Gerry Neale Ezine Articles Expert Author

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Emotional Imprisonment

Just imagine being given a jail sentence merely because we could not handle our emotions. Think of the public outcry! But conjure with the idea of being given a thirty, forty, even a fifty or sixty year sentence! The level of public indignation about our human rights would surely dwarf any riots we have seen. Add a final insult and tag us 24 hours a day to remind us of our emotional disorders, and the fury would erupt. Yet this is exactly what many of us do to ourselves. We impose life sentences of emotional self-imprisonment and tag ourselves!

And the metaphor gets even more real and even more horrifying, the more one dwells on it.

Because of trauma, shock, hurt or abuse, we can and we do sentence ourselves more harshly still. We commit ourselves to solitary confinement, guarding our inner most emotional secrets with a level of zeal and shame with is extraordinary. This personal imposition can also originate from guilt, abandonment, rejection, or from humiliation, bullying or molestation.

Yet in our hearts we know that were there ever to be any appropriate system of emotional courts with judge and jury, none would convict us as severely as we have done to ourselves. None would find our case proved as warranting such a fierce punishment.

But just focus on this metaphor one more time- when we have the highest criminal prison population on record. And now ponder on the fact that a vast number of us - walking the streets apparently free, have nevertheless imprisoned ourselves in unresolved emotions!

And our level of commitment to the sentence can be astonishing. It can involve a vow of silence and secrecy to ourselves –something we determine to take our grave. This we can deem preferable to a mistaken belief that if we unburden ourselves we will be emotionally pilloried until our death by relatives and friends, and that should be avoided at all cost!

More weird, emotionally speaking, even when the underlying cause can have been in no way of our making or our fault, we still seek to deny that to ourselves and then compound the denial by buying deeper into the shame, humiliation and rejection as if somehow we deserved it!

That can set in train yet more entangled and constraining behavioural thinking. We can use this misconceived buy-in as a stick to beat ourselves harder than anyone else with the same knowledge ever would – or should. And why ever do we do this? Because we have let ourselves think it is our just desserts! The ‘tagging’ is provided by our self-talk which we encourage sub-consciously to reinforce our worst thoughts about ourselves

And paradoxically we can find we draw strength from our apparent courage and fortitude to shoulder it on our own, when few around us would see any sense or justification in that.

I think it is fair to say that Time once was when maybe this emotional flagellation was deemed to be part of being human and living a human life. Not enough was known then about psychology and the impact of our behavioural thinking.

But no more! No longer is that true. Irrefutable psychological and behavioural truths pile up one on top of another - from one research project after another – each revealing to us ever more about our human nature. More welcome still they reveal to us how we can neutralise and re-frame our reactions to horrific indignities we have endured.

The benefits of encouraging ourselves to end our self-imprisonment, to give ourselves emotional parole and to re-configure the emotional memories and patterns are now well documented.

Why? If for no other reason, because we know now it is no longer necessary for we humans to endure it. And nor is it justified any longer to inflict our emotional shortcomings on others, young or old, for them to replicate what we have done and to resort to emotional self-imprisonment for themselves.

So we should at least talk about these things, share them and unashamedly seek help to understand them. We should cherish the reality that none of us are perfect, that we are unique and most particularly we are blessed with the ability to cure ourselves emotionally.

And if that is not enough, then quite simply accept that we do not deserve this toxic form of imprisonment when help is now at hand. There are number of good proprietary self-discovery books and programmes available.

The Hoffman Process is one programme worth checking out. A great self-help book by Tim Laurence called " You Can Change Your Life" could help you. A self-discovery novel I have written covers this issue and could help you take the step to bring the imprisonment of feelings to an end. I do hope so.

www.amazon.co.uk

www.squaringcircles.co.uk

Mind-reading in 2012?

Read mid page of page 7 of the Daily Telegraph (01 feb 2012). (Headline “Mind-reading device could be reality.”) The article by Nick Collins about research in published in ‘Public Library of Sciences Biology’ could have amazing ramifications for many people and families. It tells how scientists can discover what word a person is hearing by translating their brain waves!

