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One of the most powerful strategies for changing thought involves a clear understanding of how we make decisions in the brain.  David Eagleman in his book The Brain describes the decision-making process in great detail ~ a fabulous read.  Basically the idea is this: We make decisions based on a highly evolved process that evaluates mutually exclusive outcomes ~ which in layman's terms, are outcomes that cannot occur at the same time. This video explores this concept. 

The only way to disable a thought like 'I'll do it tomorrow' is to hit it hard with a mutually exclusive derivative like ~ tomorrow does not exist. By introducing an MET we can force the brain to choose between binary perceptions. View this video to see a demonstration of what these are.

Will-power is a unicorn ~ it simply doesn't exist. It is one of those mythological ideas that has somehow gained legendary status in the psychological world despite not even being a real thing. Can I prove it? Most certainly. Will is synonymous with desire - right?  How many over-weight and out of shape people have the desire to be physically fit?  Based on my own personal observation and thousands of interviews I am going to say ~ all of them. How many sad people long for happiness? How many stressed out people wish for calm? Again ~ all of them!

Now I get why millennial’s don't want to make a phone call.  Rather than sitting back in that judgment, like many of my generation tend to do, I grabbed a different perspective. I wanted to find out why. And the answers actually made a lot of sense.  When you are on a phone call, in real-time, there is no chance to edit the conversation. But in a text, virtual time, you can take all the time you want. And that certainly has its advantages ~ the chief of which is improving the overall quality of the conversation.  In real-time conversations, you get one shot. Most of my millennial’s admit that they reread, and often edit a text response or a post.  And if they don't immediately know how they want to respond, they take the time to think about it a bit ~ which is actually smart ~ really smart.

Interestingly, logic really has less to do with decision-making than one might think.  One cannot simply logically choose to exercise ~ just because I know I like it and it is good for me.

The brain is an electro-chemical system, therefore electrical signals follow the path of least resistance ~ that is the physics of electricity.

One might try simply thinking more logical thoughts but this is usually futile.  Simply trying to think more logical thoughts about exercise would take thousands of tries to accomplish, and, we would have to somehow mute or disable the default circuit at the same time. We cannot simply ignore it, or delete it ~ that is impossible. And thank god for that too. This is the brain’s security system, busy ensuring that we don't accidentally delete a program that is critical to the system.

But we can work around that system if we know a few tricks.

People frequently ask me the question: How do you do what you do all day? Doesn't it get to you ~ listening to peoples problems? Experiencing all of the negativity? The hopelessness and despair? I've pondered that question many times myself ~ trust me,  I have ~ and the answer to that question is really the answer to another question: Why Do I do what I do all day, everyday? That one's actually pretty easy to answer. 

With all of the human brain’s stringent rules, security measures and stout fire-walls it would seem as though we are ‘screwed’ when it comes to making adjustments to the programming. And if we attempt to use the ‘mind over matter’, ‘just do it’ or ‘will-power’ strategies, we pretty much are screwed.

Fortunately, there is a way around the security system and a way to breach the fire-wall.  It is called C∆VP ~ my proprietary blend of two very powerful therapies ~ CBT and NLP ~ combined with Audio/Visual input mechanisms & techniques. With this tactical platform, we can get past the firewall and launch a rogue program that we want to ‘go viral’ within the system, over-writing the old programming and eventually emerging as the new default.  

Ever feel like there are 'two voices' competing in your head?  Well, your not crazy.  There are 2 voices, 2 systems, actually, and they do compete.  It is like a little debate going on in your head: 'Should I exercise or put if off until tomorrow?' Does it seem like the 'put it off until tomorrow' team keeps winning the debate? Or course it does.  That team has had a lot of practice.  Do you want the 'do it today' team to step it up.  This tape and the next few show you exactly how to do just that.

The prefrontal cortex is directly connected to the amygdala and receives direct orders that influence decisions in the brain, but it is not a one-way communication system.  The pre-frontal cortex can make the decision to ignore or over-ride the limbic system, but it needs a strong argument to do that.  The limbic system issues the warning that it is not a good idea to be expending energy if it's not for survival purposes. So to counter that order, we need two major arguments: an argument for working out, and an argument against ‘not working out’ ~ and they are different.  To win the argument we need to 'recruit' powerful regions in the cerebral cortex.



The Parietal lobe, in the cortex, serves as the system integrator, integrating information from all parts of the brain and body to create perception, awareness and attention ~ some very important aspects for creating change. It also directs the action of the RAS, the filter or firewall in the human brain. Without this filter, the hard drive would crash in minutes. The RAS also serves as the brains security system. We want to leverage the action of the Parietal lobe to make sure the information we want operating in the system gets past firewall. As it turns out, the sound of our own voice and the sight of our own image are the tickets to breach the firewall.

The Temporal lobe is one of the ‘power houses’ in our effort to win the debate in our brain. This lobe is responsible for processing all auditory information ~ basically everything we hear. It also has the massive job of processing language. These two functions are huge.  Most people don't realize how much of auditory information is being processed every waking moment of every day.  We definitely want to leverage this region in the brain to give the cerebral cortex an advantage over the limbic system.

 This video is a graphic representation of what happens when we recruit all of the major subsystems in the cortex to join in the fight, or the argument really, against the ways of the limbic system. This is what CAVP, Cognitive audio Visual programming does. By creating, listening to and watching, audio and visual representations of our carefully constructed and strategically deployed cerebral arguments we have the capacity to overthrow the limbic system, and literally drown out the strong impulses that seem to have a lock on our negative behaviors.

Having recruited most of the heavy artillery in the cerebral cortex, it is now time to get about the business of winning this battle.  Recall that these thicker Green lines represent an exponentially more powerful expansion of thought with each passing stroke. This is the power of C∆VP ~ strategically leveraging the entire cerebral cortex each time one listens to or watches a tape. Also keep your eyes on the yellow Circuit as well. At this point, the green circuit, which represents our preferred thought process, officially eclipses the yellow circuit in size and strength. Watch how the unwanted yellow Circuit shrinks as the preferred green circuit grows. The human brain literally recycles the Neuro-peptides that were holding the yellow circuit together and uses them to build the green one. Kinda cool eh? But even with the powerful stroke of a C∆VP tape, this can still take hundreds of repetitions, perhaps thousands in some cases. And I hope you can see here why just trying to think better or summon will-power fails miserably.  And it there is any doubt about the validity of this process ~ check this out.  This is actual footage of a functional brain scan showing neuroplasticity in action. I have seen this tape a thousand times and it still sends chills up my spine when I consider the human potential to be or do unimaginable things when we harness this process and make it work for us.  And it excites me even more to consider what the next decade of technology and research has in store.  So here ends my story ~ for now. If you have been watching these tapes on your smart phone, then you truly now have a ‘little change in your pocket’ ~ spend it wisely my friend!!