Kinesiology and Motivation.
I was reading some motivation blogs and articles recently and I concluded that the majority of what’s out there is not worth reading. From motivational speakers to fitness instructors to doctors the message is the same. “Look at me – I’m motivated, you can be too if you do what I say”. You follow this programme or that and you will be transformed. This may work with some people on some levels, but for the most part these systems fail. Let me explain why.
Motivation is tied to the primitive emotional drives based in the amygdala – a primitive part of the brain’s limbic system. It’s the part of us that is instinctual at the level of a reptile. It is constantly on the lookout for our survival. Primal (subconscious) emotions and senses like fear, protection, anger and rage, are controlled here. If this part of you has become so upset that it fears to take any risk outside of what it knows to be safe, then you can kiss motivation goodbye.
Sure you can spend some time pushing yourself to make things happen. You can use positive thinking, exercise, diet change etc etc but because you are working against, essentially a stubborn reptile, you won’t win. The process will be hard to begin with and extremely hard to maintain. If you persist you’ll make yourself sick or develop an injury.
Click here to understand the neuroscience of motivation
What does kinesiology do for motivation.
There is a better and easier way to improve motivation – calm the reptile down. Imagine you are trying to train a frightened dog. They have to trust and be happy before they are willing to try new things. The fear has to be gone. They have to feel secure enough to take the step forward. If you push too early they will either bark, run or maybe bite. There is no difference between humans and animals in terms of these responses. Our brains have evolved in the same ways with survival being the most important instinct. The dog won’t jump through the hoop if the hoop reminds it of the stick it got hit with when it was a pup.
Look -motivation is simple. You have it when you see something you want and you go and get it. In the short term food is constantly motivating us because we have to eat. If you have a long term goal like becoming a CEO of a business or running a marathon then that’s easy too so long as it is what you actually want.
So why do you lose motivation?
Because at some point in your life – usually before you were three years old – specific instances occurred which created primitive emotional responses within your amygdala. The amygdala also has a major role in storing long term memory. When something reminds your subconscious of a primitive early memory all the original signals fire in the amygdala. This is why you don’t know why you don’t have the motivation you want. You are not lazy, or using excuses. You are simply acting from a primitive survival standpoint. If you change this then motivation is easy. You just do whatever you want.
