In Vistage we have
the privilege of hearing many world- class speakers on a wide range of subjects
ranging from hard business topics right through to intensely personal subjects
to help our members in the difficult task of leadership.
This week we have
had the special privilege of hearing psychiatrist Professor Steve Peters give
a captivating presentation to one of our Open Day audiences in Manchester on “Optimising the
Performance of the Human Mind”.
Professor Peters
came to public fame during the 2012 Olympic Games in London when he acted as
consultant to the Team GB Cycling which was extremely successful gaining many
medals including several gold.
His wonderful and readable book, The
Chimp Paradox, has become essential reading for many members of my Chief
Executive peer groups and his presentation emphasised that we can all change
the way that our minds work given that we can understand how it works.
In the days of my
youth I discovered the work of a French psychotherapist, one Emile Coue
(1857-1926) and his philosophy interested me.
He became very fashionable in the 1920s with his concept of
autosuggestion for self-improvement that has become almost proverbial.
In essence, and it
was very simple, he advocated clasping the hands fairly tightly and then
saying:
“Every day and in every way I am getting better and
better”
What was
particularly interesting was that this mantra needed to be repeated frequently
and quietly. Coue said that this would
achieve its objective; that is, to increase self esteem leading to continuous
improvement.
Coue came to mind
when I heard a piece on the radio this week when a contributor told the story of
how he had been able to minimise the effects of a serious illness through
autosuggestion.
When he was a
child he was diagnosed as having asthma and his doctors told him that if ever
he had an attack and for some reason did not have his inhaler with him, he
should lie down, close his eyes, clasp his hands and repeat continuously, “It is passing”.
It happened that
on a trek in a forest at the age of 12 with a companion, he had an attack and
would you know, he hadn’t brought his inhaler.
While his companion went for help he took his doctor’s advice and
repeated the “It is passing” phrase
continuously.
When help arrived
he said that he had felt the muscles in his chest start to relax and he had
come out of the worst of the attack.
There are many
resonances with Coue here. His experience
demonstrated that we are able to affect our own well being by this technique of
autosuggestion.
The Jewish mysticism
of Kabbalah has used meditative techniques to develop its philosophy for more
than 2000 years. It is fair to assume
that there must be something in it.
We all go through
times that are taxing and difficult to comprehend. It could be a loss of some sort, financial
problems, marital and relationship issues and many others.
At the same time
we always seem to exaggerate the issue and the potential outcome probably
inaccurately. Professor Peters says that
it is the Chimp brain taking over.
I tend to use two
very simple mantras:
I ask myself “Does it
matter, does it really matter?” and if the answer is “no” then I am on the way to solving my problem.
The other, and
this I have used before I heard the radio piece, is:
“This
too shall pass”
which is a
medieval proverb dating from around 1200CE and originating in both Persian and
Hebrew.
It is all a matter
of understanding and accepting that the only constant in the universe is change
and all situations, both good and bad, will change in some way. Autosuggestion is a technique that we all can use
at the right time and in the right way.
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