Free Will and Choice

One of the books that I pulled up my shelf, I don't know how many times, during the last 20 years. It's made a profound impact on me. I go back to some of the concepts in there over and over again.

It's a book called the Mind and the Brain Doctor Jeffrey Schwartz. I love the subtitle neuroplasticity and the power of mental force. He's the first guy that I came across that, talked about the physical brain and the mind being something different. the brain body is the physical part of us, but the mind We do wanna call it the spirit, the soul, intelligence, whatever it is. They're they're different things and they the body acts on the mind, the mind acts on the body. And it just makes so much sense to me as I have worked with those who are struggling with addiction issues, anxiety, depression, so forth.

Listen to this sentence, and then I wanna talk about it for just just a couple minutes. The only willful choice one has is the quality of attention one gives to a thought at any moment. So this book is about free will. This book is about choice. It's kind of mind boggling to me that there really are people in the world today who don't believe in free choice. They are, of what's called the materialist mindset. a determined mindset. Just thinking that we are kind of robots and we're acted upon by our genes and there's really nothing we can do individually to change that. Just makes absolutely sense to me.

I don't agree with it. It would if that were the case, life would have absolutely no meaning. So I love the concept of choice of agency that we are the ones that determine the quality of our life If we don't like where things are going, we absolutely have the capacity to do something about it. Doctor Schwartz, he he worked with those who struggled with severe OCD issues.

And he he absolutely acknowledged and recognized that the brain impacts the mind when the brain somehow gets wired a little bit differently, it's off meaning that it will send compulsive thoughts to do something from the deeper regions of the brain and the prefrontal cortex higher functioning part of the brain where the mind works through. The mind can inhibit and restructure and reframe the compulsion or drive that is hitting the person, and and they can actually go and perform another behavior. 1 of the key concepts has to do with awareness, increasing our level of awareness.

This is what mindfulness is all about, learning to recognize certain thoughts, recognize triggers, and he scientifically in the book it it brings it out shows that when we have a compulsion or a trigger or an idea to do something, there's a part that fires in the brain before any action happens. And this reminds me of that classical statement by Victor Franco. He is so credible to me.

Victor Franco is a guy who -- through the horrors of of the Holocaust. in a concentration camp for a number of years. I think it was 4 years and and lost most of his loved ones. and even in those conditions, he he this is why he's so critical when he said this. Notwithstanding that all his freedom was taken away physically, He was in prison. He was told what he could eat. He was forced to work. He was freezing, holes in his shoes, so forth, and anyway, here's the statement that he he made everything can be taken from a man but one thing the last of human freedoms to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstance to choose one's own way. between stimulus and response, there is a space.

So back to what Jeffrey Sports talks about He says there really is scientifically when we have an intention to do something, there's a little space between stimulus of even a thought There's a space where we choose our response. So back to what Victor Frankel says between stimulus and response, there is a space In that space is our power to choose our response and in our response lies our growth and our freedom. except for the rare cases where individuals are struggling with severe mental disorders like schizophrenia So the science behind schizophrenia when people are hearing different voices and so forth, this part of the brain, the prefrontal cortex isn't working. I mean, it's not working correctly in that. It can send a thought going, I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to follow that.

There's only a few rare cases where we don't have the capacity to make the changes that we truly want. We have free will and free won't. and when we inhibit a trigger from coming and do something different neuroplasticity means that the very hard wiring in our brain through repeated repeated effort, what what Doctor Schwartz talks about mental force. That means it's an energy of thought a perception. And as a matter of fact, going back to Victor Franco, there was a time when he was he was gone. He was out on a march. and he was malnourished, had holes and issues. It was freezing in the wintertime and that they had to go out and work.

Can you imagine that? know, when the shovel hit hit and frozen ground trying to do stuff in any way, he just kinda stumbled and and hit the ground. And when he was on the ground, and it was the worst place to be because the the soldiers would come and beat people who were on the ground, He he was down there and thinking, wow, is this really the end? Am I gonna be able to get through this at all? and then he said he had a thought, a vision.

This again, why a vision statement, mental force putting something out there in in in the future for yourself to draw on. He saw himself in his mind's eye projecting into the just standing in front of an audience telling them how he survived the horrors of the Holocaust. in a concentration camp. And he said when he had that thought, he found his body standing up and somehow he was able to continue on with that day. And subsequently to the point where one day he was actually standing in front of an audience telling them how he survived and it has to do with our will, our agency, We really do have choice. We cannot minimize the power of the physical brain and the physical body especially when it hooks to Olympic type instant gratification behaviors.

