The French philosopher René Descartes (1596-1650) developed a concept of mind and body that came to be known as Dualism. The mind was thought to be non-material, not subject to the laws of nature, while the body was thought to be like a machine. Dualism holds that there is a rigid distinction between the mind and the body or matter. The mind can interact with the body much like a driver interacts with a car. But just like the thoughts of the driver cannot influence or affect the actions of the car, the thoughts in the mind cannot affect or influence the body.

The mind-body problem is a philosophical question which continues to occupy philosophers today. In addition to being a philosophical question, it also became the accepted scientific description of the relationship between the mind and the body. For a considerable period of time a scientific explanation of a mind-body connection could not be provided. As a result, anything that depended on a theory of mind-body connection was discounted despite any demonstrable results. Acupuncture is illustrative of this thinking.

Despite the fact that the Chinese had been using acupuncture for a very long time with good results, when it was introduced into the West, it could not be explained by existing scientific understanding or methods. As a result, it was discounted and shunned by the scientific and medical communities as being “mystical,” – not a legitimate form of medical healing.

Subsequently, scientific advances have been able to show how acupuncture works and as a result it is now an accepted part of modern medical practice. A traditional Chinese acupuncturist may describe how acupuncture works very differently than how a modern Western physician might describe it. However, how acupuncture works has not changed at all. All that has changed is our understanding of how to think about it.

To be sure the mechanistic scientific model has much merit as it drove huge advances in knowledge and improvement in the human condition. However, as the case of acupuncture shows, just because something cannot be fully explained with the bounds of current scientific knowledge and techniques does not mean that it will never be explained.

Advances in technology are providing neuroscientists with a much better ability to investigate how the brain functions. They are now beginning to be able to demonstrate and explain scientifically many aspects of the mind-body connection. Like the case of acupuncture, it is clear that many things about the mind-body connection that were dismissed as unscientific can be now explained. It is also clear that there are many more things to discover.

The ability to tap into the mind-body connection is a powerful tool in a range of options available for the betterment of our health and well-being. Mind-body techniques should not be the only options considered, nor should they be excluded out of hand. It is unethical and unhelpful for those who espouse the use of mind-body techniques to claim fantastical abilities for them. Similarly, is it unhelpful for them to be dismissed out of hand by medical practitioners who are not yet convinced of the intimate connection between the mind and the body and what that means for the healing arts.

Lots of ideas – No Plan Blunder

Part 4 – The Cloudy Crystal Ball looked at how to set up a S.M.A.R.T. goal as a way of achieving your New Year’s Resolution. Recall that the acronym S.M.A.R.T. stands for:

• Specific
• Measureable
• Achievable
• Realistic
• Timed

Your S.M.A.R.T. goal needs to:

• Be stated in the positive
• Specify the outcome you want to achieve
• Specify how you will achieve your outcome

The third Big Blunder that people make with their New Year’s Resolution is that they don’t create a plan that will get them from where they are to where they want to be.

They have a good idea of what they want but a very poor idea of how they are going to get there!  

A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle.

Kahil Gibran

The best S.M.A.R.T. goals in the world are of little value if you have no plan to put them into action.

 “Failing to plan is planning to fail”

Solution

On May 25th, 1961, US President John F. Kennedy, speaking to a joint session of Congress, declared “. . . . I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.”

When Kennedy set out this goal it was clear that NASA did not have the answers that would permit them to successfully land a man on the moon and return him safely to earth. Now NASA could have started immediately firing rockets into space trying one thing and then another – with catastrophic results for everyone. Or it could have become frustrated and quit because it did not have all the answers at hand. And this is what some people do with their personal goals. They either try all kinds of things one after another or they become frustrated and quit because they cannot immediately see all the steps they need to take.

Of course, NASA did neither of these and on July 20th, 1969, the Apollo Lunar Module touched down on the moon and 6 hours later on July 21st, Neil Armstrong became the first human being to set foot on the moon. The three astronauts involved in the mission returned safely to earth on July 24th, 1969.

NASA broke the goal of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely into many small steps or sub-goals all aimed at achieving the main goal. They did not confuse the GOAL with the steps necessary to get there. And when we set goals, we should do the same thing. In any goal we set we should not confuse the end GOAL with steps necessary to get there. 

We might be able to see all the steps we need to take to accomplish our goal. More than likely, however, we will not be able to. So rather than randomly try things or become frustrated and quit we need to ask a very simple question:

What is the very next thing that I need to do that will move me a step closer to my goal?

The answer to this question becomes the immediate goal that needs to be accomplished.

