My Lesson from Improv- Content vs Context

A few years ago I found the urge to express myself in a new way so I took up acting at our local theatre school, The Prairie Theatre Exchange.  It eventually lead to a spot in "Adult company" where I actually acted in a full fledged onstage production.  Both the most frightening and the most exhilarating experience of my life (well I suppose I should include jumping out of an airplane as well).
Anyways, I remember some of the funnest times in theatre school was the games our instructor had us play to help us get comfortable and creative at the same time.  One such game was, of course, improv.  There was only one rule to improv- YOU WERE NOT ALLOWED TO DENY ANOTHER PERSON'S REALITY.  In fact, you had to build on it to keep the scene moving.  Ummm...I thought to myself, what a great rule for Life.  Seek to understand another person's reality or perspective and then find a way to build on it.  Not necessarily agree or accept it blindly if you choose not to but learn to stay "in scene"and "on stage" with your fellow actor.  Denial of another person's reality creates contradiction and conflict which can lead your fellow actor to "exit, stage left".  Now you, he/she and your "audience" are robbed of what potentially could be a transformational moment in this play called "Life".

Which brings me to our topic of content vs context.  Simply put, content is YOUR experience and knowledge while context is about the meaning of your experience and knowledge to SOMEONE ELSE.  I call it the "WHAT" and "SO WHAT" of information.  The great teachers in life know this "secret" distinction.  They teach their information with context.   Information (or content) that has more meaning to their audience because,
A.  the audience could see the value of the info from their own perspective lenses.
B.  the audience related to and retained more easily the content presented.

In today's age there is no shortage of information or content but a large shortage of context in relation to that information.  The how and why a person is presenting information has become more important than the information itself.  Consider the reality that the same "content" can have a totally different meaning (or function) if it is put in a different context.  Let me illustrate, using a common examination finding seen in many medical or chiropractic offices.

Finding- L4 Patellar tendon reflex decreased (aka MSR) (+1)

Interpretation #1-Dr. Smith, medical neurologist- Lower motor neuron finding, correlate with other motor and sensory findings to rule out disc pathology or peripheral nerve lesion- refer for MRI imaging or electrodiagnostic testing and then an orthopaedic surgical consult.

Interpretation #2- Dr. Smith, chiropractor-  Could be a red flag but likely a product of an L4-5 subluxation compressing the L4 nerve root.  Adjust it and watch the magic happen.

Interpretation #3- Dr. Smith, chiropractic/functional neurologist- Rule out red flags and/or compressive lesion at the cord level (again with other motor and sensory findings) but also likely a product of an imbalance between the anterior and posterior muscle compartments of the lower limb mediated by the ponto-medullary reticular formation in the brainstem.  How do I get that area to reset the gain on those Renshaw cells?

All three interpretations are essentially right given their own unique models of reality and of the situation.  The problem lies in the contradiction and conflict that these interpretations would cause if the three practitioners were in the same room together.  Content vs Context issues are bad enough in the world of diagnosis as it is, particularly with the languaging and terminology that is involved.  My greatest teachers (and they are the rarest of rare) are the ones that can take the same content (such as an examination finding) and give me many of the contextual meanings behind that content so that I may see how another set of eyes would interpret that information.  This would allow me to be in the same room with the other practitioners and, provided the others stayed open minded and flexible in their communication, to be in a position to respect their reality and build on it with a dose of mine.  Now, no one exits stage left, and something can be accomplished.  The play goes on.

I have not utilized (at least not consciously) nor been trained in Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) but some of their "presuppositions" do make an awful lot of sense to me.  Namely,

-"The meaning of the communication is the response it elicits".  Seems straightforward but how often when we engage with another, do we allow our own agendas to cloud our ability to ascertain the response we are getting to what we say.  Made even more difficult by those who are really good at feigning the fact that they are actually listening to you.
-"There are no failures in communication, only outcomes".  Again, seemingly straightforward but difficult in practice since a part of being human is the emotional charge we attach to many of the exchanges we have with others.  Just ask my wife.
-"In interactions among people, the person with the most flexibility and variation of behaviour can control the outcome of the interaction".  And I have written about this before, this presupposition strikes right to the heart of the importance of training your EQ, emotional quotient, as a mandatory skill for success in life.  It is the hallmark of every successful person I know and even those that don't have it, and appear successful on the outside, limit their potential influence in the world to an even larger degree by not developing it.