The impact for speech impaired stroke and brain damaged victims could be extraordinary. It has created the hope that an implant which could interpret imagined speech in someone who cannot speak, could be on the horizon.

Further reference to Prof.Robert Knight of the University Of California at Berkeley for those interested could be worthwhile.

Gerry Neale

Author of Self - Discovery Novel "Squaring Circles"
www.squaringcircles.co.uk

Wow! Thinking Like A 25 year Old When Your 70!

For we 70 year olds, the discovery that our cognitive responses can be as fast as 25 year olds is a great New Year’s present as we enter 2012. Particularly so, when one is forced to admit that other processes clearly are not comparable!

Cognitive research by Roger Ratcliff Professor of Psychology of Ohio State University confirms that in some cognitive situations 25 and 70 year olds match responses. And where the older person’s response time seems slower, then it appears that this can mask the fact that the older person merely wants take a little longer in order to be accurate.

Even better news is that a healthy older person can be trained to give as fast a response as a younger person without compromising on accuracy. Professor Ratcliff has found that older people’s brains do not automatically slow down as was once thought.

For those wanting to check this out, more can be found in the current edition of ‘Neurology’.

One key point emerging is that vital importance of diet in general and vitamins and fatty acids found in fish oils in particular. These seem key to helping to combat brain shrinkage.

The research does show that for those of us who view an older retirement age with some trepidation, we are entitled to be more sanguine about continuing to make speedy decisions drawn on our experience and knowledge.

Gerry Neale.

http://squaringcirclesbygerryneale.blogspot.com
www.squaringcircles.co.uk

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Women Ultimate Multi-Taskers, But That’s Not All!

What many men have admitted privately about most women is now apparently proven!  Women are substantially better at Multi–Tasking than men! So say findings from joint research conducted by the BAR-Ilan University in Israel and by Michigan State University in the USA. The study published in the American Sociological Review shows that both in relation to tasks in the home or outside, women scored higher than their partners. But there is much more to it than that which may surprise men and women.

Yes, women may be better at multi-tasking and may do it for more hours each week. And they may appear to do it in a more accomplished and relaxed way. But for many women this just isn’t so.

Analysis reveals that while women regularly multi-task for longer periods per week than men, they do not multi-task in regard to the same functions. Women are much more involved in the unrelenting housework and child care issues. Men tend to deal with more-off situations and conversations dealing with third parties.

Although, not publicised in the report, my suspicion is that men, maybe conveniently, simply see women as better at homecare and day to day child management issues. More, maybe the men make light of what their partners do because it seems of less strategic importance to the family. In consequence it would follow they have less empathy with the woman’s stress over her multi-tasking role when they are more relaxed about their own.

What the research points to is the fact that the woman’s conventional role is more stressful because it is seen generally by them as a negative experience, whereas men see their own role more positively. But an even more significant observation in the report to me throws up a point that may be many men had not latched on to.

The man’s multi-tasking role is not as definable as a woman’s. But nor is it as identifiable and as ‘public’ as a woman’s. Many child-care issues arise and have to be assessed and managed in real-time AND in front of other people. Therein lies a great cause for stress and a negative sense of being judged harshly or unfairly. It could be said that as a result it is easier for fathers to prove to others around them that they are good parents than it is for mothers doing much of their multi-tasking in public.

The thought I want to add to this from my own perception is a simple but critical one. The research serves to indicate how easy it is for women to form a negative and down-beat view of themselves as day after day they deal with family and home multi-tasking. In my view they should not even go there. They should remind themselves that they are developing a cardinal skill: decision-making. Understandably, hour by hour, day by day they have evaluated situations and made decisions relentlessly , and often under pressure..

So where am I heading with this thought? It is this. With children gone and many women rendered empty nesters, they can too easily overlook this skill training. Worse, they can reinforce the negative thought that they hadn’t managed the child and home care particularly well. And now perhaps wondering about going back to work, they can see themselves lacking anything of worth for an employer.

