Sober Synthesis

“Unwittingly, we write the story of our future from narratives based on the past…Mindful awareness can bring into consciousness those hidden, past-based perspectives so that they no longer frame our worldview. Choice begins the moment you disidentify from the mind and its conditioned patterns, the moment you become present…Until you reach that point, you are unconscious. In present awareness we are liberated from the past”. – Gabor Mate

• We make about 35,000 decisions every day. Most are unconscious. 
• Even conscious decision-making processes often begin before a person is able to realize it (unconscious).
• Our primitive brain, which includes the brainstem and limbic region, is responsible for vital functions and has a very strong influence on driving our choices and behaviors. Controlling it is challenging for the higher brain (prefrontal cortex); however, it is not impossible.
• Our brains accumulate a wealth of information through a complex network of neurons known as the connectome (neural map). 
  • New experience/learning induces neural connection changes (neuroplasticity). These changes, when established through practice/repetition, strongly impact our behavior and decision-making.
• Factors that have been demonstrated to impact decision making include:
  • Time of day-morning is the best time to make important decisions 
  • Decision fatigue-take breaks between making decisions
  • Hunger, thirst or sexual desire, can impact the decision areas of our brain (prefrontal cortex), by making us feel more desire for big rewards when we make choices.
  • Family history, memories, group trust/connection, and cultural expectations tend to heavily influence the decisions we make.

In summary, research indicates that there are limitations in our ability to make and maintain new choices/decisions without neural network changes (neuroplasticity). 

Tools:

• Make deliberate and repetitive (daily if possible) behavioral changes aligned with your purpose (path). Note: Focus on no more than 4 changes.
  • Include at least 1 change that is uncomfortable (micro-sucs).
  • When you do something you don’t want to do, the Anterior Mid-Cingulate Cortex (aMCC) grows. The aMCC is associated with willpower and will to live.
• Practice mindfulness 
  • A mindfulness practice is associated with neuroplastic changes in the anterior cingulate cortex, insula, temporo-parietal junction, fronto-limbic network and default mode network structures. Optimal integration among these brain areas supports improved self-regulation.

Proposed questions for thought or sharing:

1. Have you noticed making new healthier decisions (relationships, work) with sobriety? How?
2. Have you noticed making habitual less healthy decisions even with sobriety? If so, does this information give you ideas of behavioral changes you plan to make?

Disclaimer:

This summary is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute the practice of medicine or other professional health care services, including the giving of medical advice, and no doctor/patient relationship is formed.