That's why That's why a drug addiction is so powerful. It rewires the brain to respond to certain ways. My pornography is such a big issue All of these things, however, just they do not provide lasting peace they do not provide lasting happiness.

There's instant gratification or being able to exert your will mindfully acknowledging the trigger when it comes. I'm not saying deny the trigger and I'm not saying this is easy but we do have a place within this. It's all powerful. is that the cord is mindful peace, the intelligent force of ines that can cause things to happen through mental effort through projecting thoughts, thinking certain things and mindfulness is all about choosing which thoughts we're going to attend to. life is a matter of attention and we have the capacity to do that. So when when one has a trigger, no matter what it is, and then I'm not and again acknowledging how challenging it is to deal with triggers.

Play the tape all the way through stop for a moment burry, you can go, if I act on this behavior or act up this behavior where this thought wants me to go, what is going to be the outcome? Is the instant gratification going to be worth it? in that moment, we do have the power to go. I acknowledge that. They understand where it's coming from. I understand the craving because my brain, there it is, my limbic system, there it, capital, it, it,

My brain is wired a certain way and it's dry me to do this through repetition. It's how we're wired That's why breaking habits can be so challenging, but but mindfully becoming aware it can be done. and instead of acting on the behavior, acknowledge it. There it is. Yep, my body, brain is craving, anticipating a reward and I, however, am going to turn and go this way. I experienced that every morning at the gym. I just got back from the gym a little bit ago. lifted heavier weights today than I ever had before. Just working because I I'm reading I'm actually listening to this book on tape too over and over again through the years.

And anyway, I just plugged it in again. day and I'm going, okay. Every time I sit down to do a set of weights, there's a part in me in my brain that says, this is this is causing too much pain. You you can't do this, and then there's another part. My mind just said, let's just give it a try. I visualize that you can do this and then I just and then I just start and go to work and all of a sudden I'm able to accomplish things that I've never accomplished before. And I kinda dance with that every day as we all do in different things, but We are stronger than we think we are. We do have the capacity to change, to grow, to develop. to create that future vision of ourselves. I love, again, the playwright George Bernard, our chop. Life is not about finding yourself life is about creating yourself.

We do have the capacity within us to choose a love statement by the Greek philosopher of Thucydides. A great warrior from history. Listen to what he said. of all manifestations of power restraint impresses men the most. even Marcus Aurelius, one of the most powerful leaders in history. So this guy could have anything he wants and then this is what he says. pleasures when unrestrained become punishments. So there's gotta be wisdom. There's gotta be a balance in what we allow ourselves to do as we navigate through life and it's always challenging, right? Do I have that other bowl of ice cream or not?

Do I have 6 chocolate chip cookies or maybe want, do I exercise today or do I not? All of these things are constantly before us, but if you create a vision for yourself, how do you want to be physically relationship wise, emotionally, spiritually, you create this vision. You're not there yet. We're never completely there, right? That just seems to be the purpose of life. We're always grasping and searching for that but it's in that journey that life has its meaning and you can find great joy in relationships learning not to be a victim of anything. Treat others with respect and dignity. It's it's getting back to some of the the foundational beliefs of the founding fathers of this of this country and and the Greek philosophers. Anyway, just a couple thoughts.

I wanna share great fantastic read. I could just go on and on about the value of this book and and how it's impacted me from a scientific point of view of mindfulness So, again, you know, make today the best you possibly can, gather key rosebuds, well gee, may, While time is still a fly in for the same flower that blooms today, tomorrow will be a dying. Can the Latin turn for that meeting, Carpe diem? seize the day. We haven't lived today yet, and and though we've lived many days in the past, we haven't lived today yet. So we don't know what's gonna happen out there.

So send some positive thoughts. Send some it's a positive direction for yourself as you're moving forward. Remember the Greek philosopher, Harry Kiley said no man ever steps into the same river twice because it's not the same river and he's not the same man. Today's a new day. Don't give up. Keep moving forward. If you've been working on something for a long period of time and been frustrated by it. Hey, today may be the day. Keep moving forward. making a great day.