On Neurosciences

As I was hiking last weekend in the calenques, I saw a dad desperately trying to take a picture of his 6 year old boy. The kid had a grin on his face. "Don't make faces" said the dad. Pulling his mouth with two fingers, the kid started to make faces. "Don't be such a silly clown" said the dad. The kid started to move his body like a clown. Remembering the time I was a young dad, I smiled. Be it for a child or for an adult, our brain doesn't work in the negative. If I ask you to close your eyes and to avoid thinking about a penguin on an iceberg, there is a good chance that you will see more penguins in the coming few seconds than you ever did in your life. If we want to be understood, we must speak the language of the brain - which is positive - and say "smile" instead of "don't make faces." For our own good and for others, we must learn to say what we want, not what we don't want, in our private life as much as at work. Instead of saying "not bad" to a colleague (the brain records "bad") maybe we could say "well done!" Instead of saying "don't give up" (the brain records "give up") we could say "you will make it!” Your intention will remain the same, but your impact will be totally different!