Why do we do what is logically bad for us?

Why do we do what is logically bad for us?

Because 10,000 years ago when we were either eating or having sex (i.e. pleasure) it meant we were safe because it meant we were not running from tigers.

In the brain, Pleasure = Safety.

And for people with Scaredy-Cat Brains like me, this is particularly true. Our brains are sensitive to Threat Response.

Whenever we get a real or imagined Threat-Induced Cortisol Hit it does two things in our Scaredy-Cat Brains:

1. Makes us look for more threats.

The brain is wired to look for more threats when it senses a (real or imagined) threat.

This is a logical survival mechanism of our brain.

But if you have a Scaredy-Cat Brain, this survival mechanism can mean you can imagine threats everywhere even when they aren’t there.

Repeating this response over and over creates a strong neural pathway. And the more your brain uses that neural pathway, the stronger it gets. That’s a habit.

The brain runs on electricity and electricity follows the path of least resistance.

And that electricity flows down well-established, habitual, neural pathways very, very fast.

So if you have a Scaredy-Cat Brain, then you have well-established, habitual, neural pathways that are constantly on the lookout for threats, real or imagined.

At the same time, the brain's job is to keep us alive so it looks to get you to safety as soon as possible.

And since Pleasure = Safety in the brain, those of us with Scaredy-Cat Brains look for ways to activate pleasure ASAP

My Scaredy-Cat Brain did that by yelling at me to "Have a cookie!" And I did. A whole lot of them.

Here’s the bad news: Those well-established, fast-electricity-flowing, habitual neural pathways never go away.

Here’s the good news: We can build new safety neural pathways with a different response to override them.

We accomplish that through creating new habits.

Habits are behaviors that we have done so many times that they are automatic. The are locked in. We don't have to think about them.

Warning: Building a habit takes time. The story that it takes 21 days to create a habit is wrong.

Creating a behavior change (like mine to lose and keep off 90 lbs) requires establishing a Habit Array of hundreds of new habits--and then…

Locking them in to be automatic…

So automatic that even if all hell breaks lose in your life (anything from a bad day at work to the death of loved one) you can either…

Not do the old habit at all--or you can do it but bounce back fast.

(I often do the latter…For example, I still binge from time to time, but I get back on track super easily because I’ve designed it so eating in a way that keeps the weight off is so Easy Effortless Fun for me.)

Bottom line:

I lost 90 pounds (and keep them off) by working WITH my Scaredy-Cat Brain’s desire for “Safety Via Pleasure,” not against it.

I did that by making it Easy Effortless Fun to lose weight every step of the way by…

Taking the time needed to create automatic, locked-in Habit Arrays that always keep me in my Safety Zone.