The mind is a powerful tool and can be used to heal. Just like taking a pill that does nothing at all, the belief that the pill will cure you, can actually in fact, cure you - or at least reduce or minimise your symptoms. This is not a replacement for modern medicine, but skills you can develop...
By Jacob Andreae
Lucid dreaming is a state in which you are asleep and dreaming, but aware, and can control your dreams. Sounds pretty cool, right?! Apart from being cool, it could be used to heal yourself, and it might be easier than you think.
As soon as I read about this, I was...
By Jacob Andreae
Who are you? Really ponder that question. I bet you come up with your name. But who is that strange combination of letters, which are just sounds that come from the way you push air out of your mouth and manipulate your cheeks, tongue and lips?
Your brain makes sense of...
I recently wrote about a law of learning known as operant conditioning. One of those types of operant conditioning was positive reinforcement. Reinforcement refers to a consequence that increases the likelihood of repeating a behaviour. Humans are more likely to repeat behaviours that are...
Positive punishment is just one way humans shape behaviour. Punishment is to make a behaviour less likely to occur and the positive component is about giving something. Can giving an aversive consequence to a non-desirable behaviour help you achieve your health goals?
In psychology, there...
Do you want to start exercising? Do you want to exercise more? How do people who lose massive amounts of weight, or run a marathon for the first time, do it? One of the strategies is a simple hack of the human mind. It’s so innate that you’ve actually been doing it since the day you...
Negative experiences such as long-term stress shrink your brain. Positive and new experiences cause it to grow. You can in fact, attract more of what you want, simply by thinking about it.
These are the concepts that led me into further tertiary studies in psychology. I was...
Ask anyone what they’re looking forward to at the end of a long break or holiday. I bet they say they’re most looking forward to getting back into a routine. But why is that? Why do people crave a break so bad but before long, they want to be back into a routine?
I notice...
Imagine if you could rewire your memories for success. Well, it turns out you can. Research from New York University demonstrates how the brain retrieves memories. It could be the most important breakthrough of all time for the treatment of PTSD, anxiety disorder and performance training in all...
Through our genetics and past experiences, we develop preferred ways for creating meaning of our world. The way we represent information in our brain, through our senses, shapes the way we make decisions, communicate and learn new things. As a teacher, salesperson or parent, you should know the...
Creating a new habit is the basis of changing a behaviour. Whether you want to lose weight, quit smoking or start exercising, you need to form new habits. Understand why you find it hard to stay motivated after just four weeks and follow this extremely simple routine to create any new habit....