Rubbish! If one thing is lacking in the world of business, politics and economics it is the skill of making an assessment of given situations, evaluating the best (not perfect) solution, and then making the decision to apply it.

These women are needed! We should make way for them for the common good! What they possess in managerial skills far surpasses any lack of awareness of the workings of a particular business.

Gerry Neale
Author "Squaring Circles"
www.squaringcircles.co.uk

Animals May Be Able To Teach Us Even More!

Our prediction skills for Earthquakes still leaves a lot to be desired. But check this out! Even toads may be able to teach us a thing or two!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/15945014

Best wishes

Gerry Neale

The author of self-discovery novel called "Squaring Circles"
www.amazon.co.uk

Self-Worth And How to Improve It

Achieving a great plan, a grand mission or a goal is a more complex process in some cases than we give credit for. Sometimes goals can prove impossible to achieve for reasons we may at first be unaware of – or if we were aware, we are still unable to understand. At the heart of this issue can be the very nature of our sense of our Self-Worth. This can behave like a strange Joker Card in our personality pack.

First, I need to set this in context.

I agree there are many components to a measurable achievement. To start with one needs to have formed a clear vision of what our intent is. In fact the more substantial it is, then the more we need to see it emblazoned in our minds and feel it in our hearts, just as though it’s achieved – or like an already done-deal.

This ‘visioning process’ is possible by fine-tuning our natural skill of painting vivid pictures in our mind. In turn this needs to be reinforced by coupling it to a strong desire to achieve the successful outcome. These aspects drive the motivation within us. Remember it is the strength of the picture that draws us to find ways to make it become real!

Also our self-esteem can have already been high due to previous lesser achievements. So we can bring that added confidence to our new mission.

Not only that, we can have learned in the context of each goal to condition the way we talk to ourselves to ensure we do not sabotage our efforts.

In addition we can have demonstrated to others a greater effectiveness in achieving a goal than they had thought we were capable of. That too can have fed our self-confidence. We can have found that this confidence, this sense of self-efficacy, can be employed by us to support us as we focus on this next grand mission.

In fact everything about us to a bystander can appear as if we are pretty well guaranteed to achieve the targeted success in its due time. Yet it is amazing just how many apparently goal-driven people can gradually build their list of achievements before suddenly and unexpectedly they touch the nerve of Self-Worth.

The impact can be strange and insidious on our path to achievement.

Yes, we may feel that the particular goal we now have in mind can be achieved by us. The cognitive behavioural mechanics we have applied may be excellent. Yet, for some reason, there is a weird problem. Maybe arises from the realisation of the level of our intended success in terms of wealth. Maybe it is the likely attention of the media and press to what we are embarking on. But something could be ringing mysterious alarm bells inside.

Worse, and strangely, we can actually  feel our energy, our drive and motivation being sapped, even though we know that we are capable of success.

Whatever is happening? What is behind this?

It could be our sense of Self-Worth telling us that we do not deserve that level of success we envisage. It could be an inner belief that we are not worthy of that degree of likely public acclaim. In consequence, we feel bound to try to dilute the mission - to take steps to reduce it. And at the same time the lack of belief starts unavoidably striking at the root of our mission and discovering that it continues for as long as it unresolved.

“But where has this come from? Why haven’t I felt it before?”

Probably you have never tested your self-worth to this degree before. Previous goals have been achieved less obviously, perhaps, and with less wealth or overt success attached.

Can this problem be addressed?

Of course! If the limiting sense of what we deserve in life is not too deep seated, we can work to convince ourselves that we do deserve the success and can manage its acclaim.

However, we are far more likely to succeed in that if we try to go back in our mind in order to find the origin for this lack of belief in what we deserve. It could have come from school tutoring. It could have been from parental attitudes or a reaction to a particular experience. It could even have resulted from some idealistic notion we adopted long ago and, whatever the cause, it has lain dormant in us untested until now.

We need then to ask ourselves whether any one of these beliefs is really something we want to continue to live by or whether it should now be reframed to fit the much more capable ‘you’ of today.