So since every interaction in life is an improv, what would my life look like if I played with the cardinal rule in mind?  Even better if I reminded myself that it could be a fun game to play.

Passive-Aggressive behaviour and the Modern day Viking

(Special thanks to my new facebook friend and colleague Danielle and my other buddy Steve for the inspiration behind this piece....and both for two very different but good reasons)

So I'm flipping through the "Telly" the other day and I stumble upon the History channel and a new show called "Vikings".  As you can imagine it's set as an early period piece and the brutal life of Vikings in and around the 10th Century.  There was a scene in its pilot episode whereby the tribe gathers into a village "hall" and conduct a makeshift criminal trial of one of its inhabitants who is accused of killing a fellow tribesman and taking his land.  Long story short, without a whole lot of lawyer talk and presenting evidence, the village votes unanimously (and it must be unanimous) to convict and sentence him to death.  Brutality aside, the "convicted" does get to choose the death of his choice (as he matter-of-factly chose the beheading route)....and life in the village goes on its merry way, business as usual.

  

Assuming these types of shows are relatively accurate depictions of the dog eat dog life of earlier human history, I can understand why they are so popular and watched by many today.  There's a certain appeal to how disputes and differences were settled in our earlier days.  Cross me, wrong me, mock me, touch my family and I would either kill you or teach you a really painful and not so forgotten lesson. Brutal, uncivilized....yet simple.  And we humans love simple.  And it would seem, at least in the Western Civilization, that we love to indulge in these active-aggressive fantasies as an outlet to our stifled feelings of stress and aggression by switching on the TV at the end of each day.  Even many of the brutal modern day period shows (ie-Banshee)  appeal to the simplicity of settling disputes mano-a-mano (even the women on these shows are kicking ass).

So I have a theory.  As man's developmental and evolutionary trajectory progresses (and continues to progress) thru the ages and we become (as a whole) a little more "cortically civilized" and a little less "limbically loutish", aggression takes on a whole new meaning.  Since its no longer appropriate, nor legal, to be actively aggressive, we have chosen instead to be passively aggressive- "active's" less obvious but no less aggressive little sister.  Today's passive aggressive person can grind on you for YEARS.  Instead of the old fashioned quick and be done with settlement of differences and disputes, we have the slower festering, toxic and life sucking affects of passive aggression.  

You know who they are in your life and, guaranteed, you've administered your fair share of passive aggression tactics as well.  I know I have.  So let's review the specs of today's modern day "Viking";

-Generally negative attitudes towards many situations in life and other people, especially when those people are not in the room.

-At work, they tend to avoid responsibility and are lousy at accepting criticism, even constructive criticism that would help them further their career.

-Slight paranoia in that they think others have it in for them.

-Pass off their unhappiness to outside factors.  Their emotions are a result of "you made me feel this way!"

-Given a suggestion to do a task, they will avoid doing it out of spite, despite it being a better option.

-Easily offended. Takes things people say and misconstrues them as attacks.

-Sarcasm or feigned sarcasm is their favourite weapon especially with the targeted person in the room.  Its their way of pushing buttons and winning the "power" struggle with you.  Beware, they are good at it and have had years of practice especially the narcissistic passive-aggressive.....the most lethal kind.

-Fear of intimacy.  For them, intimacy is a sign of dependency and they do not like to feel dependent on anybody or anything.  

-They do not communicate well.  And this is a funny one because they feel others do not communicate well with them and, as a result, they refuse to communicate well with others.  In fact, their behaviour has trained others around them to avoid communication.  On that note, the passive-aggressive loves the internet-email, chat rooms, facebook forums-are the training grounds for this warrior.  They love the fact that tone and lack of visible non-verbal cues can't be picked up by the victims of their disdain.

-They rarely delve out genuine and authentic compliments to others.

-The hallmark of a passive-aggressive is avoiding direct conflict but being real sneaky about their disdain.  For example, if a passive-aggressive person lives in an apartment and their upstairs neighbour constantly blares music, the person might imagine (and in fact will replay that scene over and over again in their mind) going to the neighbour to ask them to turn it down.  Instead, the irritated tenant will do something more subtle to try and get their point across, like turn up their music to try and drown out the neighbour's music.  Some might even talk to the building manager but for many this action is even too confrontational.

