STOP, CHALLENGE, CHOOSE My friend and colleague Dr. Wayne Andersen has developed a phrase that at first can seem a little unusual. Stop, challenge, choose. What do those words mean when strung together? And herein lies the wisdom of his technique for people to change their orientation quickly, helping them become more conscious of what they are doing, and more in control of their long range aspirations. Here is a typical situation: You are at a party, and the waiters and waitresses are walking around with some of the most fattening refreshments you’ve ever seen. Even though you have been diligently adopting a healthy diet, your hand automatically reaches for what’s on the tray. Before you know it, the food that is inconsistent with your healthy approach is in your mouth, and you are chewing and swallowing it. You somehow you know that this is not exactly what you told yourself you’d be doing. Yet, nonetheless, you’re doing it anyway. This is an automatic response to the situation you are in. However, the response is an example of mindlessness rearing its ugly head. On the way home, you come to your senses, and realize you have violated your resolve. This is usually followed by guilt-tripping yourself for the next few hours or days. But don’t worry, your guilt-trip will have no lasting impact, and the next time temptation enters the picture, you will react the very same way. Where - you think - is your will-power? Actually, what Dr. Andersen knows is that will-power has nothing to do with it. The underlying structure you are in does. Appetites and impulses demand instant gratification. When this is the dominant orientation at play, you have little sense of past or future. Everything seems immediate. You are not able to think in terms of health and well-being, or anything else except eating that bacon, cheese flavored little pizza with the high salt and sugar content that, while small, is 3000 calories each, and you’ve had 7 of them already. This is the last thing you decided you would be eating. And here is the beauty of Dr. A’s technique. The first verb is STOP. That means exactly what it says. Instead of reacting instinctively to the moment, give yourself a moment to think, reflect, become self-aware, and mindful. This only takes a moment. But without that moment, the hand is quicker than the unconscious mind, and you will find yourself gorging on the worst rubbish you can imagine. This STOP moment enables you to take a step back from the abyss and come back to your senses. The next step, CHALLENGE, is so different from the usual guilt-trip techniques that always backfire. Here Dr. A is helping you set up structural tension. What is the overriding outcome you want to achieve? Would eating this thing in front of you help you accomplish that goal? This enables you to re-establish the vision you have for creating health, and position that against the current reality. Challenge here means consider, review, self-consciously make apparent the conflict between short terms impulses and long term health. Which is more important, which one will you decide is senior? It is your choice, but this will be a choice formed from a mindful awareness rather then mindless instinct. And the final verb, CHOOSE. Now, you have the power of choice back under your control. You can decide to eat what is in front of you or not. Once in a while, a trip to the land of junk food won’t hurt long term. But too often, at first it is once in a while, and then more often, and before you know it, it is back to old bad habits that work against you. What Dr. A has set up in this last step is the ability for you to make a primary and then secondary choice. If developing health is primary, then, to support that outcome, the secondary choice would be to avoid eating unhealthy things. This is not giving up anything, but understanding the hierarchy of desires, and organizing your life around those things that matter more rather than those things that matter less. You can read about this and much more in Dr. Andersen’s book Discover Your Optimal Health. Dr. Andersen is the first in his field to understand the impact of structural dynamics on creating health, and I highly recommend his work. drwayneandersen/bookstore/discover-your-optimal-health/
Posted on: Sun, 08 Jun 2014 21:33:33 +0000