Using Subconscious Emotions to Dismantle Corporate Silos

10. January 2008 by John Schinnerer.

Understand Blocks to Organizational Change                                   

CASE STUDY – Understand Blocks to Organizational Change  Overview Emotion Mining provided a major automotive products company with 5 competitive breakthroughs: 

• Tangible evidence was uncovered as to why previous change initiatives had failed
• Employee engagement was increased which resulted in improved internal relationships
• Internal silos between marketing and sales were broken down, increasing sharing of and receptivity to critical new information
• Management gained specific data about the positive emotions needed to leverage for future innovation, creativity and stronger internal and external relationships
• Management learned of the major negative emotions which were disabling change attempts, ways to mitigate them and thus ensure successful change and continued innovation

A change initiative was redesigned and launched following the Emotion Mining study. The change was implemented in 1/3 the time of previous initiatives and resulted in a 3% increase in revenue Context 

A major automotive products company needed to develop a new customer experience to continue their market leadership. Previous change initiatives had not generated the desired results. Although the CEO recognized and supported the need for change, he first wanted to know why prior change initiatives had failed.  

Emotion Mining was brought in to support the Marketing firm charged with recommending and designing the change initiative. 

Objectives 

The Emotion Mining engagement had 4 goals:

1. Understand organizational climate and behaviors
2. Understand why initiatives might stall or lose momentum
3. Discover how to communicate with leaders and employees to gain their support for initiatives
4. Determine how the company can best address the emotional needs of employees to increase employee engagement and to ensure a successful change initiative

Process •         Using their own computer, 275 employees representing all levels of the company across the US and Canada responded to 3 questions using Emotion Mining’s patented “game-like” method: 

1.  
   1. How does WORKING [at the company] make you feel?
   2. How does DEALING WITH CHANGE [at the company] make you feel?
   3. How does IMPLEMENTING INITIATIVES [at the company] make you feel?

•         Each employee spent approximately 15 minutes at their own computer expressing their responses to each question 

•         A report was produced by Emotion Mining, complete with analysis and insights by region, job title and function, within 7 days of receiving input from the last respondent 

Emotion Mining Findings and Results •         The Emotion Mining engagement revealed a crucial disconnect between executives and the rest of the company. •         Executives and employees with the highest salaries were happiest with the success of past change and felt confident about future plans 

•         Middle managers and line-level employees felt the opposite. In addition to feeling that previous initiatives had not made sense and had failed, they felt significant anxiety related to new changes and had overall less job satisfaction. However, they were generally happy working for the company.  

•          Employees in different regions had significantly different experiences of corporate change which lead to different ways of communicating with different regions based upon their results 

•         Throughout the company there was a significant gap in spoken versus unspoken emotions. Spoken emotions are emotions of which you are aware. Unspoken emotions are emotions of which you are not aware. Unspoken emotions drive the majority of our behavior.

•         At the company, spoken emotions were largely positive “Proud, Confident, Energized” while unspoken emotions included “Uncomfortable, Discontented, Insecure” which gave the leaders 2 significant directions to pursue: 1) positive emotions to appeal to and leverage for future creativity, innovation, improved employee engagement and more productive interpersonal relationships and 2) insight into the negative emotional climate of frustration and anxiety that had sabotaged previous change initiatives 

Emotion Mining Outcomes: 

•         As recent studies have verified, the process of labeling negative emotions reduces their intensity and this appeared to be true with this company. As the workforce became less discontented and insecure, employee engagement increased, interpersonal relationships improved, and productivity rose 

•         The emotional awareness created by Emotion Mining’s unique process was a direct cause in breaking down silos within the company and resulted in increased support, communication and cooperation between functions. As a result, the next change initiative was implemented successfully and in one third of the time as previous initiatives.  

•         In light of the insights surfaced by the EM process, the executive team announced a new plan to align compensation strategies with both initiation and successful implementation of change initiatives 

•         In addition, the senior team revised the company’s communication strategy to focus on two-way dialogue versus one-way (or email) communication to better understand and respond to the concerns of employees                                    

Contact:

John Schinnerer

Director of Operations

Emotion Mining Company, Inc.

www.emotionmining.com

(925) 944-3440

Posted in emotion mining company, unique marketing research, new approaches to organizational change initiatives, emotional intelligence, dr. john schinnerer, business, managing stress, Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »

Automatic versus the Conscious Mind - Who is really in control of you?