Had this been done more often, would it not have saved the good health and even the lives of a number of astonishingly committed and skilled people. Couldn’t it have prevented them from collapsing under the weight of their inevitable success, which in their hearts they felt they did not deserve or could not cope with?

Gerry Neale Author of "Squaring Circles" ISBN 9780956868824

Create Flatter Not Hierarchical Management Structures To Achieve More, Please!

Managing people successfully clearly means different things to different people, whether they are doing the managing or being managed. Some managers look for unquestioning obedience and servitude. They sustain a hierarchical structure. Their writ to their employees states the requirements which are not to be deviated from. For employees preferring to obey more and think less, this can be attractive – however, my suspicion is that the number of these is dwindling fast.

And recently I witnessed graphically the danger in this – achieved even sixty years ago - as I watched the TV documentary on the little known wartime code breaking operation at Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire, UK.

The narrator described how the hierarchical structure of the Nazi war machine dictated that there should be total sub-servience and unquestioning obedience to all elements including their top secret communication codes. No-one should question them.

Meanwhile the UK adopted a very different approach to code-breaking. It retained quirky mathematicians and thinkers who would simply not fit into such a hierarchical system. It encouraged them to think outside the box and question everything.

The result? The German code was broken and it is claimed it shortened the war by two years.

It was also intriguing to me to see the elements of intellectual / mathematical intelligence being adopted alongside emotional intelligence, then not truly acknowledged or identified as a valuable human resource.

More and more of us want to contribute to the business process we are involved in. Most of us respond better to inclusive rather than exclusive management styles. True, we do not see things the same way and businesses who see this as a handicap rather than a strength will continue to suffer. Those enterprises adopting flatter management styles will always be able to change far quicker than those very much managed from the top down.

More  to the point, unbeknown to the world, the computer was born at Bletchley on a campus I walked alongside – unknowingly – to catch the train to school!

Gerry Neale author of "Squaring Circles"

www.squaringcircles.co.uk

Psychology Simplified on Achieving Stress Reduction by Rituals

Neuroscience& Biobehavioral Reviews has just published some fascinating research on how we can achieve stress reduction by adopting helpful rituals..

Apparently we can reduce and control our stress in any number of ways unrelated to the challenge we face. For example,  it is now clear that a professional tennis player about to serve a ball, will bounce it one or more times first. Far from this being an attempt to increase the sense of anticipation, it is to reduce and control his stress. The higher the number of bounces the more effective it is!

Even taking a deep breath before starting something testing is a simple example.

Instinctively, and even to the extent we are now unaware of it, we can generate private rituals to reduce our stress. Stopping at a particular point for a break, or even making a cup of tea, can have the same effect.   

The research has been conducted by Tel Aviv University. It took into consideration obsessive compulsive disorder too. Significantly the research centred on the breakdown of the basic ingredients of any human or animal activity.They concluded that there are three parts or stages - preparatory, functional and confirmatory.

The 'functional' activity is the part which must be executed to complete the task. It is separate from and need not be connected or related to the 'preparatory' or 'confirmatory' stages, which can also be termed 'head' or 'tail' stages. So, a tennis player bouncing a ball before the serve is conducting a 'head' function but it does nothing directly to be part of the service action.

It seems that 'head' and 'tail' rituals overplayed can be a sign of obsessive compulsive disorder. But in moderation, 'head' and 'tail' rituals can be extremely helpful in reducing stress before and and after a challenging task.

It can help us too by clearing our mind in better preparation for the testing task we are about to complete.

The research details are now in the public domain.

Gerry Neale
Author of "Squaring Circles" available in paperback from
www.amazon.co.uk
www.squaringcircles.co.uk

Psychology Simplified On The Ten Essential Steps to Any Achievement

The list of steps that follows are not just vital ingredients needed to give you the best guarantee of achieving your mission or aim. There is an added dimension.  It is the simple order in which they are best applied that ensures you stay on the right track to success. Deviate from that and, believe you me, it is like squaring circles! It makes it much harder!

So Step 1 Is Keep To The Order Of The List!

