Your brain and addiction

Here's a story that will tell you a lot about yourself and how addiction works in your brain.

Can you remember those old time cowboy movies when the gang of desperadoes gallop down from the hills to rob the stage coach? There was always a pretty girl with a lace parasol on the coach, sitting opposite a lonesome cowboy with tragedy in his past, who then saves the day. and the girl.

Now there's always a point in the robbery scene where one of the bandits jumps from his horse onto the team pulling the coach. Intent on bringing the coach under his control, he lunges at the reins while holding on for dear life under the belly of the wild eyed, foam flecked horse careering down a rock strewn path, with whip cracking and bullets flying.

I don't know about you, but there's always something unbelievable about that bit in the chase. You can just hear the director shout 'okay, I want you to jump across to the stage coach and slow the horses down with your teeth' as the stunt man roles his eyes to heaven and tries to figure out how much he can charge. Can you really bring a coach under control this way? I somewhat doubt it, particularly if somebody is sitting in the driver's seat. That somebody is you.

And here's what the story tells you

Yet, that's what we sometimes allow people (and organisations) to do. The tobacco companies, the booze companies, people who sell illicit drugs. even casinos or more everyday pleasures.

If, that is, we let them take control of the horses that pull our coach along life's road.

Take smoking, the subject of your no cost Audio Insight this month. Addictions hijack the brain's chemical reward system, which exists to make learning pleasurable. These chemical rewards encourage us to develop and even excel. Having a so-called 'addictive personality' really means having great potential to learn and develop. You can learn more about this in this newsletter and by downloading the Audio Insight.

But let's return to our coach for a minute. Just remember the cowboy always manages to save the girl and bring the coach under control. He's in the best position to do so, sitting in the driver's seat and holding onto the reins. The bandit doesn't really stand a chance. So this issue of Inspired Minds is all about taking the coach back under your control. Harnessing your positive emotions - tossing aside the addictions that try to hijack you on your route.

And to help you take control we've put together a special page of downloads, designed to help you play to your strengths and positives. You can create a personal positives hypnopack from these downloads.