So how do you know if you're a passive-aggressive?

A)  If you've just read that list and you now think that I am specifically talking about you.....you are definitely passive-aggressive.

B)  If you've just read that list and you are in complete denial of possessing any of those traits and are now completely offended that I would even suggest that you do......sorry, still passive-aggressive...and I'm sure you'll find a sneaky way to get back at me.  Let me save you the trouble.....you win and I surrender.

I was actually surprised to learn that a passive-aggressive personality is listed as a disorder with the American Psychological Association.  Aha!  A chance to speculate on the neurological substrates of passive-aggressive behaviour.  As I have been preaching for awhile now, we can no longer study behaviour in a vacuum separate from the underlying neuro-functional and neuro-anatomical components and its subsequent far reaching effects on health and healing.  

It would appear that passive-aggressive behaviour falls on the Obsessive-Compulsive spectrum which points to an area known as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC).  Loops between the DLPFC and Basal ganglion and then subsequently reinforcement by limbic loops between ventral striatum and amygdala develop their plasticity over years of observation (starting with their parents most likely)and then practiced over and over again.  Imbalanced approach and avoidance behaviours get these people stuck in their obsessive thoughts about what's wrong with others and what's wrong with life and then stuck in their compulsion to express and then avoid.  Essentially, they get high on it.  Its a monster in marriages and I would venture to say a leading cause of divorce today.

Are there ways to address and deal with this cunning and effective modern day "Viking"? Yes, according to many self-help magazine articles, blogs, advice columns and books but I'd just as soon to suggest..............

Pass me the fucking battle axe.

    

Enjoy the Silence-The Neuroscience of Socio-Emotional learning

"Words like violence break the silence

Come crashing in, into my little world

Painful to me, pierce right through me

Can't you understand? Oh my little girl."

Generation Xer's or anyone with an affinity for 80s music might recognize those words above.  Vivid are my memories of seeking solace alone on the bus after an exhausting day trying to scramble my way through high schools' toughest subject....a game I like to call "Social Snakes and Ladders".  Every time I thought I had made progress toward Square 100 at the top of the board, I'd land on a "snake" which would slide me down to lower levels of the pecking order, so to speak.  Battle worn, licking my emotional wounds, I'd head straight for my 5th row seat on the bus, whip out the Sony Walkman and get lost in the sounds of Depeche Mode, Tears for Fears, Simple Minds or Platinum Blonde. 

"Vows are spoken to be broken

Feelings are intense, words are trivial

Pleasures remain, so does the pain

Words are meaningless and forgettable"

So while the boys of Depeche Mode implored me to "Enjoy the Silence"........I couldn't.  Thoughts of insecurity, low self-esteem and the theatre company of woulda, coulda, shouldas used to perform at their "Vaudeville" best on the grandest stage of all.......my brain.  And my neuronal "audience" had no problems staying transfixed for this spectacular performance...."Encore! Encore!", they'd yell.  Assuming maybe some of you can relate to my youthful experiences (hopefully....or I really am pathetic), I use this entry to perhaps shed some insightful light on just how impactful those years of "Daze and Confused" really are to who you are today.

I don't think it's a surprise to many that most of our most important emotional and social learning occurs during our early years when our primitive brains are in control.  A great deal of learning takes place before we have the cortical systems for explicit memories (more on that in a bit), problem solving or perspective.  Ah, perspective.  There's a biggie.  Imagine having 30 pieces of a 100 piece puzzle and no cover box to refer to.  Consequentially, many of our most important socio-learning experiences are organized and controlled by reflexes, behaviours and emotions outside of our awareness AND distorted by our immature brains.  Think about the times when you've experienced an emotion for seemingly no reason at all or one that so does not fit the situation at hand (we'll call that an "over-reaction").  "Where in the hell did that come from?', you might ask yourself.  Enter implicit vs explicit memories.

A chart to peruse.  Please note those points in red.

