Why do you resist change? What makes change painful? What's the importance of Limbic Center? What are neural pathways? How does neuro-psychology affect your resilience and the ability to adapt quickly? What are the intuitive (subconscious techniques to counter change? What are the counter-intuitive techniques to counter change?
We resist change because our brains are wired that way. Basically, emotional messages in the form of nerve impulses received from the various parts of our body pass through nerves that are connected to the limbic center of our brain. Nerve impulses must travel through the limbic center to reach the prefrontal cortex, where rational decision-making occurs.
What is Limbic Center?
Limbic Center is the emotional center, which facilitates our emotional experiences. It is because of this limbic sector that we experience emotions. Limbic center is also responsible for the reflex action. What is reflex action? When you touch something that's very hot immediately without knowing or even thinking you take back your hands.
Limbic Center is linked to your central nervous system, which is the epicenter of your unconscious mind. The unconscious mind is integrated into every cell of your body, influencing your existence through the limbic center's sensations. A key function of the limbic center is its design, which serves to protect us from dangers.
The Limbic Center is responsible for discomfort, stress, pain or any unpleasant experiences. The Limbic Center is also responsible for panic attacks and seizures as an immediate response to stress. It could be in the form of stomach aches, headaches, ulcers, chest flakes, soil. This is basically a subconscious response to stress and trauma, etc. The Limbic Center protects our body from extreme emotional pains without sabotaging our body system. This is the way our brain protects us from extreme stress and inflammations.
Whenever we want to bring in change or do anything that's harsh or painful, the Limbic Center prevents us from taking action or execute change.
For example, if you aim to reduce body fat by jogging early in the morning, you need to wake up early. However, your limbic system may be hindering your ability to rise at an early hour. Additionally, the concept known as the science of neural association plays a role in this process.
A. Intuitive Techniques - Intuitive techniques address the fundamental cause of resistance to change within the depths of the unconscious mind.
What is Neuro-Association?
Essentially, your brain has subconsciously or unconsciously categorized certain events, things, and aspects of your life as either painful or pleasurable. Often, your body may not heed your mind's (intellect's) guidance, as opposed to your body following your mind's (intellect's) direction. The difficulty in waking up early in the morning stems from the brain perceiving it as a painful experience. It tends to associate more discomfort or pain with the act of rising early than it does pleasure with the subsequent benefits of jogging.
Inherently, the body (unconscious mind) prioritizes avoiding pain over seeking pleasure!!
Associating pleasure with activities that are desirable to you can resolve the issue. It's beneficial to link pleasure with fat loss in your body. With less fat, you gain freedom, the ability to run, and the capacity to do whatever you desire.
Bruce Lipton, a renowned cell biologist, often compares the human mind to a computer. He explains that our subconscious mind operates like a programmed computer, running on the beliefs and behaviors we learn, especially during the first seven years of life. These early experiences form the "programs" that influence our thoughts, actions, and overall life.
Lipton emphasizes that while the conscious mind is creative and filled with wishes and desires, it only controls about 5% of our lives. The remaining 95% is governed by the subconscious mind, which operates based on the ingrained programs. This analogy highlights the importance of reprogramming negative or limiting beliefs to achieve a more fulfilling life.
The unconscious mind is a collection of states of mind and neural pathways, which represent MEMORY.
A state of mind can be defined as the sum of millions of neurological processes happening within us—the sum total of our experience at any moment in time. - Tony Robbins, Awaken the Giant Within You.
How to create conscious-neuro associations or NAC (Neuro-Associative Conditioning)?
As previously stated, - your brain has subconsciously or unconsciously categorized certain events, things, and aspects of your life as either painful or pleasurable.
Conscious neuro associations can be established through visualization and subconscious training techniques, with the latter being closely related to the former.
a. Visualization Technique -
This approach entails associating pleasure with activities that are usually perceived as painful yet are beneficial and add value to one's life, while associating pain with activities that impede progress and are counterproductive.
