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Hooked on The Brain with David Eagleman
I’ve just finished watching the third episode of this PBS series and I think I’m more hooked on David Eagleman and the brain than I was on J.R. Ewing and Dallas back in the 1980s. I’ve spent the past...
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Light Up Your Brain with Gratitude
Thanksgiving is the one day a year we set aside to reflect on the people and the things we’re grateful for. At least that’s the idea. The reality of feast, family, friends, fun, and football isn’t...
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Is What You See All There Is?
As you move through the world, you probably have the sense that you’re aware of whatever there is to be aware of as it is. This applies not only to the sensory world, but also to events, situations,...
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2016: The Year of Clearing Space?
You can’t reach for the stars by climbing that mountain of clutter. That’s what I wrote two years ago (2014: Time to Start Shoveling?) and I stand by it today. There are plenty of obstacles you’ll...
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Uncertainty: Learning to Live with Butterflies
The unconscious part of our brain abhors ambiguity and uncertainty. And patience is not its middle name. That’s unfortunate. We work to eliminate as much uncertainty as we can as quickly as possible....
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Why Aren’t You Constantly Surprised?
You’ve probably never asked yourself that question, but it’s not as silly as it sounds. Think about it for a minute. How do you explain the fact that you aren’t constantly surprised by the wide...
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Do You “Just” Need to Make Different Choices?
A comment I often hear from people who are dissatisfied with some aspect of their lives is that they just need to make different choices. On the one hand, it seems like a no-brainer, right? And at...
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Can You Muscle Your Way to Change?
Changing the status quo isn’t easy. The unconscious part of your brain, which might be said to be allergic to change, is way ahead of the conscious part, especially in familiar situations. It’s built...
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How Do Decisions Affect Your Choices?
Moment-to-moment, the vast majority of the choices you seem to be making are being made for you by the unconscious part of your brain. You do have both the ability and the opportunity to affect your...
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Give Up Choice; Get What You Really Want
Being clear about what you really want and why you want it is essential if you want to bring about a behavioral change. The what and the why provide you with direction: your highly desirable outcome....
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“Brain Power” Podcast
This past November, I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Giovanna Rossi Pressley on the Well Woman Show on KUNM radio. During this episode, titled “Brain Power,” we discussed the conscious and...
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Benefits, Celebrations, and Rewards
Your brain is wired for survival—survival, that is, in the rough and tumble world of the savanna your ancestors roamed 2.5 million years ago. Part of the wiring for survival includes the reward...
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A Is for Autopilot
You can probably think of a few examples of operating on autopilot. An obvious one is driving a familiar route while you’re lost in thought and then being unable to recall the trip itself afterward....
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N Is for Narration
The unconscious part of your brain processes far more data, moment-to-moment, than the conscious part of your brain is aware of. Since you’re missing more than you’re consciously taking in, how can...
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Q Is for Questions
If you want to get good answers, you have to ask good questions. That seems pretty obvious. What may be less obvious is that it’s also important to know what question it is you’re answering—because,...
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T Is for Thinking
What exactly is thinking? It turns out this is an area where you can’t trust dictionaries to provide meaningful definitions. If you consider the various definitions of the word—or the process—you’re...
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W Is for Writing
Writing is such an effective tool for change that I use it in all of my classes and workshops. It can help you clarify intentions or goals and assist you in staying on track. It’s also extremely...
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X Is for eXpectations
Life is an ongoing series of experiences, one after another after another. When you’re in the midst of one of them, you experience it. After it’s over, you explain it, meaning you remember it and tell...
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Elementary, My Dear Watson*
When you’re trying to solve a complex problem, determine a course of action, or evaluate others’ conclusions, you’ll need to engage logical System 2 reasoning, which is the opposite of System 1’s quick...
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Mind the Gap
You experience the gap numerous times each day. Everyone does. The gap, in this case, is the discrepancy between what you expect will happen and what actually happens. Because your brain finds this...
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