Implicit Memory	Explicit Memory
Early Developing	Late Developing
Highly functional at birth	Matures later with the hippocampus and cortex
Sub-cortical/Amgydala bias	Cortical/Hippocampus bias
Emotional	Organized by language, visual images
Visceral/ Sensorimotor	Organized within episodes and narratives
Context-free and lacks source allocation	Conscious organization of experience
Procedural learning	Construction of Narrative to put Emotion into Context
Behavioural patterns

That emotional reaction or subcortical behaviour you couldn't put your finger on before? That's a triggered implicit memory.  Its key to remember that memory, whether subconscious or not, is an associational process where things that happen at the same time become linked to each other.  Implicit, subconscious memories, created in dysfunctional situations years before can repeatedly lead us to re-create unsuccessful but familiar patterns of thought, emotion and behaviour.  One only needs to see a chiropractic political meeting in action to see evidence of what we're talking about here.  

The two neurological structures involved here (with a little help elsewhere) are the amygdala and hippocampus.  The amygdala, which is the predominant limbic structure when we're young, loves to accentuate sensory inputs which heightens awareness of specific aspects of the environment and then generalize them.  Think, "Mountain out of a mole hill"...think, "Judging an entire book by its cover"....think, "Every thing bad always happens to me".  The hippocampus, on the other hand, can inhibit reactionary limbic responses, over active attention and stimulus response.  Its involved in the ability to discriminate and make distinctions without over generalizing.  When we can retrieve an implicit emotion from the "files" of the amygdala and transfer it over to the hippocampus, we can begin the process of weaving that emotion into a conscious narrative that puts context to that emotion.  Processing our emotions and behaviours this way offers us the possibility of writing a new story.  There are reciprocal connections between the amygdala and the hippocampus, so the activity of one can inhibit the activity of the other.  As a pertinent aside, stress hormones has been shown to damage neural networks of explicit memory in the hippocampus.  Ummm, well that explains a lot.

So how do we know which structure predominates in our life.  Well, I bring us back to my youthful days of listening to Depeche Mode's "Enjoy the Silence".  Silence is an ambiguous stimulus that tends to activate systems of implicit memory in the undisciplined mind.  When there's silence between 2 people, many people (especially in new relationships)will automatically assume that the other person is thinking critical thoughts.  Now there's a high school flashback....."She thinks I'm ugly", "He thinks I'm fat".  Similar reactions occur during relaxation without distraction.  Emotions, images and thoughts that emerge in conditions of low stimulation or absence of distraction may hold clues to early implicit learning.  Those who need constant activity and distractions to "relax" have implicit memories that are driving them.

How do you like silence?

......Words are very unnecessary

They can only do harm.......

Single female seeking.......

This is a slightly edited reprint of a post I did on another forum.  Dug it up the other day and thought it worth posting here.- JW

I am looking to see what this site is all about and hoping to meet someone to chat with, become friends, meet, and who knows...? I am professionally employed in _______ and have lived here for about 5 years now. I am a curvacious woman with a pretty face.  I'm looking for a man with six pack abs, great sense of humor and great teeth. If you ask me for a picture I just might send you one! 


Ever seen an ad like this? Maybe you have. My guess is amongst all the single ads found online or in print, the burning desire for great alignment or posture as a pre-requisite for a mate is rare.....how bout "must have lightning fast nerves and a well integrated sensorimotor system"? No? Not quite up to par to "must have" six pack abs, sense of humour, money or great teeth?
A respected colleague and friend has stirred me to ponder that question which was posed based on his most recent Palmer experience....that is "if you were the last chiropractor living, would the profession still live? General consensus on BJ Palmer was, yes, he was the consummate self promoter and great marketer of our beloved profession. Given that the root meaning of profession is "to profess", I banter among the 4 corners of my brain this question, 

"Now, in 2013, how should we best promote our great profession? What niche? What point of interest? What appeal to today's dog eat dog vanity world does our underutilized profession (5-6%!!!)have to offer?!"

Surely, we can crack that anti-aging, salon-loving, botox-injecting, silicone-implanting, brazilian-waxing, butt-lifting, teeth-whitening hetero-, homo-, metro-sexual world.....phew, thats quite a mouthful. People buy what makes them look good for

THEIR "other",
SOME "other"
or in some cases just plain "others", that's for certain.