25. April 2006 by John Schinnerer.

Dr. John Schinnerer on another difference within the marvelous human brain – automatic or conscious processes. Who is really in charge - your “old” emotional brain or your “new” rational brain?

Close the gap between how you think your brain works and how it ACTUALLY works. You THINK you have free will. What if it were the case that you don’t have as much free will as you think? What if 90% of what you do and say is automatic?

A fascinating and novel approach to radio. Dr. John borrows Jim Gaffigan’s method of speaking the thoughts of the audience making for humorous and helpful radio. Best ever?!

Guide To Self airs on KDIA 1640 AM at 5 pm in the SF Bay Area. More info is at http://www.guidetoself.com.

Guide To Self radio is sponsored in part by Infinet Assessment, the premier firm for employee testing. More is available at
http://www.infinetassessment.com.

(925) 944-3440
Duration:29 minutes, 25 seconds

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Copyright 2005-06 Guide To Self, John Schinnerer, PhD.

Posted in nature vs. nurture, Guide To Self Beginners Guide To Managing Emotion, emotional mind, emotional management, subconscious mind, happiness, emotional intelligence, positive psychology, dr. john schinnerer, life coach, guide to self, Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »

The most complex system in the universe - The human brain

7. April 2006 by John Schinnerer.

The brain is the most complex system known to humankind. It contains over one hundred billion neurons, or brain cells. Each cell in your brain has an average of ten thousand connections to other brain cells.

That means that there are more connections in your brain than there are stars in the universe. The fact that my brain works even remotely correctly, a fact my wife might dispute, is a the most convincing evidence I’ve found for the presence of a higher power.

The brain affects everything you are, everything you do - your relationships, work, parenting, marriage, and even your relationships with God. To understand yourself and those around you, you must understand the brain.

If your brain is working right, then you are working right. If your brain is NOT working right, then…
you’ve got a…
problem.

Check it out with Dr. John Schinnerer and Guide To Self radio.

http://www.guidetoself.com
http://www.infinetassessment.com
Duration:29 minutes, 39 seconds

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Copyright 2005-06 Guide To Self, John Schinnerer, PhD.

Posted in emotional mind, emotional management, consciousness, The human brain, rational mind, Guide To Self Beginners Guide To Managing Emotion, positive psychology, dr. john schinnerer, guide to self, emotional intelligence, Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »

17. February 2006 by John Schinnerer.

I am your friendly neighborhood psychologist, Dr. John Schinnerer, and we have a poignant show for you today. I’m going to tell you about the latest in top secret ways to build a lasting and satisfying relationship. So if you are interested in learning how to build a happy and successful relationship, stick around because today I’m talking about ways to create a successful, lifelong relationship with your spouse. Studies show that the happiest people spend more time with others and less time by themselves. So what are some of the key ingredients to a lasting, successful relationship with your spouse, your friends, and your children? Tune in and find out! Guide To Self radio airs on KDIA 1640 AM in the San Francisco Bay Area every Monday through Friday at 5 pm. You can also catch it on the web at www.kdia.com. Past shows are available at www.guidetoself.com.
Duration:29 minutes, 16 seconds

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Best Ways to Overcome Sadness, Irritability and Depression

16. February 2006 by John Schinnerer.

Guide To Self – KDIA Radio
Latest Methods for Dealing with Sadness
Dr. John Schinnerer
Guide To Self Radio and Coaching

A great day to you and welcome to Guide To Self where you learn the latest ways to deal with sadness!

As many of you know, my wife and I recently had our fourth child, a girl named Molly Marie. She is now six weeks old which means we’ve gone six weeks without much sleep. My wife and I are exhausted. The other three children are jealous to one degree or another. And my mood recently took a nosedive.

So today, I’m going to share with you steps you can take to defeat depression, sadness, irritability or whatever you want to call it.

