Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Neuro-Economics

The Winter Lull. Are you feeling it? For some, winter is a day to day battle, especially after the new year. The holidays were forever ago, and the tundra landscape before us stretches to the horizon. For many, winter is the best season, winter sports, winter events and more bring a lot of joy and anticipation. This season is "buckle down" time for many with ambitious goals of weight loss, finishing reading that book, finishing that painting and much more. Winter is one of those seasons that really challenges a lot of peoples focus and will power. Instead of leaning into the winter blues, here's an idea. Let's embrace the challenge and win this winter. Where do we start? Well, for many it's a simple decision to do so. Sounds easy, but difficult to do. There's a very insightful field of study out there called "NeuroEconomics". This is an amazing field of study, and for all of us average Joes and Janes out there that are not Brain Scientists, we can gather a lot of input that helps us understand how the brain makes decisions. What small changes can we make to our environment that influences us to make certain decisions? The easiest example is food. If we see and are right next to food that we love to eat but shouldn't, is it harder to ignore it? Of course it is, and there's nothing wrong with that. Before we begin bashing on will power and self control, it's important to acknowledge that our brain produces proteins from the hypothalamus as a result of stimulation and habits and our environments. Just a little research on these topics helps you grasp the decision making process and allows us to create or try to create environments that foster success, self control and happiness. Yes, even in winter. The brain is absolutely fascinating and powerful. Although we still know so little about it, with the information available today for free, there's a wealth of self betterment, happiness and enrichment right in front of us and this winter can really be an "out with the old, in with the new" season for you. We wish you the best and good luck!