For example -Visualize the joy of waking up early for a jog and the discomfort associated with your formerly obese self.
It's beneficial to regularly remind oneself of the joy that comes with having a fit body and the discomfort associated with obesity, reinforcing these thoughts with visualization. Before going to bed, repeatedly visualize and affirm your intention to wake up early for a jog. Although your mind might present excuses, it's important not to entertain them.
b. Subconscious Training Technique -
Subconscious training encompasses a variety of techniques aimed at influencing the mind and manifesting desired outcomes. We have written a separate post on this, and there's an upcoming video on our YouTube channel. So please stay subscribe!
Here, we limit the subconscious training to neuro-associative conditioning (NAC). We recommend the combination technique of subconscious training to associate pain to
those thoughts, beliefs and actions that hinder progress and associate pleasure to those thoughts, beliefs and actions that add value to your life and assist in progress.
Combination technique-As the name suggests, it is a blend of Visualization. Feeling and Verbal techniques. In this, we use affirmations, combined with visualizations and feelings. This is the most effective technique to consciously create neural pathways.
Concentrating on a single thought for 17 seconds can lead to its manifestation, creating a robust neural pathway. You should feel the thought, support this thought with affirmations like -
"It's painful to be obese but there's so much pleasure in performing exercises and having a fit & slim body."
The subconscious can't make out the difference between the subjective reality (feelings) and the actual reality (objective). This weakness of the subconscious mind can be effectively used to associate pain with all counter-productive habits and associate pleasure with all productive habits & activities.
These techniques ensure that you can create new neural pathways by replacing the old neural pathways, subconsciously.
B. Counter-Intuitive Techniques (Techniques of Meta-Cognition) -
Thoughts, once programmed, operate continuously like an algorithm within the subconscious, 95% of our day. When stimuli arise that warrant attention—be it events, individuals, objects, or any significant aspect of life—it is then that our conscious mind becomes engaged. In this state, you respond or act. consciously. This state is known as COGNITIVE CONSCIOUSNESS.
Meta-cognitive techniques enable you to outsmart your mind before it outsmarts you.
Your mind is tricking you 95% of the time in a day, in the state of subconscious. Meta-cognitive techniques focus on preventing your brain or ingrained thoughts from tricking you, thus ensuring conscious counter-intuitive actions that aid in establishing a new progressive productive routine.
ATOMIC HABITS by James Clear-
James Claire, in his book, Atomic Habits states -
"The habits we cultivate daily significantly impact our lives."
Habits are developed through Neuro-Association. You tend to develop habits that your body (unconscious mind) finds pleasurable, and you often avoid or abandon habits that you perceive as painful or uncomfortable. These habits include habits that assist in progression and assist in regression.
You have stored so much data in our unconscious mind that you have clear perceptions about pain & pressure. It is commonly understood that 95% of our time is spent in a subconscious state, where we are not fully aware and simply act out the behaviors we have practiced throughout our lives.
Habits can be categorized into Bad habits, Neutral habits & Good habits.
Generally speaking, Bad habits are considered bad because they are essentially damaging, obstructing your progress and harming your mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health. They deprive the value and make you less valuable by making you rigid and regressive.
Neutral habits don't make any difference; but they are nothing but a waste of energy and time.
Good habits add value to your life, they play a critical role in progression and they prevent regression. They act as drivers of change and assist in growth.
Basically, we are in the Habit Loop. Our thinking is also a habit! You have been programmed since your birth. Starting from your parents, school, friends, situations, issues, health problems have made impressions on your mind and have conditioned you to perceive, think, believe, react and decide. People have allowed themselves and others to perceive, think, believe, react and decide that certain aspects of life as either painful or pleasurable.
