“Joy is prayer; joy is strength: joy is love; joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.”
– Mother Teresa
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In case you missed our April Newsletter . . .
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“Whenever you want to achieve something, keep your eyes open, concentrate and make sure you know exactly what it is you want. No one can hit their target with their eyes closed.”
-Paulo Cuelho
No one will argue that bad habits are hard to break, but making a plan on how you will achieve it is half the battle.
Continuing the posts on Neuroplasticity and getting rid of bad habits, looking at steps seven and eight:
7. Create a specific plan and choose what to do instead.
8. Transform the obstacles.
I’m a big fan of goal setting. I believe that heart centered goal setting is life changing. As I say in one of my past posts, A Fine Balance:
In my 7 Tools, I discuss Heart-Centered Goal Setting. In order to really focus on true goals, you have to find out the deepest WHY of the goal, the emotion behind it. Work to discover WHY you want that particular goal, journal about it, question it. When you understand the deeper emotion of why your want that particular goal, the emotional need behind it, then you have hit the WHY. You can FEEL the why in heart-centered goal setting. And in order to feel it, you have to be paying attention and be present to the moment. That ability to stay present actually helps to define a direction for the future.
By setting a definite goal and getting specific, it helps to build new neural pathways. You are engaged in what Rick Hanson calls Self-Directed Neuroplasticity. For example, I have a friend who is trying to watch less TV, she knows it is mind numbing, but it feels so addictive (According to several studies, TV is addictive!) Decide if you want to exercise or read a book or journal instead of watching TV. Focus on the new choice. The more you decide to read at 7pm after dinner, instead of watch TV, the more your brain expects that behavior. Self-Directed Neuroplasticity kicks in, the behavior starts to change.
Sometimes it feels like you are trying to trick your brain, and maybe that’s exactly what it is. In an article in a great website, Greater Good, it is argued that:
Ultimately, what this can mean is that with proper practice, we can increasingly trick our neural machinery to cultivate positive states of mind.
The second point, transforming the obstacles is really more of “tricking the brain” again. Look at the obstacles, at what is in the way of you changing the behavior. What have you been getting out of the old habits or pathways? Going back to trying to break the TV habit – it feels like a treat, to just blob out, numb out. But often after a couple of hours of TV, the numbing out feels negative and kind of yucky, and a waste of time. So before the TV goes on, transform the lure of the TV (the obstacle is the old belief that it is going to be a treat) – but you know it becomes a burden. Identify that obstacle, that lure, and make the decision before the TV goes on to do something else. Get your mind in the place of possibility. Begin that process of changing your brain by remembering the truth about the situation and transforming the obstacles.
I’m going to close with an old favorite. Zig Ziglar on Setting Goals. This is part 1 of 3, if you have a chance, watch all 3, they are inspirational and fun!
I’d love to hear about any bad habits you’ve broken, and how you changed the behavior. And as always, thank you for taking the time to visit. I appreciate it.
“So often time it happens, we all live our life in chains, and we never even know we have the key”
– The Eagles (‘Already Gone’)
Yes habits are hard to break, but as the Eagles remind us, we have the key to break those habits and stop living our life in chains. Continuing the posts on Neuroplasticity and getting rid of bad habits, looking at steps five and six:
5. Interrupt your thoughts and patterns when they arise.
6. Use aversion therapy.
About 20 years ago, I did my first Silva Method Course, and I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to say it changed my life. It is a powerful system to help people understand how to use tools to change their thinking for the better – and that includes getting rid of bad habits. I have written past posts about my experience at Silva.
Laura Silva describes using Cancel Cancel:
Cancel Cancel – This is the Silva Method technique I use more often than any other. When you go to your level, one of the post-hypnotic suggestions you can give yourself is that when you hear a negative comment or a pessimistic point of view, you say “cancel cancel” to yourself, and when you do, the negativity will have no influence over you. It’s kind of like a mental cloak of protection. For example, when I hear someone say, “Well that tends to happen as you get older,” I think to myself, “cancel cancel.” I don’t want to be influenced by such limiting or negative beliefs.
I use Cancel Cancel all the time, mostly for my own negative thinking. And after learning more about what Rick Hanson explains about Self-Directed Neuroplasticity, by saying Cancel Cancel, and shifting my negative thoughts, or thoughts about taking part in a habit I am trying to break, I know that I am shifting an old neural pathway and creating and strengthening a new neural pathway leading toward a more positive behaviour.
In terms of point six, instead of aversion therapy as described in the original article I read, I choose to redirect my thinking. I personally think ‘aversion therapy’ is harsh, but in terms of neural pathways and habit breaking, redirecting thoughts leads to the creation of new neural pathways and again back to Self-Directed Neuroplasticity.
If you have time, attached below is a fascinating set of slides by Rick Hanson explaining this process.
I’ll close with a YouTube clip of an old interview with Jose and Laura Silva.
I’d love to hear about any bad habits you’ve broken, and how you changed the behavior. And I’d love to hear any stories about how you interrupt your negative thoughts or behaviours . And as always, thank you for taking the time to visit. I appreciate it.
“You can use your mind – To change your brain – To change your mind for the better!”
Last week I wrote a post about Neuroplasticity and getting rid of bad habits.
The first step is to identify the habit you want to change and set the intention to break it. That sounds so simple. But the reality is that bad habits are hard to break, that’s why we call them habits!
Dr. Rick Hanson talks about self-directed neuroplasticity to break habits, or indeed just to change your mind for the better! Dr. Hanson explains that neuroplasticity is ongoing. Our brains are changing all the time. He says that
Neurons that fire together, wire together
So we can create good habits of the mind or bad habits. The secret lies in focus – do things with clarity, skillfulness and intention.