Sadness is Different for Men than for Women

Be aware that sadness takes different shapes. Typically, sadness appears as anger and irritability in men and comes out as sorrow and melancholy in women. So it looks different when I get down from when my wife gets down. I tend to get more irritable and less patient. I feel overwhelmed more easily. I have a harder time staying in the present moment. My thoughts take me to the past or the future more quickly. My energy level is low. My body aches more. And I get less joy out of my daily routines.

So I want to share with you what exactly is going on in my life. I want to make you aware of what it takes to cause a road bump in my emotional path. I told you about not sleeping well for six weeks due to the baby. That’s a big one. Sleep disturbance is enough to mess up anyone’s mood. In my case, lack of sleep led to a cold and sore throat.

On top of that, I’m not a wealthy man. In fact, nearly the opposite, I’m in debt. I have not made money doing this radio show. So I pay for the privilege of sharing my knowledge with listeners. Roughly 2 hours per day are spent preparing for the show. I book my own guests. I write my own scripts. I respond to emails and letters.

Also, I’m currently in charge of two companies. I’m working on corporate taxes which I don’t particularly enjoy.

I see several clients daily for coaching where I deal with other people’s problems most of the day.

I’m trying to find the time to finish two books.

At night, once the children are in bed, I add radio shows to the website and do the programming.

My wife is now back to work 3 days per week as a hairdresser. This means that two mornings a week, with the help of a nanny, I juggle a newborn and a 5-year-old.

My house is partially torn up due to a contractor who left the job half-finished. So we’re now in the process of drawing up new plans and finding a new contractor.

And to top it all off, a few days ago, I was served papers for a lawsuit in which I’m being sued by a title company for a down payment on a house. We’ve paid the money. I’ve got the stubs from the money orders. Apparently, the title company didn’t receive them with all the other papers we mailed in.

Right now, it feels as if every relationship in my life is consuming my energy. And I’m running on empty. So I’ve been exhausted and bummed out the last couple of days.

So what do I do? How does a psychologist break out of such a vicious cycle?
I’ll tell you how. Dealing with sadness that stays with you for a few days or weeks may require a lifestyle change for you – it’s about dealing with your whole person – diet, exercise, faith, mind and relationships.

Top Ways to Deal with Sadness

First, I never stop exercising. Even when my mind is trying to find a way out of it, I will at least walk for 20 minutes. It’s critical that you exercise twenty minutes a day for mood and longer than that if you want to lose weight. This can be as simple as climbing the stairs at work twice a day, or walking for 20 minutes. When I’m working out, I will think about getting rid of all my fear and anger. Exercise is one of the best ways to work negative emotions out of your body.

Second, I remind myself of what is truly important by determining what is really important and what is not. How do I do this? I ask myself the question, “Will this matter a year from now?” Most of the time, the answer is “No, it won’t matter.” It’s one of the ways we can learn to be less emotionally reactive and more thoughtfully proactive. If you’re like me, you have to train yourself to behave in healthy ways because most people did not learn these tricks growing up. So you need to retrain your brain. As you learn to respond more effectively to minor inconveniences, it leaves you more positive energy to respond to actual crises. This is known to many as wisdom - the ability to deal well with your own suffering as well as help others with theirs.

Third, I focus on everything for which I am grateful – my wife, my children, my dog, my friends, my coworkers, my God, my health and so on. It is critical that you learn how to appreciate life. Life is a gift that has been granted to us. The more we appreciate and cherish the gift, the more we understand what a magical journey life is. Your thoughts matter tremendously in this equation of emotion.

A study done at NIMH focused on the power of thought and emotion. The brain activity of ten normal women was monitored under 3 different conditions.

The researcher recorded each person’s brain activity when they were thinking neutral thoughts, happy thoughts, and sad thoughts.

During the neutral thoughts, nothing changed in the brain.

During the happy thoughts, the limbic system, or the emotional brain, cooled down, and became less active resulting in a more relaxed and energized state.

During the sad thoughts, the limbic system, the emotional brain, became aroused and active which has negative effects on your body – tense muscles, quickened heart rate, perspiration and so on.

Think about the last time you felt happy. How did your body feel? Your muscles relax, your hands become dry, your heart rate slows, and you breathe more deeply. Your body reacts to EVERY FEELING YOU HAVE! This is proof that your emotions matter!