Step 2: Virtualising The Achievement.

Decide exactly what it is you want to achieve. A vague notion, a fuzzy dream, a wish – none of these are enough. It needs to be the clearest picture in your mind of what you want to accomplish. It needs to be pictured as though it is already achieved. Also, it needs to be seen in your mind and felt in your heart as your own great mission. If it would involve, when completed, your heightened awareness of touch, sound and smell too, then include them in your total visualisation. And most significant, there needs to be no thought or concern at this stage for “How It Is To Be Done”.

Step 3: Review Exactly Where You Are Now - Without The Achievement.

See and feel all the downside elements that at the moment dog you, but which would be gone when you had the success you seek. Then focus completely on that gap between that position you occupy now and what it would be like with your mission completed. Really measure this gap in your mind. But most significantly, DO NOT shrink from it and do not try to make it smaller! This is your “Inspiration Gap”! The reason why it is so important is coming in Step 5!

Step 4 Knowing This Is What You Want. 

Here is one question which requires an unequivocal answer of “Yes”. To prepare for it, first restore your vivid picture of your goal to the forefront of your mind. Now your question is this - with that total visualisation described filling your mind and heart, do you feel you really, really want this outcome? However large or small, does it begin to fill you with passion and motivation to achieve it? Even if you do not know how to achieve it yet, does it inspire you to take action?  If you can answer Yes1 Yes! And Yes! Then go on to Step 5. If not, go back and review Step 1 and question yourself on what is failing to give you that energy and drive. Then, address it and insert it in your picture.

Step 5: Setting Yourself Up for A Fall.

This is the potential stumbling block for many people. It is as though suddenly a flawed sense of reality dawns forcing you to ask yourself ‘how am I possibly going to achieve this? How can I somehow narrow this “Inspiration Gap” between the ‘me’ now and ‘me’ with it achieved?’It must be resisted! Why is this so? Cognitive research shows that with achievement we are drawn to our picture of our goal. In other words we are being pulled by it and we are not pushing to get away from where we are. So it is for this very reason that your picture of your targeted achievement needs to be strong and painted first vividly in your mind. It is why it needs to engender that unquenchable desire and motivation to drive you on. Can you see that without that, you are far more inclined to compromise and find ways tp reduce the gap?

Step 6: Live With The Image Of The Achievement.

Have it emblazoned on your mind and then reinforce it by repetition, by review, by mixing with people who have done it already. Do not share it with someone who you know will denigrate it, or who is bound to see it as unachievable for them. Yet do share it with people who will help and encourage you.

Step 7: Set in motion the behavioural mechanics of planned achievement.

Difficult though it may be to accept, the more you enhance and intensify your picture of your plan day by day, three things happen. First it energises you. Second you become ever more consciously aware of opportunities presenting themselves to help you on your journey. So take them! Third, your sub-conscious creativity has been activated big-time! It has been fed the message that you are no longer comfortable where you are. You now want to be drawn towards where you have planned to be. So it goes to work for you! And the more you live with and feed the image of the achievement achieved, the more your creativity will grow to close the gap.

Step 8.  Self-Belief & Self –Worth.

Constantly reinforce your belief that you deserve the outcome and that you can achieve it. And what about negative thoughts? Don’t listen to them or give them air-time! Neutralise them by vocalising your passion and inspiration to accomplish what you have set out to do! Is that easy? No. Is it possible? Definitely!

Step 9:   Fix an end date for the complete achievement.

It sets a time line within which your creativity will produce the result. Big goals can need years! When I was sixteen, I wanted to be a Member of Parliament. I became one – twenty three years later!

Step 10: Start now

And Good Luck! You will need some, but just watch how you will seem to create your own!

Gerry Neale

Gerry is the author of "Squaring Circles", an intriguing novel which is as much of a voyage of self-discovery for the reader as it is for the hero of the book. Details of it can be found on http://www.squaringcircles.co.uk. It is published in paperback ISBN 9780956868824

He writes on psychology and behavioural issues. Articles can be found on
http://psychologysimplified.blogspot.com and as an expert author on Ezine Articles on Achievement and on psychology.