Certain habits or skills are taught in school or at home. For example, your mom or dad or guardian taught you to brush your teeth every day. Your subconscious learned the habit pattern or the skill of brushing teeth. It has penetrated deep into the unconscious mind! You don't have to teach yourself every day or try hard to brush your teeth. Why? Your unconscious mind or your body has already learned that pattern. Your hands will automatically move, and brushing will be done quickly, in the fastest possible way.
In the same way, in the course of time, you have learnt quite a lot of bad habits, consciously or subconsciously. James states that bad habits tend to repeat themselves. Bad habits, for instance, stem from subconscious reactions to various stimuli, manifesting through actions, behaviors, and so forth.
How to counter Bad Habit formation?
The key to countering bad habits is to consciously break the bad habit loops, then introduce good habit loops and ensure that the old bad habits don't repeat themselves.
Starting small is often the best approach because the little things you practice daily can make a significant difference. Just as small droplets collectively form an ocean, a bit of extra caution can prevent major accidents on the road, and a little extra focus can help someone pass exams. If you analyze any material, you'll find it's made of atoms, which are invisible to the naked eye. It's actually the small steps that actually make you climb the mountains!
Every great journey begins with a single thought and a small step. It's amazing how the smallest actions can lead to the biggest adventures. Embracing the small steps can truly make a big difference! 🌟Small indeed is big!!
You know you need to give up on bad habits, start small! Make tiny changes in our behaviors, start inducing discipline in a mild, consistent way.
Field Admiral William H. McRaven says -
"If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed! If you can't take care of little things, how can you take care of big things in life?"
Start giving up small on your bad habits! Start practicing good habits!
For instance, if you're accustomed to consuming 2 liters of Coca-Cola daily, this can cause your blood sugar levels to spike. To mitigate this, you could switch to diet Coke. Over time, aim to reduce your intake to 1 liter. Ultimately, strive to eliminate sugary drinks from your diet altogether. It may be challenging, but perseverance is key. Substitute sugary beverages with water. When the urge for Coke strikes, opt for water instead—it's the healthier choice!
Studies suggest that it takes 21 days to form a habit and 90 days to integrate it into your lifestyle.
2. 5-Second Rule by Mel Robbins -
The Five Second Rule is a potent technique developed by Mel Robbins. Mel says that most of the time, in a day, you stay in the state of 'Auto-Pilot' or Subconscious state.
As previously stated, bad habits repeat themselves, as thoughts are like computer programs, Bad habits stem from impulses, which are powerful thoughts that compel you to repeat certain behavioral patterns or programmed actions. Mel noted that there is a five-second opportunity in which one can modify the programmed behavior to perform the appropriate, desired action. Beyond the interval of five seconds, the impulse intensifies, ultimately manifesting as old, undesirable programmed behavior.
Mel believes that the solution to this problematic behavior lies within, which is intuitive. This assists in changing your old behavior.
For ex. -
You are addicted to smoking. Innately, you know it's a bad habit and it's hampering your health. You know that you have to give up! But your body (unconscious mind) isn't letting you give up.
As soon as you recognize the urge to smoke, begin counting backward from five to one. At 'one,' immediately refrain from purchasing cigarettes and walk away from the location. Do not look back or reconsider your decision.
Moments of decision happen to be the moments that define your destiny!!
Eliminate all access to cigarettes and refrain from keeping them in your pocket. There may be a temptation to resume or start smoking again. You need to back off every time, to give up this addiction. It's easier to advise than done! Gaining knowledge about the ill effects of smoking can assist you in this endeavor, ethically.
To summarize, change inherently isn't painful or tedious, but the resistance to change makes it so! Change is inevitable! In this ever-changing world, speed is revered, and the only constant is change itself. Intuitive techniques provide indirect assistance, while counterintuitive techniques offer direct aid in overcoming resistance to change.
Willpower is crucial for the success of any method, and consistent practice helps prevent reverting to old habits. It's essential to persist until the new behavior becomes ingrained in your very being. Never surrender!
Hope this inspires you!
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Thank you so much!
Yadu,
On behalf of Get Inspired Spiritually.
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