Dr Joe’s Blog

It’s no great secret that thinking about motivation doesn’t actually produce motivation. This was recently illustrated in a study published in the journal Neuron. In the study, researchers placed 73 people into an fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imagery). Unlike older EEG technology (electroencephalography) used to detect electrical activity, fMRIs can actually pinpoint parts of the brain that are activated in specific tasks; in this case they focused on the ventral tegmental area—the part of the brain responsible for motivation.

People often tell me they can’t get clear on what they want. What I tell them is that they’re making it too hard. The process of creating a new vision of the future is something each of us does all the time. How? Because we live in a world of polarities and dualities, when we experience lack, stress, or traumatic situations, naturally we begin to dream about what we want based on what we don’t have. As an example, if you have a job you dislike, you observe what you don't like (past) about your current and previous jobs and imagine what you would like (future) in your next one. This is an evolutionary process and how people begin to change and evolve over time.

Close your eyes for a moment and imagine a map of the world from outer space. As nightfall rolls across the hemispheres opposite the sun, light begins to emanate from cities scattered across the globe. Eventually these city lights bleed out to reveal greater metropolitan areas. These clusters of light then connect to other clusters of light via smaller cities and highways, eventually forming a network of illumination across the continent. By any chance does this network look at all familiar? Maybe…perhaps… similar to the neural connections in our brains?

Whereas once heavy opiates like OxyContin and Vicodin were reserved for extreme pain or cancer, they’re becoming more commonly prescribed for arthritis and other conditions. Every year this results in thousands of emergency room deaths. While efforts to regulate and clamp down on abuse are being made, it won’t make a dent in the demand unless we find a new treatment. Enter the placebo.

In our most recent teleclass, we heard from two students who met at one of our workshops and eventually fell in love. It wasn’t love at first sight for either of them, however. Rather, what eventually brought them together was patience, knowing, attraction, determination, and surrender.

(To read Part I, A New Year and a New You: An Inspiring and Expiring View of Our Environments, click here.)

In today’s modern world, we’ve been seduced into believing it’s our outer world that influences our inner world of thoughts and feelings. What we tend to forget, however, is that our inner world of thoughts and feelings can actually produce an effect on our outer world. Unfortunately we’ve been sold the idea that when we finally get what we want—the job, the partner, the home, etc.— we’ll finally be happy. As we all know, the problem with finding happiness outside of one’s self is that at best it’s temporal.

Yes, it’s that time of year again; the holiday trimmings are coming down, we’re make resolutions, creating goals, and promising ourselves that this time it will be different…this time we’re really going to make change stick. But like Resolutions, the workout-bar, within two weeks we’ve fallen back into old, familiar habits—habits that are as comfortable as a tattered t-shirt and as disappointing as coal in your stocking Christmas morning.

As fall surrenders to winter, if you're a certain degree of latitude north of the equator, you may be wearing a scarf or gloves and cinching your jacket a bit tighter. You may also notice a nostalgic chill accompanying the late December air. Combine that with decreased sunlight and multiply it by the holidays and family, and chances are you’re destined for a state of introspection.

In Chicago this summer, the band the Grateful Dead celebrated their 50^th anniversary with three sold out concerts at Soldier Field Stadium. Love’em, hate’em, or don’t understand’em, it’s a commendable achievement of longevity, devotion, practice, and fruition.

Our workshops have historically been about people overcoming themselves, about an individual getting something they want or need by using the meditations we provide. This focus on self is healthy given the right context. After all, only when we take care of ourselves are we truly able to care for others. Put another way, people who are hyper focused on themselves are less likely to think about the issues others face.

You wake up; rub the sleep from your eyes, maybe yawn and then what? If you own a smart phone the next step probably includes checking your email, Facebook, texts, or a favorite news site. The world is quite literally in our hands. We have 24/7 access to a wealth of information that has radically transformed how we live.

In recent weeks a number of people have contacted my office with concerns about the refugee and migrant crisis in Europe. Millions have fled their homes in places like Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. These people are leaving behind countries torn apart by war and economic hardship in hopes of finding a better life elsewhere.