How come knowing the right thing does not always mean you do the right thing? You know in your mind to eat healthy, whole foods but when you’re really hungry or had a bad day, it’s hard to say no to the cravings. You know that telling your sister she is overreacting won’t help her calm down, but you say it anyway. You know you need to put yourself out there more to find a romantic partner, but when the time comes you feel something very off in your body -- headaches, pounding heart, short temper, anxiety, fatigue, or panic.
If you know better and can think better, why don’t you always act better?
We call these emotional patterns -- negative or unwanted behaviors that we act on, even though we can think of better solutions. They exist due to past experiences. Every memory you’ve ever experienced gets stored in your subconscious and creates the story of your life. These stories, whether you want them to or not, become your biology. And no matter how high of a level of thinking you experience, these patterns will override your wanted behavior if the memories are strong enough.
As children, we become conditioned to certain behaviors because we learn that the choices we made either benefited or harmed us, and in the future we want to do what will protect us. For example, a child who burns their hand on a hot stove learns very quickly to not touch the stove. This protects the child from future burns and teaches them to be cautious in the kitchen. This can be helpful. However, a child who falls out of a tree and breaks her leg might experience utter terror from the event, as well as pain from the fall and perhaps embarrassment about the whole thing. This could condition her to experience panic anytime she looks down from a great height, resulting in shaking, a quickened heart rate, sweating, and a short temper due to fear, even if she is completely safe from harm.
We don’t have conscious control over panic, fear, heart rate, sweating, or any other physiological response. Your emotions flow throughout your body in the form of amino acids and act on your neurology (and therefore physiology) without your conscious permission. This is why no matter how clear and smart your thinking is, it isn’t enough to change these patterns on their own. But your thoughts are amazing at bringing awareness to the issue and giving you the inspiration to change the behavior pattern, if it no longer serves you. Because while these patterns and behaviors may be necessary and protective when they first occur, they may restrict you in the future.
Neuro Emotional Technique (NET) is the quickest and best way to rewire these neurological impulses and change unwanted patterns in the body. NET accesses the origins of these impulses, uncovers the associated memories, and allows processing of the memories to create a new perspective. Think of it like this: it is unsafe for a 4 year old to use the stove top because they can easily get burned. Their fear and avoidance of the stove altogether is very protective. But as they grow older, they can create delicious meals without any injury. This requires the person to revisit the stove top with a more mature perspective and learn how to use it safely. Without taking the time to revisit and relearn, the person will not progress past their 4-year-old knowledge of a stove top and be in fear of pain whenever near it.
NET allows this growth for all memories stored in the body and offers the chance to change perspective, thereby creating new, more appropriate patterns. It removes the unwanted physiological effects of panic, fear, procrastination, and being stuck, and creates space for the person to make choices based on what they know and want, instead of what has been ingrained in their biology for years. NET is an opportunity to feel calm in the face of panic, overcome your past burdens, and transform into the person you know you can be.