So take the S.M.A.R.T. goal for weight loss developed in Part 4: I will drop my weight 2 lbs a month, for a total of 24 lbs., to be at my desired weight on 31 Dec 2023. The first step might be to meet with a dietician and develop a meal plan that will promote weight loss. Maybe the first step is making an appointment with a dietician; maybe the first step is research dieticians in my area. Each of these steps should be written out in S.M.A.R.T goal format. Be careful not to get into the paralysis through analysis trap. Remember each step you create in your plan has to move you concretely and measurably towards your big GOAL. 

Breaking the accomplishment of the big GOAL into smaller steps has its benefits. Each step is easy to understand, wrap your mind around, and accomplish.  There is a sense of accomplishment as each step is accomplished. And each step is a measurable indication of successful progress towards the overall goal.

You don’t have to worry about figuring out each and every step you will need to take to achieve your goal right at the beginning. Plan for perhaps one or two steps ahead and as you successfully completely them the next steps will become clearer in light of your experiences. You will develop a rolling plan, creating the next portion as a result of what you have just accomplished and learned. Your overall GOAL will always remain the same; however, your exact pathway to achieving it will likely take some twists and turns as you journey towards it.  This is entirely normal and to be expected.

Plan to achieve your New Year’s Resolution or any goal for that matter, in small, bite size, easily achieved chunks, and you will be sure to be successful!

The Reptilian Brain and New Year’s Resolutions

In Part 1 it was noted that research shows that the vast majority of people are unsuccessful in achieving their New Year’s resolutions. This part will explore how a specific part of the brain helps or hinders us in achieving our resolutions.

The first thing to really understand is that it is the unconscious mind, not the conscious mind, which does most of the heavy work in achieving our resolutions. As I discussed in a previous blog post, in a contest between imagination and willpower, imagination will always win out. In fact, it can be said that strong will power is created by an active imagination which creates the picture of the conditions we want to achieve. Without that picture there is nothing for willpower to work towards!

Now there is a part of the brain, about the size of your little finger, located at the core of the brain stem between the medulla oblongata and mesencephalon, called the Reticular Activating System (RAS). This tiny portion of the brain has many functions, one of which, pattern recognition, is critical to your ability to achieve your resolutions or goals. The RAS is part of the human brain that we have inherited from our reptilian ancestors

The pattern recognition functions of the RAS were critical to our reptilian ancestor’s survival. If the creature “saw” something that matched the pattern of a predator the RAS would trigger the “flight or fight” response and thus increase its chances of survival. This mechanism, inherited from our ancient ancestors, is a biological imperative that exists in modern humans whether we like it or not. And most of us have probably experienced the “flight or fight” response. We have been startled by something we caught out of the corner of our eye and our hearts have started to race, pumping more blood and providing more oxygen, while adrenaline and other chemicals are released into the body.

Think of the RAS as a filter that will only let the mind work on those things which have been identified as important. Those things that do not get past the filter will not have any resources devoted to them. Our reptilian ancestor’s RAS was biologically hard wired or programmed to respond only to certain patterns. Modern humans retain this programming as evidenced by our strong but sometimes less than appropriate “flight or fight” responses. However, unlike our reptilian ancestors, modern humans also have the ability to “program” their RAS to be alert to other patterns.

So, the question is how do we programme the RAS? The simple answer is that you do it by what you think about and talk about to yourself. The unfortunate part is that you may not know exactly how you are programming your RAS. And because of that your RAS may not be doing what you really would like it to do.

An example of how the RAS works will help to make this clear. You have just decided to buy a new car – a particular make model colour etc.  Now, like magic, you begin to notice the same type of car everywhere, whereas before you hadn’t seen any of them. By making the decision to buy the car, by becoming focused on the details of what you wanted, you have programmed your RAS. Your unconscious mind, through the RAS, now allows items that match your new car to get through to your conscious mind instead of filtering them out.  The cars that match your new car have always been there. Your RAS simply filtered them out of your conscious awareness. Now it believes that you want to know about them it will let that information through.

So, you program your RAS filter simply through what you choose to focus on. The bad news is that you aren’t always consciously aware of what you are actually focusing on and thus how you are programming your RAS to filter information for you. In terms of your New Year’s Resolutions or any other goal for that matter, you want your RAS to allow through the filter those kinds of things which will help you achieve your resolutions. So how do you get your RAS to do this?

There are three big blunders that most people make with their New Year’s resolutions that affects how their RAS is programed and which subsequently affects their ability to achieve those resolutions.

Part 3 will look at Big Blunder #1