"If the mind perceives a threat then the body experiences a threat. Our brain is
unlikely to know the difference. We believe what we perceive."
"We are hard wired to feel threatened by anything that might challenge us and force
us to change our thinking and adjust to new realities, even to healthier new realities.
We often shrink back from what is new simply because it's new."
"As far as the human mind and body are concerned, paying attention to fear favors
survival. That is why fear, in its many forms, is impossible to ignore. What will
our next priority be if we don't survive?"
We Feel Threatened by
Anything that Might
Challenge Us to
Change or Adjust
We all want to change our negative habits of mind, body and behavior, but change
doesn't come easily. Why is change so hard that the vast majority of attempts are
unsuccessful? It is because fear of change is built into our human consciousness
and biology. Every one of our fifty trillion cells knows how to detect and take
action against a threat. A threat might come in the form an invading microbe, but
any substance that the cell doesn't recognize will be perceived as a threat simply
because it is unfamiliar. This is pure "stranger danger." It is so because survival
is our deepest and most important basic drive. Any change at all can feel to our
emotional and mental brain like a threat to survival. To the mind, safety lies in
preserving the status quo; the status quo is the way things already are. It is the
organic law of "biological conservatism."
Your body and mind are hard wired to protect you against threats of danger or harm,
and they will take measures even if there really is no threat. That is because the
perception of a threat is all that is required to trigger a defensive response.
If the mind perceives a threat then the body experiences a threat. Our brain is
unlikely to know the difference. We believe what we perceive.
Anything at all can come to be perceived as a threat-by your mind and by your body.
Allergies result when our body's immune response mistakes a benign substance for
an attacking microorganism. Mistakes of perception are at the root of phobias and
anxiety disorders. It is a natural function of the human mind to perceive and to
avoid and guard against challenges to our personal sense of safety and well being.
Unfortunately for us, though, we defend our status quo and our conventions against
change even if the change would be beneficial. Ask anyone who has had to change
the way they eat. We dig in our heels. Our mind digs in its heels. People are resistant
to change. It has been said that the best predictor of future human behavior is
past human behavior-and that is true. Each genuinely new idea has to push hard against
the existing ones in order to give expression to its uniqueness, gain credibility,
and prove its value. This is as true on the societal level as it is on the personal
level. We are hard wired to feel threatened by anything that might challenge us
and force us to change our thinking and adjust to new realities, even to healthier
new realities. We often shrink back from what is new simply because it's new.
Why is that?
Change is Stressful and Fear is
Impossible to Ignore
We avoid change because there is fear in it and we avoid change in order to avoid
the stress that goes with change. Stress is the energy required to adjust to change.
Change is stressful. Our mind wants us to get inside our "comfort zone" where it
can protect us-and stay there. Fear is fear; there is only one kind of fear. All
fear connects in the mind with fear of not surviving. All fear, at its source, is
the fear of physical death. Trace any fear you have and you will discover that this
is true. As far as the human mind and body are concerned, paying attention to fear
favors survival. This is true on more than one level. That is why fear, in its many
forms, is impossible to ignore. What will our next priority be if we don't survive?
Therefore, the mind has a very low threshold for detecting fear. Any change can
feel threatening.
Neutralize the Fear of Change
We are wary of change and we avoid it. We avoid change whether we want to or not.
Avoiding change is a reflex that is built into the security system of your biological
self and your subconscious mind. It is a habit.
Even if you are very eager and extremely dedicated to getting rid of old and undesirable
habits, you will still need to know how to deal with the mind's natural tendency
to resist change. You will need to know how to enlist the support of your whole
mind if you are going to avoid the "subtle sabotage" that sinks the vast majority
of attempts at habit change.
The surest way to get rid of bad habits is to start by improving your relationship
with your mind. You can't beat 'em, but you can join 'em. In Force of Habit we change
habits by enlisting the power of the same mind that created them in the first place.
We get all aspects of your mind to join forces in order to neutralize the fear of
change and successfully get habits to shift.
 | THINK RESPONSIBLY! |
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