You know you have to change and still, getting there seems so extremely hard. How come that change can sometimes make us feel paralyzed? What happens to our free will and strong convictions?
Think of a rider on the back of an elephant.The elephant has a will of its own and the rider can't control it by force. And you both have to move along the path.
Your conscious mind is the rider and your unconscious mind is like the elephant.
Learning how to control the elephant is the secret of self-improvement.
InThe Happiness Hypothesis,
Jonathan Haidt, University of Virginia psychologist, focuses on the duality inside our brains.
Make change happen. Direct the rider, motivate the elephant, shape the path.
"To change behavior, you’ve got to direct the rider, motivate the elephant, and shape the path. If you can do all three at once, dramatic change can happen, even if you don’t have lots of power or resources behind you."
Dan & Chip Heath in
'Switch - How to Change when Change is Hard'.