Changing the bells in your life....

The Russian physiologist, Ivan Pavlov's famous experiment illustrated just how easily we can be conditioned.  He starved his pet dog for three days, then, when he gave it some food, he rang a bell at the same time.  After that, every time his dog felt genuine hunger, Ivan would put some food down and at exactly the same time he would ring a bell.  He didn't simply do this once or twice, but over and over again until it became a conditioned  response:  food/bell, food/bell.  In the end even if the dog had already eaten and could have in no way felt genuine physical hunger, when the bell was rung the dog would look for food and literally begin to salivate.

Have you ever been driving along, not even thinking about food, when all of a sudden you see the two golden arches of the McDonald's sign and felt hungry?  Or do you remember when you were a child playing in the street, not thinking of food at all, when all of a sudden you heard the sound of the ice cream man and decided you felt hungry?  Well that's the bell! Going to the cinema means popcorn, Easter means chocolate eggs, get to the office you need your coffee, buying bread and milk you need that chocolate.  There are so many examples I'm sure you can think of many, the fact is we react to a thousand different bells or triggers without even realising it.  The way Advertisers link in a bell is to advertise it over and over again.

The habits we form and the high processed foods we eat reprogramme the instinctive and emotional part of the brain.  As it is based in the instinctive part of the brain it makes us think we need the substance for survival.

In order to change the bell or as we call it triggers we need to first recognize what they are, for example as soon as I watch TV I need a snack so I go for the packet of crisps in the cupboard.

Then we start to reprogramme the brain, by changing the habits and replacing them with positive habits.

It takes perseverance to change a habit and don't beat yourself up if you slip up, just keep trying.

It is important to change one thing at a time rather than trying to change everything as you will not stick to it, write down small and achievable goals.

Only you can make the decision to make the positive changes in your life.