You Are NotYour Brainby Jeffrey Schwartz, MD,and Rebecca Gladding, MD

"l'm not good enough. SheS going toleave me. I am going fo mess up thispresentation. They're going to think Iam an idiot and not hire me..."

I At one point or anothe[ we have all experi-enced these types of self-defeating thoughts.Known as deceptive brain messages, thesekinds of thoughts can take over our lives andcause us to do things we do not want to do.Perhaps our response has been to feel lethar-gic, manically check our email, eat too muchor overindulge in another unhealthy repetitiveact. When we continually respond to negativeinternal messages in the same unhelpful ways,we unwittingly end up reinforcing them. Themore we do this, the more our brains formrepetit ive, automatic habits that can takeover our lives and prevent us from being thepeople we want to be.

How does this happen? The answer lies inhow the brain responds to the environmentand our actions. Based on our and other lead-ing scientists' research, we have realized thatthe more you focus on something, the morestrongly that act gets wired into your brain inautomatic, unconscious ways. lf our actionsare positive and healthy, all is fine. But howmany of us respond to negative thoughts withhealthy, helpful actions? How about when weare stressed? In more cases than not, we end uprepetitively mulling over the negative thoughts(a form of focusing) or doing something thatgets rid of the stress for a few moments, likehaving a drink or eating our favorite snack.Although seemingly harmless in the shortterm, engaging in over-thinking and repetitiveactions can lead to detrimental long-term con-seguences. such as excessively consuming foodor alcohol, distancing from loved ones and more.

The key ingredient in whether you respondto negative messages in healthy or unhealthyways is based on how you focus your attentionand what you actually do once the thought orimpulse arises. To change the strength of apathway in your brain you need to keep focus-ing on or doing the same thing over and over.This is the only way to change which pathwayis chosen in a specific situation. Over time,those pathways that are used the most-forexample, what you do every time you are feel-ing stressed-become the preferred ones inthe brain, and often become associated withspecific situations or needs (such as momen-tarily decreasing anxiety).

So when you take deceptive brain mes-

sages at face value and respondin the same manner to them overand over, your brain will make thatresponse the preferred one-evenif it isn't good for you. This is be-cause several biological principlesare working together to cause brain centers to"team up" to wire those habits into the brain.Once your brain is wired in a certain way, itbecomes very difficult to spontaneously stopengaging in the habits that have formed.

How do you change this scenar io? Thepower lies in focusing. lf, instead of giving intothose deceptive, erroneous messages, youchose to resist acting on these messages andrefocus your attention on healthy behaviors,you can actually rewire your brain and createa new, positive association between your sellthoughts and actions. The critical componentis your abi l i ty to recognize those decep-tive brain messages when they arise and torefocus your attention on healthy actions.By doing so, you actually rewire your brainin healthy, positive ways that increase yoursense of self and pave the way for more posi-tive associations between thoughts, feelings.beliefs and actions.

These scientific realities essentially mean

that you have the abil ity, withinreason, to shape how your brainworks and how you automaticallyrespond to things when you arestressed.

There are many ways youcan learn how to recognize the deceptivethoughts and unhealthy actions. Our book,You Are Not Your Braln, provides a four-stepmethod which combines the centuries-oldapproach to mindfulness with other powerfulconcepts to help people truly see that theyare not the sum total of the negative, inaccu-rate thoughts and impulses running around intheir heads. In short, they come to realize thatthey are not their impulse'laden, short-term-gratification-seeking brains. Rathen they arecaring people who are deserving of a life freeof these unwanted, inaccurate intruders.

THE FOUR STEPS1. RELABEL. ldentify deceptive brain mes-sages and the uncomfortable sensations; callthem what they really are.

2. REFRAME. Change your perception ofthe importance of the destructive brain mes-sages; say why these thoughts, urges, andimpulses keep bothering you. ("lt's not me,it's just my brain.")

3. REFOCUS. Direct your attention towardan activity or mental process that is whole-some and productive-even while the falseand deceptive urges, thoughts, impulses andsensations are still present and bothering you.

4. REVALUE. Clearly see the thoughts, urq-es and impulses for what they are: sensationscaused by deceptive brain messages that arenot true and that have little to no value.

Armed with the Four Steps and knowledgethat attention and focus are what changes thebrain, you can learn how to make your brainwork for rather than against you-therebychanging your habits and perception of your-self in positive ways for life. f

Jeffrey Schwartz is author of The Mind andthe Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power ofMental Force and Brain Lock Free Yourself fromObsessive-Compulsive Behavior. He created thefirst mindfulness-based treatment program forpeople with OCD.

Rebecca Gladding is an attending psychiatristat UCLA and was featured in A&E's criticallyacclaimed series Obsessed. She is an expert indeceptive brarn rnessages. mindfulness and theFour Sfeps.

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