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
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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.