seeks to clarify the myths around these interesting brain cells, which were once believed to hold the key to conditions like autism and the development of human language.  In addition, they were believed to allow us to observe and understand behaviours or movements we observed in others, without having to repeat them ourselves.  In other words, 'mirror neurons' were believed to be crucial to our ability to mimic, as well as learn from others.  In the research cited at the end of this article, it is this function and not their role in language and understanding that best defines 'mirror neurons'.

I started to reflect on what I understood about human learning and how habits are acquired.  Mimicry is one of the first pre-requisites for any habit, in fact we often need to experience someone else's behaviour before we acquire it.  Babies watch adults and older children walking and begin to mimic this behaviour until they have acquired, through trial and error, the requisite co-ordination and skills to walk.  In fact one of the simplest ways to help a baby go from crawling to walking, is to put them in a room with another child of a similar age who is already walking.  The non-walking baby observes the behaviour and mirrors it.

As a hypnotherapist, I know a similar process occurs in the adoption of habits like smoking, drug taking, alcohol consumption and gambling.  Much work has been done in recent years about the contagious nature of behaviour, and how our friend's habits are likely to determine our own.  Body weight is something that is often reflected amongst family members and groups of friends, as both the behaviours of eating, and exercising are mimicked by children and spouses.

Another discovery is that the very experience of constantly being around people with either a higher or lower than normal body-weight resets an individual's sense of body size, and in the longer term, may induce Body Dismorphic Syndrome (where an individual seriously misperceives the size and proportions of their body).  This resets an individuals sense of what is normal.

So amongst populations of teenage girls not only is there a risk of anorexic or binge behaviours being mimicked, but the very perception of the body is shifted by mimicry.  Likewise in populations where obesity is the norm, new members of a community may alter their perception of their own body as a result of this new norm.

It now seems that 'mirror neurons' are at the root of this apparently 'contagious' behaviour.

Of course mimicry is also essential in all the positive habits that fill our lives. This got me wondering about how important mimicry is when we go through the process of conscious habit change, that is replacing one habit with a new one that is more productive.

In previous blogs and newsletters I've discussed the steps to ensure permanent habit change, and I've included these below.

What I want to add to this list is the crucial step of spending time with people who have achieved what you want to achieve, to switch on the powerful effect of our 'mirror neurons' in shaping behaviour.

This is where mentoring becomes extremely important.  Find a mentor who has achieved what you are aiming for.  Donate your time and services for free to spend time absorbing their behaviours and attitudes.  Buy them lunch or dinner and ask them about how they achieved their goals and then watch them at work, or pay them for direct one-on-one mentoring.

As a manager in the work-place, a sporting coach or parent, spend time exhibiting the behaviours you want in your staff, team or children.  The power of the 'mirror neuron' is switched on by seeing rather than hearing.   There is something about watching someone's behaviour that switches on these cells, where being told what to do does not.

So harness the power of your own 'mirror neurons' to acquire new desired skills and behaviours, and leverage the 'mirror neurons' of people you influence by demonstrating the behaviours you want them to mimic.

Ideas Into Action: 10 Steps to Permanent Behaviour Change:

 

1. Reward the goal
The key message here is - attach a reward to your new habit or goal - make the reward personal, and make it something that brings a smile to your face every time you think about getting your reward.  Our cells respond to pleasure even more than pain - use this to your advantage.

2. Write it down
Next, write your new habit or goal down as if it is already achieved.  This is one of the most important steps in setting goals that stick.  Write your goal down in the present tense, as if it is already achieved, and you are expressing your gratitude (to yourself) for sticking to it.  This kind of goal is called an affirmation - it literally affirms the intent of your goal.  This gives you clarity and focuses your intent - which is essential.

3. Use emotive language in present tense
Your affirmation needs to use emotive language that feels good to you - it needs to paint a picture in words of how you'll feel, and how life will be when the goal is achieved.  And each affirmation needs to include only one goal.  You can have multiple affirmations, but keep each goal specific.

Here's an example of an affirmation I wrote for a client who wanted to make better food choices and exercise in order to lose weight and stay healthy.  This was a wellbeing goal.

"I am slim and slender, lean and fit.  Every day I nourish myself with healthy food choices, pure water, and fresh air.  I enjoy exercising because I love the benefits it provides to my body, and it feels so good to be fit and full of energy.  I honour my body through every choice I make throughout my day, and give thanks for this amazing body I have been given.  I am slim and slender, lean and fit."

Emotive language charges up your cells, which switches on DNA.

4. Say it out loud often
Next you need to say the affirmation out loud - about 10 times a day if you can manage it, and for about 30 days.  It takes about 28 days for a new habit to be locked in - so I say 30 days to be safe.  Read your affirmation with energy and passion.  Even if you feel it isn't true, or can't be true - read it as if it already is.  Your subconscious mind lives in an eternal present - so it gives priority to things that are immediate, rather than future time.  Writing your affirmation and saying it as if it is already a reality, now - will make it a priority, or command for the subconscious mind.   This is why wishing and hoping doesn't work - they both put the things you want into future time - which never comes.  Your cells and DNA are listening to you - within your DNA, somewhere, are the codes to make this goal easier - you just have to give your cells the command to open the right book in your DNA library.