Fourth, welcome the feeling of sadness. It is there for a reason. There is a message or lesson involved in the emotion. Your job is to figure the message out. Once you’ve accepted the feeling, let it go, breathe it out. Emotions are meant to be temporary.

One of my main difficulties growing up was that I could sense or pick up the emotions of other people. I was intuitive even as a little child. The problem is that no one teaches you what to do with that emotional energy. And it’s very draining.

I used to think of myself as a container for negative emotions such as anger, sadness and fear. What I found is that thinking of yourself as a container for emotions is not a healthy way to picture it. It’s much more helpful to think of yourself as a net which catches positive emotions and allows negative emotions to pass through. Keep in mind that these are just emotions. Emotions are not permanent. They are not intended to remain with us. They are just passing through.

Fifth, as the human brain is easily altered, I change the music I listen to. Once I have made up my mind to change my mood, I purposefully listen to upbeat lively music. I watch only comedies. Realize that your brain is incredibly open to suggestion. Not only can music and television alter your brain, as I mentioned, your very thoughts and feelings have the ability to change the physical make-up of your brain.

You have to be cautious what you expose yourself too. Your senses take in over 4 billion bits of information per second. You are only consciously aware of 2,000 of those bits per second. This means that your mind is constantly taking in seeds and you are not even aware of it – overhearing conversations, televisions playing in the background, commercials you try to ignore, music lyrics and so on. So your emotional state, your thoughts, your judgments all have a tremendous effect on what information you are consciously aware of.

When you are touched, you have a physical sensation. When you feel an emotion, you also have a physical sensation in your body. Every physical sensation, every thought, every feeling is written into your brain. The more times you have it, the more deeply it is written into your brain. So the longer you spend immersed in sad feelings and morose thoughts, the more your body becomes accustomed to that state of being. The more your body becomes accustomed to it, the more it wants to remain there. The harder it is to break out. While you want to welcome the feeling and embrace it, you also want to breathe it out as soon as possible. Don’t spend too long wallowing in self-pity.

Sixth, work in sprints – go two hours and then break for ten minutes. Give yourself a break every two hours at least. Our brain works best that way. It’s difficult and less effective to work eight hours straight.

Seventh, stay in the present moment. Train your thoughts to stay focused on the present moment. When you find Gremlin thoughts coming to take you to the past or the future, redirect yourself to the right now and right here.

Eighth, stop using toxic elements. This includes alcohol, caffeine, marijuana, cocaine, nicotine and sugars. Caffeine and nicotine have been shown in brain studies to decrease overall blood flow to the brain, making most symptoms worsen over time. They also decrease the effectiveness of many medications and increase the number and severity of side effects. Most of the substances we reach for when sad act as central nervous system depressants anyway. When you’re already depressed, you don’t want to add fuel to the fire with alcohol or marijuana.

Ninth, add Omega-3 to your daily diet. Omega-3 stabilizes mood & improves overall brain functioning. Omega-3 fatty acids are essential fatty acids crucial for growth and development. My favorite, and one of the most studied nutrients, is the Omega-3 fatty acids. About 60% of the brain is made up of fats (lipids) that make up the lining of every brain cell. Omega-3s are required by the brain to an extraordinary degree. They cannot be produced by our bodies but must be ingested via diet or pills. They are found in large, fatty, cold water fish, olive oil, and canola oil. Omega-3s help turn down the ‘volume’ of communications between brain cells (similar to the action of a mood stabilizer). Documented benefits of Omega-3 oils include improved mood, clearer thinking, more serenity, better concentration and focus, and better vision.

Tenth, add B Vitamins and folate in particular to your supplement regimen. Published studies have shown a relationship between B vitamins and depression. Increasing levels of B vitamins are highly likely to improve your mood.