Gawd, I envy those dentists and their teeth loving ways. I've seen many a hot women be repulsed by a poor schlep's not so "pearly whites". Why can't they be just as repulsed by a C1 AILP inducing head tilt or a C2 PRS inducing lower shoulder....you should see my repulsion watching those TV anchors delivering the news. "I would never sleep with that anchorwoman", I say, "That is some ugly forward head posture on that beast." 

Tongue in cheek aside, the looking good business is big money. Even a beloved, fearless, self-admitting narcissistic mentor of mine owns up to not going cheap when comes to a day at the salon. Perfect hair, perfect teeth, perfect nails...perfectly handsome married male no longer seeking....

As a side note I have had one patient (female) in my 15 years of practice who specifically came to me to reduce the "ugly" thoracic kyphosis that would absolutely ruin her wedding day. Pure aesthetics. No problem I say. I thought I had stumbled upon a brand new field of cosmetic chiropractic. 6 months later, success....she was very happy, she got what she came for and we haven't seen her since.

But what about making people feeeelllll goooood, you might ask. What about health, you might also ask? Well, you're right, its also big money. But the game is played a little different here. Are people coming in to feel good or feel better? Ummm...is that a difference, I ask my sulci? Less than 5-10% of new patients walking into our office come into our office for pure "wellness" check ups, and usually they've been referred to by a current patient and they came in to see what the buzz is all about. So that leaves 90+% coming in the door hoping to "feel better" from "something" that ails them. Do the spas own the market for feeling good and being pampered? Everytime I come out of one I have one of those huge, long drawn out "AAAAHS!"...... do my patients have one after every visit? Not likely.

Ohhhh, process driven vs event driven experiences, you say. A day at the spa is an event. Multiple, seemingly similar visits to the chiropractor to <cue in Robin Leach> "fix" those "Lifestyle choices of the dumb and dumber" doesn't seem quite as appealing to our instant gratification world. And yet, some of us manage to eek out a pretty good living at it. WHY??!! And why not every single chiropractor? We seem to know the answer, but I'm not 100% sure.....is it really just as easy as perhaps providing a " not coveted, but necessary health care service sought out by a growing number of "disillusioned by traditional health care" despots who yearn to be "heard" and "cared" for...provided by those with a sprinkle of extraordinary clinical skill and a dash of superb soft skill." 

I don't know, you tell me......and tell me how I fit all that into a slick, knock em off their pants marketing campaign. I'm just a lowly blogger (read, by maybe, 12 of my colleagues who can stand me) hashing my thots and writing them, verbatim, on this medium.

If I were single again and I was looking for a potential mate, here's what my ad would say........

SINGLE HANDSOME (don't laugh) MALE SEEKING SINGLE FEMALE- MUST HAVE SYMMETRY AND BALANCE IN POSTURAL ALIGNMENT, UNIMPEDED NEURAL SENSORY SYSTEMS TO GENERATE ACCURATE INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL REPRESENTATIONS OF HER OWN ENVIRONMENT AND PICK UP THOSE CUES OF MY OWN, UNIMPEDED MOTOR SYSTEMS TO GENERATE SKILLFUL USE OF HANDS, LEGS AND OTHER BODY PARTS FOR BEDROOM ACTIVITY, WELL SYNCHRONIZED HEMISPHERIC ACTIVITY TO ENGAGE IN WHOLE MINDED AND INTELLIGENT CONVERSATION WITH AFTER THE BEDROOM ACTIVITY, ADEQUATE AMOUNTS OF ACCESSIBLE DOPAMINE FROM THE VENTRAL TEGMENTAL AREAS FOR THOSE TIMES OF THE MONTH WHEN YOU MIGHT GET A LITTLE BIT BITCHY, A CAREER, PURPOSE AND PASSION FOR LIFE WOULDN'T HURT..............................................AND GREAT TEETH.

Stimulus-Bound vs Goal-Directed Behaviour Part 2

In our last post we alluded to, among many things, the importance of INHIBITION- the ability of the higher centres in our brain to wrestle control away from our lower (and more demanding) centres of our brain.  A brain which is under more subcortical control is one that is held hostage by more primitive drives such as sex, food, threat and instant rewards.  In this state, it is very difficult to develop the AWA skills of change management, particularly when well ingrained negative plasticity has developed in the CNS.

