Name It & Tame It by: Susan Aplin Pogue

Nod if you have ever said anything like the following statements about a work related situation, project, or colleague:

“I am so frustrated…”
“I am so angry…”
“I am nervous…”
“I am so stressed out…”
“I am so afraid…”

I am going to take a guess that you are nodding right now, because it would not be human of us not to have said or thought something like the above statements in all of our working days. These statements are expressions of feelings we have toward common work situations and encounters.

Given they are so common, you could consider them benign and part of the course of any business day. You may not notice the thought at all until it rises to a level where you either can’t stop having the thought or you notice your stress level going up and your functioning going down. But these thoughts are not benign. Whether they are spoken to another person or only said to yourself, these statements in their structure pull you deeper into the statements and can potentially lead to being in a state of chronic stress.

As Lisa Wimberger, author and creator of Neurosculpting®, writes in her book New Beliefs, New Brain: Free Yourself from Stress and Fear, “…when one uses I am statements there seems to be a direct association with the emotion and the individual continues to feel that emotion, remain stuck in that experience.” (pg. 38)

Rather than ignore these types of thoughts until they become a larger issues consider changing them as you notice them during your day. With this quick, but effective skill called “Name It & Tame It” (New Beliefs, New Brain, pgs. 37, 81)

Notice the “I am…” statement.
Change the grammatical structure of the thought.
Rather than “I am…” change the statement to “I feel…”
Replace the “I am…” statement to “I feel…” whenever you have the thought, until you default into the “I feel…” statement.

This simple change takes you from being defined by the statement to observing the statement, and when we are in this observation mode, the blood flow increases in the prefrontal cortex and decreases in the amygdala, which calms down the fear response center in the brain and allows you to be more objective and detached from the statement.

To change the attachment to making such statements in your workday you can work the 5 step Neurosculpting® process on a regular basis. For more information on the process you can visit the Neurosculpting Institute library at https://neurosculpting.com/featured-products/.

Susan Aplin Pogue

Susan focuses on the development and support of our corporate client programs. Joining our team after extensive time in both the natural foods and financial services industries, she brings over 20 years of corporate management and training to the Neurosculpting® team. Her experience in strategic planning, human capital assessment, training program design and delivery, and execution-focused project management gives our corporate clients an internal partner at the institute who creates results-oriented, skills development programs. If your organization is looking to develop a resilient, focused, and effective workforce, please contact Susan at [email protected] to start a solutions-based conversation on how our Neurosculpting Corporate Programs ® can be a cornerstone in your human capital plan.