Eleventh, add Ginseng. Ginseng is popularly touted as a way to beat stress, improve vigor and simply feel better. The main idea with ginseng is that it helps when your body is stressed. Stress occurs anytime you are challenged above and beyond what your body is used to. An Olympic skier won’t ski faster by taking ginseng. He’s used to that stress of exercise. A working mother of two kids won’t notice a difference. She’s accustomed to her daily routine. However, throw in a new baby, or an ill parent, and you’ve just spilled over into exhaustion. That’s when ginseng does make a difference - when you have to push beyond your limits to the point of exhaustion. Ginseng helps increase your resistance and prevent exhaustion.

Twelfth, breathe – We have covered deep breathing in previous shows. This is the deep diaphragmatic breathing where you breathe into your abdomen, not your chest. Focus on pushing out all of the air in your lungs. The goal is to fill your lungs 100% with fresh air on each breath.

Just as with your thoughts and feelings, you want to be constantly aware of your breathing every second of every day. Remember, we’ve already shown it is possible to split your conscious mind in two parts. One part you can use to tend to the daily demands of your life. The other part must be used to monitor your breathing, your thoughts and your feelings. With practice, it can be done.

Thirteenth, don’t isolate yourself. As much as you can, surround yourself with family and friends.

Fourteenth, go easier on yourself

Forgive yourself for your mistakes and shortcomings. Picture yourself as a small child. Now picture yourself parenting yourself. Forgive yourself as you would like to have been forgiven as a child. Mistakes are merely learning opportunities.
And learn to forgive others

Let go of anger and disappointment by writing a letter forgiving the individual who has hurt you. Holding on to the anger only harms you. Forgiving enables you to move on and get past the hurt.

Fifteenth, return to nature. This is a great way to reconnect with your soul. Just take a few minutes, go outside, breathe in deeply, and look at the birds, the trees and the grass.

Sixteenth, get your sleep. Research has shown that adults need between 7 and 8 hours of sleep. No more, no less. If you are too far on either side, you are playing with fire. Sleep too little you risk exhaustion. Sleep too much, you risk lethargy and depression.

Seventeenth, do something for someone else. Altruism is perhaps the most powerful way to snap your mind out of a funk. Focus on someone besides yourself.

To sum up, there are at least fifteen things you can do immediately to pull yourself up and out of a funk. These include taking supplements such as Omega-3 fatty acids, B vitamins, and ginseng, getting your 8 hours of sleep, daily exercise, staying in the present moment, and more. Remember to welcome the feelings that you have. Don’t repress them. That leads to physical troubles such as high blood pressure and heart disease. Rather, be aware of them, listen to them, and let them go. Think of yourself as a net through which emotions pass and not as a container for feelings.

Guide To Self is sponsored in part by Infinet Assessment, the best in employee testing. If you want the best employees, test to find the best candidates. Take a look at Infinet’s comprehensive assessments which look at EQ, IQ, personality, and ethics at http://www.infinetassessment.com or call 925-944-3441.

More information on sadness and depression may be found at the Guide To Self website at http://www.guidetoself.com.

Guide To Self(C) 2005-06.

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14. February 2006 by John Schinnerer.

Dr. John Schinnerer, host of Guide to Self radio, talks with Dr. Shawn Dill, Director of Community Outreach for Life West Health Center in Hayward, California and a upper cervical chiropractor. The theory of chiropractics has always made sense to me: you make some adjustments, push some bones back in place, and you have a better circulatory response.

Yet, there’s always a twinge of fear in me right before getting my neck adjusted.

One of my issues with chiropractics was the lack of precision in the adjustments and the fact that there was no way to measure progress or quality of treatment.

Well, now that’s all changed.

Dr. Dill is practicing upper cervical specific chiropractic where the focus is on your head and neck (atlas and axis more specifically).
What’s more, each time you go in, Dr. Dill uses Computerized Infrared Thermography (images that track heat variability and in turn nerve problems) before and after your adjustment so that he CAN measure the results. This excites me. This has possibilities.

For those of you interested in learning the latest in physical health, stick around. This is your friendly neighborhood psychologist, Dr. John Schinnerer and you’re listening to Guide To Self radio on KDIA 1640 AM. http://www.guidetoself.com/.