Are You A Busy Bee Who Wants To Achieve More By Finding More Time But Can’t?

Then Answer The Big Question! Do you want to achieve more and make more time to do things you like to do? If you can answer honestly, ‘Yes, with me, it is purely time management,’ then there are some great instructional books available to help you prioritise your tasks, bunch telephone calls, do more things on the same journey and many more tips.

Yet if you have tried all that with only limited success and deep down you think it may be something else sabotaging you, then read on!

Could your problem really not be one of trying to improve your time management. Could it be something quite different? Could it be an unrelated inhibiting attitude?

I wonder if you have felt you were busy, sensed you weren’t achieving as much as you should, have used time management techniques, gained yourself more time, yet filled that time saved with yet more similar tasks, so that now you are more busy than ever?

Could it be that you like to feel busy no matter what?

As a child were your parents always busy? In fact were they too busy to stop and think? Do you think you could have imitated them?

Did you have teachers that made sure you were always busy?

Critically, do you feel guilty when you are not busy doing something, no matter what? Or worse, do you find the level of guilty conscience reaches danger levels if you spend some downtime doing something you want to do entirely for yourself?

Then, if you want it, you have gained complimentary membership of the Busy Bees Club! Please turn it down and reflect!

What has been going on? What are you doing?

Could you have become task list orientated, with too little prioritised? As soon as the list threatens to shorten, do you feel you are under performing if you do not refill it?

Truthfully, can any time management techniques work successfully with this approach?

Strange to tell, the solution lies far less in our ability to manage ourselves and far more in our attitude about ourselves. If we lack the external or internal mentoring which says I am entitled to slow down at times, I am allowed to spend time for myself, I can enjoy myself without feeling guilty because the truth is I make myself guilty – no one else does!

So it can be more than a relaxation issue. It can be one of perceived entitlement. We can have disentitled ourselves unwittingly too by turning this into a self-esteem and self-worth issue..

I would suggest to sufferers that they start by looking at their task list and doing a priority check. Ask yourself: ’Which task actually, truthfully and honestly is important to me in my life and which merely appears more urgent?’

This will help you to find that quality time for yourself.

Sir Gerry is a mentor and despite the time since it was first published recommends you read “First Things First” By Stephen Covey

Gerry is also an artist and an author of a cognitive novel in paperback called “Squaring Circles.” Details can be obtained from http://www.squaringcircles.co.uk

The Implications Of Good Teachers -v- Bad Teachers

If bad teaching is a grouse of yours, whether regarding your children or grand children or just generally and you re looking for evidence of the damage bad teachers can cause, then do please go to the link below. It reports the research of London School of Economics and Stanford  into good or bad teaching. Its results are chilling in their scale. The research was conducted for the Sutton Trust founded by Sir Peter Lampl an inspirational sponsor for educational causes

The impact of a bad teacher is equivalent to knocking half the pupils marks off their annual exam results.Conversely a good teacher could add 25-45% to the performance of the same pupils in maths exams.

Astonishingly, replace a bad teacher with a very effective one and that equates to providing an extra year's learning for the pupil.

I would want to pay tribute to and congratulate the thousands of great teachers in any school anywhere. But to the bad ones I would say, "Please be honest with yourself. If for no other reason, you'll  know you are not good because your heart is not in it anymore. Then have the courage to look for a different direction in life and free up your place for someone who can add dramatic value to the pupils lives".

Sir Peter says: "The single most important way to improve the UK's international performance is to improve the quality of its 400,000 or so teachers." I suspect this is relevant to a number of countries!

The link: http://www.fmwf.com/media-type/news/2011/09/focus-on-bad-teachers-says-report/

Gerry Neale
www.squaringcircles.co.uk

Here's A Thing! Chocolate Is As Good As Exercise!

