In this first blog we look at how our brains make it hard for us to make changes. And in the second blog we look at how we can harness the power of our whole brain thinking to make changes that really last in our lives.

So starting with what’s happening when we ‘fail’ at making a change.

 If you’ve been stuck in that loop where on a Sunday evening you say to yourself: 

“Tomorrow it’s a new week and I’m going to do ….. and I’m going to be …..” 

Then a few days later all good intentions are out the window. 

Firstly you are not alone, and secondly your brain is actually keeping you stuck!

In this blog I’m going to share key theories and science about how and why your brain keeps you stuck.

But before you give up all hope of change! 

By harnessing our brains full power, understanding how it works, and taking steps to work with our brains; you can make changes. And make changes that stick.

And just to point out at the start I’m not a neuroscientist, and there are whole books written on this subject.  I just love reading about it and have used its theories on myself and in my Coaching Practice with clients (and I slip it into Yoga classes, workshops and retreats too!), and it is from this place that I share my thoughts.

So read on to find out how our brains make it hard for us to make changes that last in our lives.

Conserve Energy

Our brain wants to conserve energy, therefore it wants to work as efficiently as possible.

It’s bombarded with a ton of information every second so it finds ways to deal with all that into, to take it in, to make sense of it, to process it and ultimately to store it and/or create a thought and/or action. 

It starts that process this through two methods:

• Selective Attention. The brain filters out what it deems unnecessary distractions. It does that based on what it already knows.

• Value Tagging. The brain tags the info based on what is of value to us based on previous experience (Logical Value Tagging). It also tags info based on social safety, a sense of belonging, and on preserving our identities (Emotional Value Tagging). This emotional value tagging can override logical value tagging. 

Once the brain has chosen what to filter and it’s tagged it by value, all based on what it already knows, the brain will then send that info down a thought pathway that already exists in the brain. Why? Because it's efficient, it requires less energy. 

So when that new thought/mindset pathway you’ve been trying out is a barely visible pathway in the brain. The brain will choose the more established well trod pathway to conserve energy.

Keeping Us Safe

The brain wants to keep us safe. It will prioritise safety. And our brains see anything new or a change as unsafe. 

The brain will assign losses twice the importance as the equivalent gain. For example, if you lost £10 or found £10. The loss of £10 will have twice as much an impact on you as finding £10. 

We’re geared to be risk adverse and hence avoid change, rather than seek reward. 

Whole Brain Thinking

We will have learned to use only one or two elements of our whole brain thinking. Dr Tara Swart in her book The Source, sets out 6 elements to whole brain thinking. We could be prioritising connecting to our emotional messaging, or interoception (physical sensations), or maybe it’s our intuition, or our motivators, or our logical mind, or creative open mind thinking, that we cling to. By not connecting to all 6 of these elements of our whole brain thinking, we limit what is possible. Our educational system and cultural programming will have placed an emphasis on one or more of these elements. 

Cocktail of Chemicals

Dopamine, Serotonin, Oxytocin, Endorphins, and Cortisol. Our brains need all of these in balance. And we can end up skewed, often it is Cortisol which is linked with the survival emotions - fear, anger, disgust, shame and sadness, that plays a dominant role. If we’re stuck in a high cortisol pattern our brains can’t work as well. 

We can also get a release of these chemicals to reinforce a behaviour or thought that we are trying to change, making it harder for us to change it.

Example Time!

Let’s put this together into a basic example, that I expect many of us will have experienced in some form or another!

You walk into a coffee shop to meet a friend. You go up to the counter……

• Your body is telling you you’re cold and need hydration. You recently ate, so your body is telling you it isn’t hungry. (Interoception Thinking).

• You’ve recently been reading about the adverse effects of sugar and caffeine on your sleep and you want to give sugar and caffeine the heave ho for 2 weeks to see the impact this has on your sleep. (Logic Thinking, Logical Value Tagging and a new Mindset you’re building).

• There's a mass of external info coming into your brain, the shop is designed to draw your eye and nose to cakes and coffee and you’ve been conditioned over many years to notice the cakes. (Selective Attention).

• Your brain says ‘we normally have coffee and cake, tea is risky!’. (Risk Aversion).

• There’s a release of feel good chemicals as you remember the joy of sharing cake and a cappuccino with your friend over the years. (Emotional Value Tagging and Chemical Reaction). 

• Your friend just ordered a coffee and chocolate cake. You want to belong. (Social Safety) 

You get to the front of the queue, and for a moment you almost say “Peppermint tea please”, instead you say “large cappuccino and a slice of chocolate cake please”.

That all happened within a few seconds and mostly without your awareness!

In Summary

So the next time you ‘fail’ at making the change in your life that you want, give yourself a little compassion. Your brain was just trying to be efficient and to keep you safe. 

Now before you despair! 

We have the ability to harness the power of our brains to make change. It requires work; it requires us to look after our brains, to get back to whole brain thinking, to invest the time in identifying thoughts and mindsets that are no longer serving us, to create new ones and establish these as the dominant pathway. 

I know this is possible and not just because Neuroscience, or the many professionals applying these theories say it is. But because I’ve experienced it.

If you’ve found this an interesting read, and want to know more then please read the second blog in this short series:

How we can harness the power of our whole brain thinking to make changes that last in our lives

And if this has made you curious to find out more about what I do, then you can find out more about my Coaching Programmes and Yoga offerings on my website. And if you want to find out first about new offerings and releases then sign up to my Newsletter (a twice a month sharing of wisdom and an inspiration boost).