Posted: Monday, October 28th, 2019 by Gaelyn Whitley Keith
Behavioral riddle: You have been put in a cage, stuck behind titanium bars. There is no way out. To live through this ordeal you must eat 240 tiny pellets of food every hour. The problem is they are outside the cage and grabbing them quickly seems almost impossible. When you beginning the process it takes you 30 seconds per pellet. If you continue to do things the same way you will only consume half the food you need for survival. You will starve to death.
The answer: You must expand your thinking and complete the task in a faster manner.
Impossible, Right!!!!! Not exactly. The story is actually based on research done on squirrel monkeys. After just under 500 tries the monkeys were more proficient at their task. Their new mindset saved their lives. So how does that relate to your life? Well we have all heard the old saying, "practice makes perfect." What makes this so interesting is that the researchers were able to scan these monkeys brains. They found that as the monkeys reached over and over for the pellets that the cortical area being activated by the task had increased several times over. That is precisely what saved their lives, through mere repetition, each monkey had expanded the section of its brain necessary for accomplishing this task. Recent studies in neuroscience have proven that this process works identically in human brains.
Posted: Wednesday, December 27th, 2017 by Gaelyn Whitley Keith
Legendary college football coach Lou Holtz lays down the very simple rules to living a less complicated life!
Posted: Tuesday, May 30th, 2017 by Gaelyn Whitley Keith
Everyone engages in self-talk. But much depends on the way we do it. Scientists now find that the right words can free us from our fears and make us as wise about ourselves as we often are about others.
While addressing a body of research, scientist are forcing a whole new take on what has long been ignored or relegated to pop psychology—the use of self-talk to boost confidence. Their studies now elevate self-talk to something far more significant: a powerful instrument of consciousness itself. When deployed in very specific ways at specific times, it frees the brain to perform its absolute best.
By toggling between the way we address ourself—first person or third—we flip a switch in the cerebral cortex, the center of thought, and another in the amygdala, the seat of fear, moving closer to or further from our sense of self and all its emotional intensity. Gaining psychological distance enables self-control, allowing us to think clearly, perform competently. The language switch also minimizes reflection, a handmaiden of anxiety and depression, after we complete a task. Released from negative thoughts, we gain perspective, focus deeply, plan for the future.
Scientists studying the inner voice say it takes shape in early childhood and persists lifelong as companion and creative muse. It is so intimate, so constant, that it can be considered thought itself. This talk may be misused or pushed to extremes, becoming a source of painful reflection or even psychosis. Yet it can also make us detached observers of our own life. Inner talk is one of the most effective, least-utilized tools available to foster success.
Self-talk starts audibly during the toddler years. The incessant self-talk of toddlers is conducted out loud as a kind of instruction manual, a self-generated road map to mastery; your voice directs you to build Lego houses, sound out words and sentences in big-letter books.
Here’s what it sounds like as a little boy guides himself through the construction of a Lego truck: “The wheels go here, the wheels go here. Oh, we need to start it all over again. We need to close it up. See, it closes up. We’re starting it all over again.” That early out-loud self-talk “transforms the task in question, just as the use of a screwdriver transforms the task of assembling a shed. Putting our thoughts into words gives them a more tangible form, which makes them easier to use.
By contrast, an abrupt, angry teacher, can set children up for an enduring pattern of self-defeating self-talk. Children exposed to such teachers learn the language of frustration, becoming inefficient self-guiders, getting mad at themselves the minute they feel confused. “Idiot, you can’t do anything,” a child might say to himself, tossing his book across the room. To add injury to insult, the child also fails to master the task.
Posted: Monday, June 5th, 2017 by Gaelyn Whitley Keith
No one else can ever make your choices for you.
Your choice are yours alone.
They are as much a part of you as every breath you will take, every day of your life.
You may think that in life, a lot of things happen to you along the way.
The truth is, in life, you happen to alot of things along the way.
It is your programming that has created your choices in the past.
It is the choices you make today that are creating the programs of your future.
If you were given only one choice
To choose or not to choose,
Which would you choose?
Posted: Tuesday, May 23rd, 2017 by Gaelyn Whitley Keith
Wednessday May 24 registration will open for the
"Shad Helmstetter Transformational Retreat"
August 5, 2017
This is a live, video at home retreat. Only a limited number of people will be able to attend. The regular admission is $495. Members of "Self-Talk Plus" will be invited free as guests. If you would like to attend free you can sign up now for a free membership of "Self-Talk Plus".
