Who wants a sip of Limoncello from Amalfi??
Yikes!
Look at all of those delicious bottles we shipped on our last trip there!
I had to Be AWARE of the urge to enjoy it nightly and then CHOOSE NOT TO REWARD IT.
We have been trained like Pavlovian Dogs🐕
We all know this experiment, right?
Where dogs were trained such that a bell was rung every time the bowl of food was put in front of them.
The dogs learned that the sound of the bell came when food was there.
So after multiple times of doing this, the dogs still salivated after they heard the bell ring, even if they weren’t given a bowl of food.
They had become trained to the sound of the bell.
And then over time, when the food stopped coming with the sound of the bell, the dogs unlearned that the bell was an indication for food🔔
Our urges are the bell. They bell may be ringing super loud right now…
Think about the desire to drink as an urge and then weigh your options:
1) You can Drink- which just increases the desire with positive reinforcement
2) You can Resist the Urge- which just increases the desire as your brain revolts against unwelcomed deprivation
3) Or you can Allow the urge to be there, don’t engage, and don’t reward it.
Only #3 (allowing the urge without acting on it) will stop the dopamine surge cycle.
Be AWARE of the urge and YOUR CHOICE NOT TO REWARD IT.
Let your brain believe it is in the driver’s seat.
When you have unanswered urges, you decondition them and they diminish over time, just like the bell with the dogs🐶
This can apply to so many things in your life – overscrolling, overeating, overworking and other bad habits.
The more connected you feel within yourself, your body and mind, the more you can control the change you want to see.
Ready to take control of your urges?
Click the link below for a complimentary discovery session. 🦋