As a review, neuroplasticity is the ability to build (and maintain) a pathway in the CNS.  We can have;

Negative plasticity- which will produce negative outcomes such as PTSD or chronic pain.
or
Positive plasticity- which will produce positive outcomes such as mastering the guitar or healthy cortical modulation of sympathetic activity (via PMRF activation).

As doctors, we are exposed to the negative, and sometimes positive, aspects of neuroplasticity in our patients every single day.  They are reflected in our patients' pain syndromes, muscle imbalances, altered gait mechanics, postural distortions, autonomic imbalances and so on.  They are also reflected in our patients' return to normal function and resultant maintenance of that function via our interventions and recommended self-care protocols.  So does the same principle apply to our topic of Stimulus-Bound vs Goal-Directed behaviour and change management?  Is spending your money impulsively (and not paying down debt) to "keep up with the Jones'" a form of negative plasticity and therefore a reflection of the maturation of your CNS?  Well the short answer is yes.  For some reading this, you may have felt a little twinge in the gut just now.  But thats the first step to change.  The truth, however, is that we have examples of both negative and positive plasticity in our lives.  My advice.....don't change a thing with the positive plasticity thats working for you and change the negative plasticity that's not working for you.  Sounds simple but most people suffer from some form of  anosognosia, which is just a fancy way of saying that sometimes you don't know what you don't know.  And in the arena of negative plasticity, ignorance is NOT bliss!

Consider the physiological blind spot that we all have.  That small area on the optic disc of the retina that contains no photoreceptor cells.  Well guess what?  You don't know its there because your brain fills in the gap and literally makes things up to fill in the visual representation of that spot.   This can be measured and, to go a step further, used as an objective measure of brain function.  Our brains are incredibly adept predicting machines.  Starved of the necessary information that it needs (as in the case of a subluxation), it will make things up to account for the void.  Perception may not reflect reality as a result.

So now the question is, do we have cognitive or emotional blind spots with regards to our behaviour?  What things do we "make up" in an effort to provide a rationalization for our own "blind spots"?  Better yet, can we measure it, change it and then measure it again?  Yes and yes.  Neuroscience suggests that psychology is a reflection of physiology, specifically neurophysiology.  This may come across as a deterministic (which is distinctly different from mechanistic) concept but it is not, because there is no room for change in determinism.  On the flip side, emergent vitalism (or neo-vitalism) allows for the limitless confounding variables that shape and mould who we are now AND who we can become.  We truly are greater than the sum of our parts since, as epigenetics has proven, our environment plays a role in that evolution as well....but I philosophically digress.

I promised in the last post to address this idea of assessing and changing our own inhibitory skills so that we can shift our behaviours from more stimulus-bound to the goal-directed kind.  Let's use the backdrop of a nice little scientific review written by Douglas Munoz and Stefan Everling in Nature (2004)entitled "Look away: The anti-saccade task and the voluntary control of eye movement".

As an aside, I think many chiropractors are missing an opportunity to improve their assessment of the nervous system by not becoming trained in the examination of the eyes.  The eyes and the spine are embryological homologues and therefore stayed wired together for life.  Therefore, from a neurological perspective, what happens in the eyes....happens in the spine.  And the eyes are not buried underneath 5 layers of muscle, adipose tissue and skin so it makes for an easy qualitative, and with the right technology, quantitative evaluation.  So for me, those two little globes are like vertebrae to assess.

First line of the article.  "The anti-saccade task has emerged as an important task for investigating the flexible control we have over behaviour".  In this task, participants must suppress the reflexive urge to look at a visual target that appears suddenly in the peripheral visual field and must instead look away from the target in the opposite direction.  Ladies, think of this test as a measurement of your husband's ability to not gawk at a well-endowed woman walking towards you as the two of you stroll past holding hands.  Get the picture.  A simple way to perform it is to hold out both your thumbs approx 40-50 cm apart and randomly wiggle one thumb and then instruct the person you are testing to dart their eyes in the opposite direction of the wiggling thumb.  Can they inhibit the reflexive urge to look towards the target stimuli (wiggling thumb) known as an automatic saccade?  Disorders or dysfunction in the executive centres of the brain (namely the frontal lobe) find it difficult to suppress this urge revealing a deficit in top-down inhibition.  There are several other tests you could do to test frontal lobe maturation but beyond the scope of this blog.

