The brain is magnificent and yet it is also similar to a petulant child, it can sometimes be spoilt and willfull. It is our command centre. The place from where our whole body operates, down to a single cell through to the whole organ. From the thought to the action. It controls us. It controls our movement, when we are hungry, what we choose to eat, even how we think.
How we think is then the root to our actions and behaviours. Our thoughts aren’t random, they don’t just happen. The easiest analogy to describe the pattern of our thoughts is to imagine a brick on the ground. Alone it is nothing, just a brick. But then you add a little cement and place another brick and you keep doing that until eventually you have a wall. A wall then becomes an obstacle to get from one side to another. Huff and Puff at the wall and the likelihood is that nothing will change. The wall will still stand and possibly if the bricks are still being added, it will become bigger and depending on where the bricks are placed the wall can become thicker and sturdier. The thicker the wall gets, the higher the wall gets, the harder it becomes to penetrate.
What do bricks and building walls have to do with the brain and why is building a wall a problem? Say for example you want to lose weight and you set yourself on a path to eating more healthy and exercising more. If you were on one side of that wall and on that side of the wall, you only had healthy food, a good and varied set of exercise equipment, the chances are you would succeed in losing weight and getting healthy. You might think to yourself, ”I would love a burger and fries”, and the thought of a mikshake might remind you of nectar. But you can’t cross over the wall and so you stick to your regime, not necessarily because you want to, but because its easier to get up and exercise than sit around going crazy, thinking about food.
Now imagine if that wall had a locked door and you knew that over the other side your burger and fries and your milkshake were waiting to welcome you, you might be tempted to go to the door and turn the handle and upon finding that it was locked you might feel dissapointed. You are so close to your burger and fries you can smell the texture of the meat in the burger and you feel yourself biting through the soft bready bun and getting hit by the tangy pickled gherkin and the faint hint of relish, combined with the whole thing is like heaven on your tongue. You are smelling and tasting the burger and yet you aren’t even eating it.
What is happening to you? Well you are bored with your healthy food, because it isn’t satisfying the pleasure centres of your brain and so your brain is urging you to see to the possibility of achieving that satisfaction. At the door, just knowing what lies on the other side triggers the memory centres of your brain, to provide you with the taste and the smell of something you have enjoyed many times before.
Now what if the door was suddenly flung open? You are battling two thoughts. One to stay on your healthy regime and the other to run for the burger and the fries. What will happen to you? Some of you won’t care and will carry on with your new regime. What about those of you who go through the door and indulge the desire for the burger and the fries? You finish eating and suddenly you are overcome with guilt, for not being strong enough to resist.
That is why your brain is your problem. That is why your brain is like a spoilt and petulant child. It wants what it wants, it doesn’t want what is good for you. One of the brains biggest problems is that it wants to experience pleasure and its wants it constantly. It seeks comfort from food, it enjoys the pleasure offered by the chemicals in nicotin, drugs and alcohol. It becomes accustomed to the pleasure sensation, even of sex, of sitting on a sofa watching TV, of scrolling through social media sites. Do you ever ask why that is?
Sometimes knowing the why is the place from which your scenario can change for the better and for the duration of your life.
I don’t want to give you a science lesson, but understanding the science of the brain and applying it to myself and my habits and actions helped me over time, and continue to help me, create habits which benefit me. I have used the analogy of weight loss as an example, but weight gain and weight loss is a result of our thoughts. Those very thoughts that then become comforted by food. But the painful tragedy in our lives can be numbed by alcohol or drugs. A desire for love and euphoria can be satisfied through the experience of orgasm and the endless scrolling through Tik Tok, Instagram and Facebook keeps our attention on things that interest us, robbing us of our much needed sleep.
There is nothing wrong with eating. Food is sustenance. Imbibing alcohol can be a lovely social passtime. I am never going to advocate for drugs or cigarettes, because there is never a social situation for me where, these are acceptable, even though I understand that for a true addict, it is more an illness, that needs expert help, in the body of this article I know I can’t give chemical addiction the kind of consideration it needs. For research and interest, social media is a phenomenal revolution. However over eating negatively impacts our health, resulting in heart disease, a lack of mobility, Diabetes and other health realted problems that detract from the quality of our lives. Excessive use of alcohol and chemical addictions, alienate us from our loved ones, remove us from living coherent lives and can eventually result in death. Celebrity examples of this are too numerous to mention. We need to sleep. Sleep is when our body replenishes. It is when our nervous systems get to take a break. Sleep deprivation is a real world problem in todays society. I am not talking about the menopausal or anxiety related interruptions to our sleep, I am talking about the various platforms in social media whose intention it is to keep you glued to your device screens for mere financial gain.
Moderation for many, simply doesn’t apply and for you, understanding the processes of your brain cold be the essential component in the war of control over your impulses. Not just to cope with a naturally addictive personality, but to overcome emotional pain, despair and despondency. If that concerns you then watch out for my article on Despair and Despondency. I will add the link to this article as sson as I post that publication.