Anxiety Control Center

Russell Crowe told Oprah, he feels like he can’t help but doing exactly what he was told not to do.  (continued from 4/29 post)

When Russell Crowe was backstage, before being on Oprah’s show, they told him not to swear on live TV.   As he was talking to Oprah he told her how he felt himself start to swear. He said, “the funny thing is that I wasn’t even thinking about swearing until they said not to.

Similar problems crop up when  parent tells a child not to do something.  When a parent says, “don’t touch the lamp,” what do you think the next thing the child does?  You guessed it, touches the lamp.

It isn’t because the child wants to do something wrong.  It’s because the message goes directly to the unconscious part of the mind. Only problem is the unconscious doesn’t hear the “don’t” part of the message.

For example if you say “don’t hit the golf ball into the sand trap”  your unconscious mind forms a picture of exactly what you are saying not to do, and the ball goes directly into the sand trap.   The more Russell thought about not swearing, the more his mind pictured him trying not to swear.  This is what led to his feeling as if his mind was compelled to do exactly what he was told not to do.

The way the unconscious mind hears your messages can also be used in a positive way.  Imagine . . . (continued in tomorrow’s post).

To start the process of clearing the mind
so you can stop obsessive thinking
it is helpful to  calm the mind.

To download an easy to learn mind calming  exercise

Sign in at the upper right side of this page.
After you sign in you will be sent the written instructions for
the Breathing for Calm Exercise and
a second exercise on how to use positive thoughts to
create what you want in life.

After you sign in go to actionendsprocrastination to watch
the video version of the breathing for calm exercise.

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When someone tells Russell Crowe not to do something, guess what he does?  He told Oprah, he feels like he can’t help but doing exactly what he was told not to do.   When Russell Crowe was backstage, before being on Oprah’s show, they told him not to swear on live TV.   As he was talking to Oprah he told her how he felt himself start to swear. He said, “the funny thing is that I wasn’t even thinking about swearing until they said not to. Then it was as if my mind was compelled to do it.

I enjoy watching Oprah, there is always something of interest, and I love her style. This time as I listened I thought I just have to write about what I believe caused Russell to feel compelled to do exactly what he was told not to do.

When I do parenting workshops I usually point out that a similar thing that happens in communication between parents and children.  When a parent says, “don’t touch the lamp,” what do you think the next thing the child does?  You guessed it, touches the lamp.

There are reasons that this happens, and it can be changed.  Using a simple change of wording can make the difference between feeling compelled to do something you don’t want to do and feeling you have choice.

In tomorrow’s post I’ll discuss why this happens and how to create messages that work.

To start the process of clearing the mind to create positive messages it is helpful to  calm the mind.

To download an easy to learn mind calming  exercise

Sign in at the upper right side of this page.
After you sign in you will be sent the written instructions for
the Breathing for Calm Exercise and
a second exercise on how to change negative thoughts
into positive ones.

After you sign in at the upper right
go to actionendsprocrastination to watch
the video version of the breathing for calm exercise.

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