This drawing that I did when I was in school back in 1977 (yes! The Year Of Star Wars!) is not a drawing of Robert Sapolsky, but of a friend of mind named James Kenney. But I thought that James looks kind of like Sapolsky, so here it is!

Lately while painting in our studio, Boris and I have been listening to lectures on youtube by Robert Sapolsky. Not only does he present information that is 500% fascinating, but he's just such a great speaker. So entertaining and fun to listen to! Anyway, one of the things he talked about was that the act of anticipating getting something you want is going to give you a higher endorphin blast than actually getting the thing. The reason I'm bringing this up is that it explains so many things--he used the example of gambling addiction or compulsive shopping, for instance. I could never understand how these things work as an actual addiction (although the fact that they do is obviously true!), but Sapolsky explains that the feeling of knowing you might get the reward you seek is like a powerful shot of an addictive drug.

Boris and I have always had a related experience with our painting. When working on a painting, we actually often enjoy the act of climbing towards the goal of doing the painting even more than when we finally finish it. The moment the goal has been realized, the feeling changes into a good kind of satisfaction, but it doesn't have that intense excitement that climbing does. I had always thought that this was because when the painting is still being formed, it contains all kinds of unknown possibilities and then, when it's finished, it's kind of nailed down into one spot. I do think that's part of the difference in feelings, but also knowing a change of chemistry is taking place, and not a letdown, makes you accept that it's just the way the system works. So then you can start getting excited about the next goal and the next one after that! I love it! Keep painting!

I Can Read Your Mind!

It's true! This just occurred to me today while I was doing my cardio workout. I can read your mind, right here in this blog. "Okay," you say, "so what am I thinking?" Well, my mind reading only works IN THE FUTURE! And after you read this, my mind-reading tells me that you'll be thinking, "Ha! She can't really read my mind at all." What a great trick!

So what does this have to do with fitness? Well, you can entertain yourself with your own mind like this too whenever you do your cardio exercises. Some people think doing cardio exercises at the gym (like running on the treadmill, stationary biking, or using an elliptical machine) is boring, but I often have trouble trying to look halfway sane at the gym because I'm laughing so hard. It all depends on what you're thinking! IPods help, too. And, if you combine cardio exercises with music you enjoy or something positive going on in your mind, you'll literally flood your system with happy chemistry that will make your whole day so much fun!

Carl Sagan Day

Happy Carl Sagan Day! Today is the first annual celebration of the life and work of an amazing man who really knew how to get into crazy little corners of your mind and expand it into directions that you never knew existed.
If you haven't at least read his book, Cosmos, or seen the TV series, Cosmos, well, you're just really missing an experience that everyone should have. When I first read his essays on biology, especially the parts about our mitochondria, the information really had me so intrigued that it set off a whole new passion of discovery for me. If you're a fellow human being on Planet Earth like I am (and you probably are!), you need to know this information!

Four people you should know about

I got hooked on learning about mind/body issues back when I was competing in bodybuilding (1984-1989) and have only gotten more and more interested in this passion of mind through the years. As anyone well knows, there are many experts on the subject whose work I've read who have great things to say, but, at this time, four people's work stand out in my mind as Super Supreme, and they are Dr. Andrew Weil, Dr. Steven Gurgevich, Dr. John Sarno, and Dr. Candace Pert. I'm going to write a separate post for each one of them so that I can tell you why I feel so strongly about their work.
In the meantime, I think we should build a new Mt. Rushmore of Health and Fitness and have these four people's images carved into a mountainside!

Changing Gears

A great question has been brought up by a couple of you and that is how to change gears between doing creative work, doing business errands, and exercise/fitness. This is something that, years ago, I had a real problem with. I know that the human brain is infinitely flexible and adaptable and I was determined to do all the things I wanted to do.
I realized that the most efficient way to make this happen was to use my powers of visualization ahead of time so that my brain would already be there once I was doing the new activity. For instance, the time spent while you're doing your cardio session is an ideal time to think about whatever creative work you're going to be doing later on. In fact, exercising increases dopamine (a brain chemical that makes you feel happy and makes you smarter and more creative!), so take advantage of your exercise time to figure out your next creative move.
Then, while you're painting, take note of what time you think you should stop so that you can do your exercise, errands, whatever, then start mentally preparing yourself while you're working and visualize yourself doing the new activity.
Abruptly ripping your mind away from an activity can be mentally exhausting, but you'll surprise yourself at how painless it can be if you use this visualization technique to ease the transition.

Cool Mind Trick From Another Dimension

The next time you find yourself in a situation that you feel is less than your favorite thing (let’s say, doing any kind of paperwork, a boring meeting, waiting in slow traffic, things like that), pretend that you are an alien being who exists in some other dimension where your reality is entirely different from ours here on Earth. So now, you, the alien, are in your own dimension and you’ve gone to an amusement park where one of the rides is that you get to pop into the body of some random person on Earth and experience whatever situation they are in for 15 minutes. And here you are! Suddenly, you become aware of your new living, human body (in the other dimension, you only exist as a bunch of electrons or something) and all the cool things it can do. All the things around you would be so amazing and new. Even filling out tax forms would be such a thrill! I know you’re probably thinking, “It would have been better to pop into a different person for my 15 minutes”, but you wouldn’t think that way because you wouldn’t be comparing it to another experience.