5. Find a role model
Mimic the behaviour of people who are successfully doing what you want to do.  Observe them at work or play in the desired behaviours and allow those magic 'mirror neurones' in your brain to absorb the behaviour.  Conversely, stay away from those who exhibit the behaviour or habits you wish to leave behind.

6. Visualise the goal using all your senses
The next step is to visualise yourself in the new habit, achieving the goal.  Close your eyes and allow your mind to wander forward to a time when you have mastered this goal, changed the habit and reclaimed this part of your life.  Imagine in detail how good that will feel, what it will look like, sound like, taste like even.  Collect pictures from magazines of people who have achieved this goal, and put them in a scrap book or poster.

Your cells and DNA will turn this day dream into a programme if you do it often enough.   Eventually the new programme will replace any older, outdated behavioural programmes.

7. Break the goal down into steps - actions that you need to take to get from where you are to where you want to be
It's not enough to want something, we have to align our actions to our intent.  The more you do this, the quicker your goal will be achieved, and the more permanent the change.  So work out what people who have achieved this goal do - read about them, talk to them, get a coach, whatever you need to break the goal down into steps that you can approach one, by one.  Make these behaviours part of your day.  Repeat them every day for 30 days to lock them in. That’s when they become a habit.

When you were a toddler and learned to walk - you took one step, then another.   Over time this turned into walking, and eventually running.  All goals need to be approached the same way, so your nervous system can learn, become familiar with the steps, and eventually make them unconscious - or second nature, turning them into unconscious mind maps to drive the wanted behaviour and replace the unwanted maps.

8. Enjoy the reward
Once you've reached your first milestone - celebrate.  Take the reward you planned, and write a new affirmation thanking yourself for the steps you've taken to get you there.  As you enjoy the reward, keep associating the pleasure with the new behaviour - i.e not smoking, eating more healthily, exercising, saving money, being more organised, listening actively, delegating tasks etc.

Remember the pleasure principle is a very powerful biological and psychological driver.

9. Stay Vigilant
My last tip is to remember to never get cocky about old behaviours.  If you've given up smoking, don't think you can have one and it will be okay. The old behaviours don't need much encouragement to rear their ugly heads.  It's much easier to stay 'on the wagon' than to fall off and have to climb back on.  However, if you do slip and fall back into old habits - revisit the 8 steps above, and if you need to, get the assistance of a mentor, coach or hypnotherapist.



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Monkey See, Monkey Do? The Role of Mirror Neurons in Human Behaviour

ScienceDaily (Aug. 2, 2011) — We are all familiar with the phrase "monkey see, monkey do" -- but have we actually thought about what it means? Over the last two decades, neuroscience research has been investigating whether this popular saying has a real basis in human behavior.

Over twenty years ago, a team of scientists, led by Giacomo Rizzolatti at the University of Parma, discovered special brain cells, called mirror neurons, in monkeys. These cells appeared to be activated both when the monkey did something itself and when the monkey simply watched another monkey do the same thing.

The function of such mirror neurons in humans has since become a hot topic. In the latest issue of Perspectives on Psychological Science, a team of distinguished researchers debate whether the mirror neuron system is involved in such diverse processes as understanding speech, understanding the meaning of other people's actions, and understanding other people's minds.

Understanding Speech

The mirror neuron system probably plays some role in how we understand other people's speech, but it's likely that this role is much smaller than has been previously claimed. In fact, the role is small enough that it's unlikely that mirror neurons would be causal factors in our ability to understand speech. Mirror neuron-related processes may only contribute to understanding what another person is trying to say if the room is very noisy or there are other complications to normal speech perception conditions.

Understanding Actions

Mirror neurons are believed to play a critical role in how and why we understand other people's actions. There are many physical actions, like Tiger Woods' golf swing, that we ourselves can't do, but we understand those actions anyway. However, contrary to what some mirror neuron proponents have suggested, doing isn't required for understanding. In fact, neuroimaging data reviewed in this article demonstrate that the actions we ourselves have the most experience doing -- the actions we are best at doing and understand best -- actually show less mirror neuron activity. Such findings suggest a need to reappraise the role of mirror neurons in guiding how we understand actions.

Understanding Minds

One of the most powerful roles suggested for the mirror neuron system in humans is that of understanding not just other people's physical actions or speech, but their minds and their intentions. It has been suggested that some persons, such as persons with autism, have difficulty understanding other people's minds and, therefore, might lack mirror neurons. However, numerous research studies reviewed in this article consistently show that persons with autism are highly capable of understanding the intentions of other people's actions, suggesting that our intuitions about persons with autism and mirror neurons needs to be revised.
This article presents some of the toughest questions asked about mirror neurons to date. The answers to those questions, guided by hundreds of research studies, clarify the limits of the function of mirror neurons in humans.
The article is entitled, "Mirror Neuron Forum."
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Cited from the Association for Psychological Science. "Monkey see, monkey do? The role of mirror neurons in human behavior." ScienceDaily, 2 Aug. 2011. Web. 5 Aug. 2011.

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