Frontal lobe and eye exercises such as pursuits, saccades and various other brain "gym" activities therefore become great ways at building plasticity for the inhibitory skills necessary to develop goal directed behaviours.  There is a caveat, however.  You must be specific to the hemisphericity, or under-connected side of the brain otherwise exercises or activities that target the wrong hemisphere or are too bilaterally general will not create that positive plasticity in flexible behaviour control and can in fact, worsen an already existing negative plastic state.  This, of course, must be skillfully assessed.  Targeted plasticity after a skilled assessment is the key to rubbing the neuroplastic genie.  Be open to being checked by someone trained in a comprehensive functional neurological assessment.

You never know, you might just be cured of your anosognosia.

Stimulus-Bound vs Goal-Directed Behaviour

A good friend and mentor of mine wrote a book about achieving Chiropractic Affluence (book is called DC Money and I highly recommend it).  This simply and brilliantly written book lays out an effective and proven system (proven by myself personally) for managing finances and achieving debt-free wealth.  In it, he writes about AWA- Awareness, Willingness and Ability- and the need for people to adopt this acronym.  Change Management, he writes, is the key to achieving your financial dreams and he's right.  For this blog entry (and maybe more) I'd like to delve deeper into the neuroscience of AWA and Change Management and perhaps suggest some ways we could help ourselves adopt a system (or any other financial system) such as his and be more able to actually implement it and not just read the words.  It starts with knowing ourselves- our behaviours, how our brain works, the things we say to ourselves, why we sabotage our "spoken" goals.....you know, the goals we declare with our voice but don't commit with our hearts.  As sophisticated and complicated (or are we?) creatures of movement, we have no choice about the fact that we have a brain that allows us to either move toward a goal or away from it.  So everything we do is either about Approach or Avoid.  It only gets "complicated" when we confuse the behaviours with the goals or the desires or the wants we declare.  You know.....when we say we want one thing but our actions say we want something else.
The obvious shining examples,
Goal- "I want to lose weight."
Behaviour- Then why are you eating a Whopper?

Goal-"I want to be debt-free."
Behaviour- Then why are you leasing a Mercedes when you still have a $250,000 student loan?

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that in the first example the person's behaviour is bound by the  stimulus of a juicy, tasty Whopper. Not by the "future" svelte, thinner, healthier version of themselves which doesn't derive any immediate satisfaction of such a sinful delight.  Are there a whole lot of "complicating" emotional "baggage" such as addiction, self worth issues, body image problems....blah, blah, blah.  Maybe.  Not really.  I'll explain in a moment.

The same understanding is clear for the second example.  This person's behaviour is bound by the  stimulus of driving a "status" symbol that says "they have arrived".  Not by the "future" debt-free, worry-free, option-plenty version of their financial selves which doesn't give a rat's ass about what their friends think because they are driving a Civic and paying off their student loan.

Now, think about the timeline of the rush you get from a Whopper....5 minutes......maybe.  What about the rush of driving a brand new Mercedes......1 month....maybe.   How long do the benefits from being thinner and healthier last?  How many options, benefits and opportunities do you get from being debt-free?  What potential doors and accomplishments lie ahead when you're both healthy and wealthy?  And how long does that last?  Well, if you're really forward thinking........generations, if you are into leaving legacies.

So, in summary,
Stimulus bound behaviour= Temporarily gratifying, driven typically by non-conscious, limbic, automated actions.
Goal directed behaviour= Longer lasting fulfillment, driven typically by conscious, prefrontal, planned and intentional actions.

Is it realistic to always be goal-directed and have no "fun"?  No, and nor am I implying you have to.....but more on that later (Part II).

