Who
is driving the truck?
We use this metaphor
in order to make people focus on their power over the brain. It is an easy and
funny phrase that is used as an anchor to break patterns.
The truck represents
the human brain. It is big, powerful and you can accelerate it or break it ,
depending on your specific needs. It is very complex if you study the
engineering carefully and at the same time it is very simple to drive if
somebody teaches you how. If you are interested in the teaching process please
read my blog Learning process , four stages of competence.
We demonstrate that
you and only you can make yourself happy or sad, as reality is not what happens
to you, the reality is what you build around this event with the values, rules
and identity created by your brain. What does the particular event mean to you
, how do you feel the emotions and how you process them is your reality and it is controled by your brain.
What would happen if
you accelerate the truck to 200km/h and you suddenly get scared and you let go
the steering wheel???
If you have never done
it. Trust me it is scary!
You must always keep
eyes on the road and the hands on the steering wheel in order to avoid
accidents.
How to control the bus
and never take the hands out of the steering wheel?
Here it comes; the Triad:
Triad:
The key to emotional control
Triad is the best tool
to control emotional states. It is defined as:
1.
Physiology
Body and mind are
connected, whatever happens to your body will affect your mind and vice versa.
Change the way you use your physiology:
-
Breath
Breathing is the
process that delivers oxygen to
where it is needed in the body and removes carbon dioxide, it
is critical to get energy in our body.Be conscious of your breathing , it is
very important that you breath correctly. If you want to be calm take deep
breaths and if you need to make aerobic exercise you need to take deep and fast
breaths. Breathing has been used for centuries to control and help our brain to
control the emotions.
-
Motion
Focus on how do you
move your body, what is the position of your shoulders, how you walk, how you
look etc..... The way you move , walk , talk will affect your emotional
state.
-
What and when do you eat
Pay attention on what
do you eat and when do you eat. If you need to do something important you have
to avoid heavy meals , if the blood is in your stomach doing the digestion it
will affect your brain and your emotional state. If you need to run a marathon
you need to eat correctly in order to be able to finalize it.
-
Anchoring
An anchor is a
trigger or stimulus that retrieves a desired emotional state. A great example
of an anchor is when you hear a song that brings back a
particular emotion or feeling associated with something that you were doing.
E.g. you could have been with a loved one, listening to a particular song. A
month, two months, a year or even ten years down the line, you may hear that
song and experience those feelings and emotions as if you were there right now.
Use anchors to focus your brain in the correct direction.
Remember: Emotion comes from motion.
2.
Focus
-
Change what you think and how do you focus
It is very important
to get conscious on our focus. We do need to start controlling how do we think
, we can consciously change our focus if we are being too negative. We need to
start controlling rather than letting the brain do it by itself.
-
Questions: ask and you shall receive
Questions control the
brain focus. If you ask your brain anything , the brain will find the answer.
For example, if you ask your brain why am I so stupid? Your brain will find the
answer, it is designed to always find an answer. The solution is to change the
question. Ask your brain, what can I learn from this in order to avoid it to
happen again? or What can I learn from this error?
Trust me , your brain
will always find the answer.
-
Anchors
Use
anchors in order to help your brain to focus. Listen to a song that brings you
good memories, go to a place that brings you inner peace, etc.....
Ten
day mental challenge
The ten day mental
challenge is a very interesting exercise that helps to train your brain to
focus on positive/productive things. It is very simple:
For the next ten days
you cannot allow any negative thinking in your brain. Each time a negative
thinking starts you need to inmediately think about something else.
Each time you fail on
doing this you need to start again from day 1.
As simple as this
exercise sounds I can assure it will help you a lot training your brain how to
think. Some people stay in day 5 for months.......... Once you break the brain
protective patterns of focusing it will be a lot easier to make the change.
3.
Vocabulary
How you talk, what you say and the tone
of your voice is critical on how people see you and most important it is
critical on what your brain thinks about yourself! Think for a moment how you
talk to yourself inside your brain, what kind of words do you use and if the
tone is sad or not. Don´t be so tough with yourself, remember , after all, the
worst enemy you can ever have is yourself.
Pay attention and change the words you
use daily, it will help your brain to move forward and start thinking positive!
My advise is:
Use the Triad; breath correctly, do
exercise, focus on positive things, ask the correct questions and talk to people
and yourself with empowering words! Do it for months and your life will change
forever.
