THE BRAIN: RESISTANT TO CHANGE!
Why the subconscious primal brain resists change
The subconscious primal brain is the part of the brain that keeps us alive. It adopts strategies, habits, movement patterns and communication skills that are purely based on being able to survive. As long as you are surviving, the brain does not find any change useful since it is going to require more energy, more threat and more conscious thought. UGH! These three things can make your primal mind take serious tantrums and will utilize tactics like fear, depression, anxiety or any host of pathological emotions to keep you from living “safe”.
What happens when you try to change
You want to break a habit, learn a new skill, or make a resolution? Or maybe try something new, have a hard conversation, do something you never thought you would want to do? When you want to make a change, the primal brain creates a block. It recognizes this new thing as something that is going to rock the status quo, take up way too much energy and threaten your very survival.
Something as simple as “I want to start exercising” or “Im going to eat less sugar” sends a message to that primal brain. It says CHANGE IS COMING and boom, the resistance begins! Why? CHANGE REQUIRES ENERGY. AND THE BRAINS SEES THAT AS A THREAT. BREAKS ON! CUE THE VOICES IN YOUR HEAD: ‘you’ll never finish this’, ‘who do you think you are to be fit, smart, accomplished, happy, blah, blah blah’.
Here’s the deal…the more emotion you have connected to your new habit change, the more threat your brain attaches to it.
Try this to train your brain to change
Let’s do an experiment together this week that will help train your brain to change.
Write down 4 things you would like to change in your life, or a new habit you would like to begin.
Pick the 1 thing on that list that has the BIGGEST emotional charge.
Put a line through it.
Go to the next thing with a BIG emotional charge.
Put a line through that.
Do this again until you are left with the one with the least emotional change. This is considered your lowest hanging threat fruit.
This is called the “chunking down” theory. You take a big thing, chunk it down in half. Then split it in half again. Do this until the piece that you are left with is so small that it seems ridiculous to be scared of it.
Comment below with a 💥 and let’s go head on together to make some changes together! Send me a message and let me know how this works for you!