For Chocoholics like me, this could be the best news if scientists have got this right! Apparently dark chocolate comes with chemicals in it which can stimulate the muscles just like exercising - if we are mice that is! It is all down to a plant substance called epicatechin.



http://www.meassociation.org.uk/?p=8073 Check out this link!#

Squaring Circles Author Gerry Neale is in Top Fifteen Of Ezine Articles Writers On Achievement

Squaring Circles: From The Dark Into The Light is Gerry Neale's first novel to be published recently, yet he has in the meantime become ranked 12th on Ezine Articles Directory out of well over a 1000 authors on the subject of Achievement. He has written nearly 70 articles on Psychology, Achievement, Goal-setting, Self Esteem, Happiness and other subjects. They all have a Cognitive Behavioural theme to them.

His Ezine Profile and Article List is available http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Gerry_Neale

He is a great advocate of the use of simple behavioural psychology to alleviate and even neutralise many behavioural issues and would like to see much greater emphasis made on this in schools as part of the curriculum.

For more details on Squaring Circles, go to www.squaringcircles.co.uk

Cognitive Factoid- Good Decision-makers Are Over S!ixty

University of Texas researchers have found cause for Employers to keep over-sixty year olds on the payroll. Over sixty people are better at strategic decision-making regarding the future as compared with those of university age. The younger group is better at making decisions which are designed to produce immediate results.

This stands conventional wisdom on its head. Previously it had been considered that decison-making ability tails off as people get older. The University researchers were not convinced and believed that previous tests had not allowed for the decision-maker taking future choices into account.. They wanted to test for this aspect, given how this so often effects challenges day to day.

Dr Darrell Worthy has written an article on it in Psychological Science and maintains that the understanding of older people is better on how rewards are structured.

Gerry Neale
www.squaringcircles.co.uk 

Cognitive Factoid On Chocolate Is Wonderful News!

Now! As an incorrigible chocoholic, what about this!

Any Chocoholic Attendees at the European Society of Cardiology meeting in Paris have just been given this wonderful news. Chocolate Biscuits and puddings could cut the risk of heart disease by a third.

A total of over 100000 people took part in seven studies which have then been analysed by Scientists at Cambridge University. Where in people they found the highest intakes of chocolate consumption they also found a 37% reduction in cardiovascular disease and a 27% reduction in strokes, as compared to those with the lowest intakes of chocolate.

I am sorely tempted to leave this factoid at that, but honesty dictates. They also delivered a health warning. The results have to be treated with caution. Commercially available chocolate is high in calories which if eaten too much can lead to diabetes and heart disease.

I am left wondering if a bar of good quality chocolate and a good walk is a solution!

I wish you well

Gerry Neale is the author of a novel recently published in paperback called "Squaring Circles" available from amazon.co.uk or the publishers www.pearlpress.co.uk The website about the book itself and reviews of it is www.squaringcircles.co.uk

Achieving Bad Habits – No Problem – You Can Catch Them!

What is more, you can even catch bad habits from the person you love. Who says? The University of Cincinatti, as a result of an intriguing study they have conducted which tests the commitment to achievement in particular and attempts at self-improvement in general. But watch out! You might choose and marry a partner for their good qualities which don’t rub of on you. However their bad ones could be catching almost as if you have been ‘infected’ by them!  And here is why.

It seems if your partner, wonderful though they are, is a food addict, the chances are disproportionately high you will become one too. Their drink problem could be yours for the asking. Your commitment to personal fitness could be first neutralised by their laziness and then eventually abandoned.

It seems that good habits in our spouses we don’t catch, but bad ones we do.

How was the research conducted and on whom? It involved married couples or those living together for between 8 and 52 years. It centred on their smoking, drinking, patterns of sleep, exercise and additional health habits.

Significant information emerged for all of us interested in psychology. Men are worse as a negative influence on their partners  than women. Yet both when faced with the manifestation of an unhealthy habit or activity in their partner, were reticent or reluctant to comment on it or draw attention to it. It was as though they were signalling their approval. It seemed that that this became a joint consent as one invariably got sucked in to the bad behaviour of the other.

The activity in gay and lesbian couples was more difficult to analyse because it seemed both promoted the bad habits equally.