Awareness, Willingness and Ability (AWA), from a neuroscientific point of view, comes down to one simple concept- INHIBITION.  Ever heard of the saying, "Growth lies in the ability to shed the things that prevent us from Growing".  That is about INHIBITION.  Are we able to inhibit the fixed action patterns and motor programs that we have moulded, shaped and neurologically ingrained all our lives but no longer serve us?  Are we even AWARE of these habits, or WILLING to change them, or even developed the ABILITY to inhibit them.  Some of us, as we say about "old farts", are really "set" in our ways.  So, as you can see, the concept is simple, as I promised it was......but, in practice?......well, that depends on how you've developed and continue to use this thing you have, called a brain.  Because from a brain's point of view, inhibition is a "top down" phenomenon....but you don't develop strong top down inhibition until you generate robust "bottom up" growth.  When you learn to vertically integrate and then horizontally integrate your own brain....inhibition becomes much easier and what follows is a life more dominated by goal-directed behaviours, more success and more fulfillment.  Most successful people do not realize this neuroscientific phenomenon.  While they preach "hard work" and "belief in oneself" as the cause of their success, they are unaware that "hard work" and "belief in oneself" is a product (or effect) of their brain's ability to exert top down inhibition and shed the things that get in the way of achieving their goals.  Especially when they're surrounded by the lure of the stimuli around them....think, former gambling addict walking through a casino and not compelled to place a bet. Better yet, think former people pleaser delivering a report to a pushy patient and not compelled to acquiesce to their demands to keep them around to potentially sabotage their practice.  For those that did not get "lucky" enough to develop strong inhibitory skills, don't despair, the gift of neuroplasticity is always there to serve you.  It is the genie in the bottle.  Literally, rub (train) it enough times and your wish is your brain's command....so what's the best way to train your brain and take advantage of this neuroplastic genie?

Stay tuned for Part II.

The Pre-servation of Life...for Humanity's sake

A man puts a syringe filled with heroin in his vein and is prepared to squeeze.  He has done this before, a thousand times maybe.  The action is rote.  It is automatic.  Yet on this day, at this moment, something happens.  Perhaps he read an inspiring book.  Pictured a loved one in his mind.  Looked out his window and saw something beautiful.  It doesn't matter.  Right now, he is beyond thought.  He is moving on impulse.  An impulse within him that has decided to serve Life itself before it serves the Little Self.  Without thinking, the man removes the unsqueezed syringe from his forearm.  He releases the rubber band.  He is suddenly clear that he will not shoot up again.  This clarity has come to him without thought.  It is simply a knowing.  His long struggle with heroin is over.  His "Push-Pull" battle is over.  Some would say that the power of his "Push-Away" conscious mind won out over the power of his "Pull-Towards" subconscious addiction....but is it that simple?

I have been giving some thought lately to the concept of instinct.  Is the above scenario a smaller, less obvious example of the woman who jumps in the water to save a drowning child despite not being able to swim?   Or, the man who runs into a burning house to save those trapped inside with no regards to his own life?  And what causes the person to freeze and do nothing in those situations?  What powerful forces overrides their instincts? Is it difficult to conceive that from another level of creation, one that is beyond the conscious or subconscious (perhaps super or supra- consciousness), preserving Life itself is the First choice before anything that you would consciously choose?  In other words, built somewhere in the Totality of our being, both physical and non-physical,  our first instinct is to preserve Life.  Now, let's make a play on words.......That which you pre-serve, you preserve.  Meaning, in order to preserve "it", you must serve it first.

I wrote earlier in the year that Life has 3 objective principles- principles which could not care less about how we feel about them.  Functionality, Adaptability and Sustainability.  Regardless of our agenda or our relative judgments of right or wrong, those 3 principles will assert themselves with or without Humanity.  Life does not care about morality, justice and ownership......we do.  You cannot destroy this system called "Life", it was here before us and will continue long after us.....if we choose.  We can also choose, as humanity, to stick around and not leave the party.  But in order to do that we must pre-serve it.

We, chiropractors, often scream and shout how we intend to "save the world" with our Life-giving adjustments.  Truth is, the world doesn't need saving.......Life doesn't need saving.  Humanity?  That's another story.  The sooner we realize we are a part of the system, not a product of it, the sooner we can act in ways that sees us in relationship with everything around us and not separate from it.  I'd like to think we, as chiropractors, pre-serve Life by saving Humanity from itself, one human at a time.  Removing obstacles to another person's built-in Instinctual (not automatic)Response to pre-serve Life is no small task, regardless of the methods you choose to do that.  The important result lies in our abilities to function, adapt and sustain......yes?

We can all unite around that concept, can't we?