This is something I like to do just for fun sometimes when I want to taste a different reality, but I was reminded of it the other day when Boris and I visited with our friend and fellow illustrator, Dan Dos Santos, his wife Cristina, and their two sons, Uno and Kai. Uno is about 2 and a half, and he got the most amazing happiness from helping Dan measure cups of water to make rice. For him, this was a great adventure, filled with risk and reward. That’s the kind of other-dimensional thinking that can make a person’s life so much more fun! It’s not the task you have to do, it’s how you’re thinking about it.

Whatever is going on, just think of how rare it is that you would have a chance at this very moment!

Mental Programs

Wow! Amazing news about cells! I’ve been reading Candace Pert’s book, “Molecules of Emotion” and I’m starting a revolution in my mind! Did you know that each one of your cells is like a little brain that stores memories and communicates with all the other cells in your body through an intricate system of chemistry that makes the Internet look as primitive as smoke signals?

You can put this system to work for you just by knowing this—because once you know this, you’ll be communicating that knowledge to all the cells as well! That is, once you involve your conscious brain, you can think thoughts and make decisions that will affect not just your mood and energy levels, but things like chronic pain, blood pressure level, your immune system, and your overall health and well-being.

This is a huge topic with an infinite number of ways to put it to good use, but let’s start with using it to help you stay motivated to stick with a healthy lifestyle. The choices you make every minute of the day that determine what you would call your “lifestyle” have been put in place by you because of the chemicals in your brain that make you happy, your endorphins. Your response to seeing a pile of French fries vs. a clean, green salad is similar to the way the filing system in your computer works. You make associations with foods, experiences, etc. that you’ve had before and every time you have that experience and think the same thoughts, you reinforce a “default” response.

Often when people start a new fitness program or diet, unbeknownst to them, the deepest part of their mind thinks that it’s going to be a temporary situation. They haven’t yet created a new “default” response to their new choices. So how do you reprogram these default settings? First you have to very gently and very seriously ask yourself about what kind of pleasure you may be getting from your previous habits. This isn’t just the obvious stuff like, “Well, French fries are just superdelicious!” Because if you know that they’re bad for your health (and they really are!) but you continue to choose them anyway, you’re going against goals you’ve set for yourself and you’re going to end up feeling bad about that choice later. So you’ve got to really get into the deeper parts of your mind and ask why you’re not taking your new goal seriously.

Then, of course, you’ll need to create positive mental associations with the things you’ve chosen to be your new habits. For instance, while you’re eating something healthy or sticking with your plan to exercise, make a point of thinking about how happy you are to be doing something so good for yourself. Over time, the association will be automatic.

By approaching your system this way, you will develop a clear communication with your body and your subconscious mind that will become easier and easier to make use of.

Goal Setting vs. Identity Changing

A few months ago a friend wanted to get in shape after the long winter (which is still not over around here, by the way!). She asked me for some general fitness and nutrition advice and it soon became clear that one of her major problems was to keep the motivation to stick with her program once she had started it. This is probably the biggest hurdle to overcome and it’s not to be taken lightly.
I see a lot of good advice in blogs and magazines about how to stick to your fitness goals, but as artists, we have a slight advantage in that our powers of imagination and visualization can be used to help us in a big way. And since the human brain is designed for the capability to have imagination, anyone can use this principle to their advantage, whether they call themselves artists or not.
Often when people feel they’d like to get in better shape, it’s basically conceived of as a goal. The problem with a goal is that it’s really a temporary thing. Like getting to a certain point and then you’re finished! Then it’s back to the usual. I was discussing this with Boris and he said, “When you finish a painting, you’re not finished with art. It’s just On To The Next Painting! That’s because you think of yourself as an artist—it’s your identity, not just a painting.”
If you want to make a commitment to yourself to live a healthier lifestyle and get the most out of your amazing brain (to produce more amazing art!), you have to think of yourself as an active, healthy person. I’m not talking about just repeating words like “I’m strong! Yeah, I’m a badass!” or something equally poetic, but really creating a feeling in your mind that it’s who you are. Think of how it is when you’re working on a piece of art, you allow yourself to be so absorbed into the world of your subject that it becomes reality in your mind. Do the same thing with the image of yourself as a healthy, athletic person and you’ll send clear messages to all of the cells in your body to act accordingly. If you remember to think this way consistently for a long enough time, your body will basically “re-wire” itself and these thoughts will be there as your brain’s default setting. It’s the first step and, though it may seem too simple, it can make all the difference down the road.