What I find worrying here is what was not in the research but what could be extrapolated from this.

Imagine a child wanting to run for his or her school - and one day in the Olympics, and the class teacher is a couch potato. More than that he constantly pours scorn on fitness and health, labelling them fanatics.

Think then of how we as parents or grandparents can so easily neutralise the intent and commitment in our children and grandchildren to lead healthier lives. Our smoking or drinking or mere lack of respect for healthy habits could be equally damaging for them. Wouldn’t they too, just like the Cincinatti project proved, be reluctant to try to correct or even criticise their elders, then become complicit and finally prefer to indulge themselves too?

I do hope I am stretching the University findings just too far, but I fear I am not.

I take the message in this as- “Stay well and help find healthy solutions. Don’t become part of the problem however much it hurts for the ones we love.”

Sincerely, I wish you well

Gerry Neale

Sir Gerry Neale is a writer, mentor and artist. His first novel, “Squaring Circles” has been recently published in the UK in paperback (ISBN 9780956868824) It has a strong cognitive behavioural and spiritual theme. More information is available on www.squaringcircles.co.uk. The book is obtainable on Amazon (co.uk) and increasingly in UK bookshops. See other articles by him on http://psychologysimplified.blogspot.com 

View his mixedmedia watercolours on www.sirgerrynealeartprints.com

www.sirgerrynealeartprints.com

Cognitive Factoids - Avoid Stressful Relationships And Live Longer!

Three questions! First, suppose you have always been a happy and unstressed soul. Would you think you would be likely to outlive an unrelated, unhappy and stressed person? I think we all would! Second, if our circumstances changed and we chose to live with such a stressed individual, what then? Wouldn’t we be likely to die sooner and perhaps even a lot sooner? Again wouldn’t most of us say, Yes we would! Third and finally, if we had a stressful childhood, would our lives be shortened even if we then managed to achieve a much more peaceful adulthood? If we were Zebra Finches, then we would be absolutely right on all three answers!

Isn’t that really to be treated by humans as a bit of a laugh? The University of Glasgow would say no. Results have now been published in Proceedings of The Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. And clearly Professor Monaghan sees potential comparisons with humans.

In truth, if we had been told it about humans achieving longer lives, wouldn’t we have accepted it?

Zebra Finches form strong bonds with their mates and appear to respond to stress in the same way we do. In fact if they join with stressed partners it seems their life expectancy is four times worse than that of relaxed birds.

This discovery was aided by some chicks being injected with stress hormone for two weeks and monitored against those without, all being kept in a stress free environment.

After they had fledged it was discovered that not only those injected died sooner, so did the mates they had been placed with.

Extrapolation of these results shows how choosing a mate who helps us to avoid stress could help us as well as Finches to achieve longer lives!

But stepping back from the obvious difference between us, can we really be surprised? Already we have heard so much about the damage stress causes humans.

I have never subscribed to the school of thought which believes that all races of humans comprise such superior species and incomparable to all others on the Planet. Learning from animals can teach us so much on how we ourselves may have unknown latent powers.relating not only to our known senses, but like many animals, we may have others so far untried.

Experts are predicting we will be able to talk to dolphins within five years. Elephants and whales may follow suit. I may not live long enough to hear it or even witness it, but I predict we will discover in these animals an astonishing level of spirituality and wisdom compared with our own.

So all this is “not for the birds”! It is research we cannot afford to ignore.

Gerry Neale is an artist, mentor and writer. His first novel, Squaring Circles, has recently been published in Paperback and is already available on leading online sites such as Amazon (co.uk). The theme of the novel is how our spirituality, awareness of Nature and our emotions can dictate our cognitive behaviour. There are reviews and more information on the book’s website at www.squaringcircles.co.uk. 

His mixed media watercolours can be viewed on www.sirgerrynealeartprints.com

Psychology Simplified On Bringing The Best Or Worst Out In People

Read this newly posted article by Gerry Neale relating to how to behave more productively and change ourselves when dealing with contentious issues with staff and suppliers. Cognitive Mentors