This Holds You Back More Than Anything Else

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Many books has been written on how to form a new habits and how important it is in order to be productive and successful. It is an easy concept that most people intellectually understand.

The issue might come up when we try to form a habit, so it becomes our second nature. Ideally we can rewire our brain in a way that new habits will support us instead of. In reality it is not that easy. You can still form a habit, but is that habit is the most effective habit possible for you?

What do you think is the most important resource we have to enjoy life and be productive and successful?

It is our energy. In a way we are energy.  If we have high level of energy we can sustain high pressure, stress , conflicts and stay positive and optimistic.

Mental energy is highly consuming because of countless connections between neurons in our brain. Each thought can fire millions and millions  of neurons. And all that takes energy.

We as humans suppose to have high level of energy by design. It is the case if  we live and stay close to natural resources.  In that case our energy(vibration) is in sync with natural environment. Most of us live in cities where we lost our natural intuitive abilities. Civilization structured in such a way that something or someone consistently drains our energy. What  drains us energy the most?

It is the inner conflict between our different brains.

Brain Theory

In the 1960’s Dr. Paul MacLean at the National Institute for Mental Health, expanding on the work of James Papez, described a three part concentric layering structure to the human brain.

The outermost layer is the neomammilian brain (Mammalian Brain), the neocortex which is the seat of thought and most voluntary movement.

The next layer inward is the paleomamalian brain, composed of the limbic system, the seat of our emotions and autonomic nervous system.

In the innermost portion is found the reptilian brain, composed of the brain stem, midbrain, basal ganglia and other structures.

Each brain serves different functions with some overlap, but what Dr.MacLean postulates is that the integration, or coordination between the brains is inadequate, a genetic problem in our species.

All three of these brains interact with each other to make up what and how we think, consciously and subconsciously. They can act in a contradictory or complimentary manner to one another leading to spectacular or terrible results. But it takes all three to make us what we are.

You can think about relationship between those brains as heart body mind relationship or mental physical emotional relationship.

The mind, or neocortex, is the part of ourselves we most often think of as who we are. It perceives itself in the head, and it is the part of us that forms judgments, handles short term memory, and does abstractions like mathematics.

The heart is the limbic system in the brain, yet perceives itself in the chest, probably because this is the area of its primary biological responsibility and sensory awareness. It allows us to feel emotions, and be either positively or negatively emotionally aware of the presence of others.

The body consciousness is composed of the tissues at the base of our skulls, and probably other distributed systems in our body. It experiences itself in the lower belly, its area of major biological function. This brain gives us a sense of time and our ability to feel sexuality. We communicate with this brain when we do dowsing or muscle testing.

What does all this mean to you?

Each of our 3 brains is independent. You may see how those 3 brains can be in conflict. For example imagine that you like to eat chocolate. You physical part of you (action) wants it badly. Intellectual part of you (thoughts) understands that it might not be the right choice at the moment and it is better not to eat chocolate right now because of weight benefit. Emotional part of you (emotions) might bring different feelings of guild because of this act.

That is the example of parts of the brain being in conflict. Don’t you think for the same internal reason we don’t exercise when we know we suppose to? Probably.

We have more 90% of the same thoughts today that we have yesterday. Once we formed a certain habit we tend to act automatically. Interesting thing is that our inner friction may become a habit. Obviously any friction burns energy inefficiently. We need to build different habits which not included friction.

What is the solution?

So, what can we do to eliminate friction and to go with the flow?

• Take inventory of your thought patters to figure out what kind of mental activities drains you energy the most and build the support system to manage it.

Pattern is the keyword here.

For me the one of the patterns which drains my energy efficiently is being unorganized. I became aware of this pattern by looking on the information I store on my PC and on my desk and by comments from some friendly people

If you walk into my room now you will not be able to tell that I am not organized (maybe only when I am working on a project - it is really messy).

Why my room is clean if I tend not to be organized by nature?

I figure this out several years ago. I tend to go through a lot of information on a regular basis and information I go through piles up extremely fast. It becomes impossible to find something on my desktop or in my room after a couple of days.

I didn’t have choice as to create some kind of system of storing ideas and information. I bought folders and bookshelf’s to organize my stuff.

The interesting thing is my pattern is still there. I learned to manage around my weakness, but this pattern of behavior is still with me and I have to constantly build various support systems to manage this weakness of mine.

Can you imagine how much energy I would have to burn if I don’t have right systems in place? It is ridiculous. I use to freak out about that all the time. Actually it is still an issue at some degree, but once system is build it is still  saving me tons of mental energy.

• Know exactly what you need do each and every day (schedule activities to eliminate patterns of behavior that creates friction), ideally on a minute by minute basis (I don’t like schedules at all, but I want to be successful, helpful and efficient on a long run, so I don’t see another choice at the moment).

For instance we want to lose weight. We know that it is bad for us to eat before we go to sleep, but sometimes we still do. What if we decided to form a healthy ritual that will eliminate this draining energy pattern and we write it down. One of the activities in our ritual might be: not to eat after 7:00PM (eat only before 7:00Pm - in positive tense).

When we schedule activity and we know why and what the results would be on a long run, we can eliminate unnecessary worries (save energy) and next time you notice yourself being next to the fridge at night, you will know not to grab that tasty piece of cake.

• Build rituals based on a new pattern of behavior which you want for yourself.

If you take time to reflect and think it through and look for patterns you will find a conflict between thoughts, feelings and actions. Think  how  can you bring all those parts in sync and then form rituals that will support it. This way you build effective and efficient patterns because new ritual will support you on all levels.

• Balance long term and short terms thinking by focusing on end results (vision)

What’s good and pleasant for you on a short term not necessarily good and pleasant for you on a long term? You may enjoy the taste of cake and may enjoy it so much, but on a long term you know the consequences of that. choice might be. If you don’t know who you want to become and what you want to have and do on a long run, you will keep eating this tasty cake for the sake of instant gratification (luck of vision/purpose)

• Enjoy the process and do not go into extremes

Consider everything being said but do not go into extremes. This can lead to disappointment and frustration. Enjoy life now, but at the same time hold your long term vision in your mind.

By now you see how internal conflicts like that can drain us energy and for the most part we are not aware of what drains us. Now you know the reason, but it up is to you to identify patters and behaviors that drains your energy the most.

It seems that all that brains and interactions between them are all hardwired in us, and we can’t change that. What we can do is to become aware of pattern s of our thoughts and behaviors so we can eliminate internal friction that drains us of energy. This is the fastest way I know to get into the flow state consistently.

What some of yours enificient patterns that drains your energy and how you manage or plan to manage it? what is your thougts on 3 brains model?