Coaching & Mentoring Change Brain training and language | Brain training and language |
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Chatting to one of my clients who recently ventured into the health and fitness market we were chatting about the pressure created by society and advertising on having a healthy perfect body, but that there are very few adverts for having a fit brain and mental clarity to go with it.
We came to the conclusion that maybe it was something about our society being so bombarded by visual messages from the TV, billboards, computer screens, sides of buses, etc. that all we have become programmed to only think in terms of pictures and visuals. This way we are only really interested in what we look like, maybe forgetting that beauty is only skin deep.
The thing is that our bodies are only as good as what we eat, drink and how we exercise them, which is of course directed by our grey matter. Therefore any resolutions to get fit, lose weight, have a healthier diet, improve the balance of your life at work and home, etc. is all down to how fit our brains are and this is where “brain train” comes into play.
So I’ve been thinking about a few thoughts on getting the brain into gear along with some brain exercises that I use in our workshops after lunch would be useful. These will all help make sure that our mental perspective is right before you sign up for any health club membership or for that matter, any decision requiring lots of self motivation. By the wa from the perspective of the health clubs, the less brain fitness that people have the better it is for them, because they know that people will sign up and only a very small percentage will follow through.
One of the first things to do is get rid of any negative voices and thinking, often called “our gremlins”. These gremlins, be they loud, soft, up front or in the background, which we all have in some shape or other are there to help and protect us, except that the voices they use are often not very friendly. So one of the first exercises is to have a chat with this “gremlin” and get it to talk to you in a more friendly way, as if it was your best mate or matess. Ask it to be supportive, rather than negative about an idea of getting fit or eating less. It’s very interesting watching people try this out and seeing their response as they like me had never thought of asking the “gremlin” to be their best friend. It si really important to get the brain focused on what you want to achieve with the right messages going into the motivational area of the brain.
The next idea is to not think about a pink elephant or blue rhinocerous. You will of course have realised that I asked you to “not” think about them and obviously you are thinking about them as our brains only recognises active words and does not act on the word “not”. When I was told this I thought they were joking but it is absolutely true. The brain focuses on the action word and forgets totally about the word “not”. So for example if someone says to you “don’t eat that Mars bar” .. all that happens is that you think about eating the Mars bar or “do not come home late”, which automatically translates to “come home late” or do not smoke” means “smoke”. Therefore, in order to get the brain focused on what you need to be doing, you need to choose a sentence or statement that sums up the positive side of what you're doing. For example “I am going to the gym to … fit into a specific size of clothing … reach a specific weight goal .. attract a specific named person .. be able to walk up the escalators/stairs two at a time … ” It’s called visualisation and this way you focus on the outcome, just like athletes and presenters do. As a result the unconscious brain gives the necessary orders to the conscious brain to carry out the task.
Another small action that reaps big rewards is to change the way we put sentences together and be more positive. Basically we need to remove all the fluffyness and question marks from the mental pictures we tell ourselves and others be they friends, business colleagues or family. The best way to do this is to delete the following words from our vocabulary … would, could, should, maybe, if, but, hope, try …. and replace them with positive action words like … I will go to the gym, I am exercising, I am going to fit into the smaller size of jeans, etc. This will have the effect of telling both the conscious and un-conscious brain that action is and will be taking place, no messing, no if’s or but’s.
One of the challenges we all have is the graveyard shift after lunch and there is a great little book called the “Brain Gym” written initially to help children, who have difficulty concentrating, learning, sitting still, doing maths. These exercise were found to be really good for adults as well and I use them in our workshops after lunch. Even though we only have “brain food” at the workshops ie. food that has a low glycaemic index (GI) like vegetables and high protein, it is still necessary to get as much blood back into people’s brains as possible. We stand up and do an exercise called “Lazy 8’s”, which involves stretching out our arms and tracing the shape of an 8 on it’s side, going backwards and forwards. What this does is increase the number of neural connections between the left and right hand side of the brain, which automatically increases the number of neurons that are working at any time. None of us can see it working but be assured that our brain is getting fitter the more we do this sort of exercise.
Unfortunately we all get into bad habits over time and in order to help ourselves we need to adopt a few new ideas and behaviours that have proved to work. The fitter our brain the fitter will be our bodies and the healthier we will look and all because of a bit of brain press ups and some brain training .. quite amazing. Try them out, if nothing else it will cause a few smiles, release a few endorphins and everyone will feel the better for it. Have fun.
Further information, articles, blogs and tips can be found under the Emotional Intelligence category.
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