Are you an avid listener? Call (925) 944-3440 for sponsorship opportunities. The owner of KDIA and KDYA has made some remarkable concessions in an attempt to support
Guide To Self. Email for more info on the remarkable sponsor package
now available. Info@GuideToSelf.com.
Duration:31 minutes, 13 seconds

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Top Things to Do When You Begin To Get Mad

14. February 2006 by John Schinnerer.

Dealing with Disagreement for Couples
Dr. John Schinnerer
Guide To Self
(925) 944-3440
http://www.GuideToSelf.com

Cupid may help people fall in love, but he fails miserably when it comes to helping couples remain in love. That’s because the degree to which you love someone, amazingly, has little to do with how long your relationship lasts. The biggest secret to a happy relationship has to do with how well you deal with your conflicts – what you do when you get mad at your loved one!

Researchers can accurately determine if a couple will divorce simply by watching them talk about their differences for just five minutes. Using this little chunk of information, researchers are correct 91% of the time in uncovering those relationships that will endure versus those that will crash and burn.

In partnerships headed for divorce, a woman typically brings up an difficult topic by criticizing her husband. For instance, when the woman wants her spouse to fix the sink, she might say “You never do anything around the house.” The husband usually responds by getting negative and blaming his wife with comments like, “What are you – stupid!? You don’t appreciate all that I do! I never sit down.” Criticism and personal attacks pave the way down the road to divorce. If you want to end up divorced and alone, just keep on denigrating your spouse.

On the other hand, if you are open-minded and want to keep your marriage intact, then find healthy ways to communicate.

As it is far easier to DO something rather than NOT do something, I’m going to share with you 15 things to DO when you sense yourself getting angry with someone you care about (For example, “Don’t sit down” is a much harder command to follow than “Stand up.”).

So to keep your relationships going strong, I recommend these emotional tools:

Things to Do When You Begin to Get Angry

1. USE “I” STATEMENTS:

When you’re upset with your spouse, begin the conversation at a low level of intensity. Don’t start by with an attack. Instead use the I statements. Start by explaining how you feel and why you feel that way. Follow it up with what you need your spouse to do. For instance, “I’m frustrated by everything I have to do. The house is a mess and we have guests coming over tonight. I need your help picking up the house.”

2. STAY CALM WHILE LISTENING TO THE PROBLEM:

When your spouse tells you what’s wrong, stay calm. Fight the automatic urge to attack. Instead, ask your partner to be specific about what he or she wants like, “What do you need me to do?” If you’re too mad to be respectful, take time to calm down — go for a walk, watch TV, go to bed — before talking again. It’s always helpful to have a standing time out rule where anyone can take a break from a disagreement because they are too angry or emotional to continue. Nothing will get resolved if one or both of you are angry. First, get past the anger, then solve the dispute.

3. BE SILENT.
Close your mouth. Shut your pie hole. This is the single best thing you can do when you’re angry. Why? It buys you time to calm down and thus, to think more clearly. When you are angry, you are far more likely to say something that you later regret. Learn the art of silence.

4. LEAVE THE SITUATION.
Think of your anger on a ten point scale where 1 is calm and 10 is enraged. If your anger goes above a 5, take a time out. Walk away. Have a standing rule in your house that anyone can take a time out whenever things get too heated. Agree to come back to the issue later when things have calmed down.

5. LOOK AWAY.
Staring at another person when they are angry serves to heighten their negative feelings. Look away. Look at your shoes, the ceiling, the sky or a picture. Give the other person a minute to recompose him- or herself. Keep them in your peripheral vision. Just don’t look directly at them.

Guide To Self(C) 2005-06.

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10. February 2006 by John Schinnerer.

Top Things To Do When You Become ANGRY

15 things to do when you begin to realize you are starting to get angry.

Dr. John Schinnerer, host of Guide To Self radio, shares his best secrets on defusing your anger in tense situations with loved ones.

Guide To Self radio may be heard every Monday through Friday on KDIA 1640 AM. More shows available at http://www.guidetoself.com.
Duration:27 minutes, 43 seconds

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Sexual addictions: The insidious destroyer of trust

23. January 2006 by John Schinnerer.

If there is one thing upon this earth that mankind love and admire better than another, it is a brave man, — it is the man who dares to look the devil in the face and tell him he is a devil.

– James A. Garfield

Sexual Addictions and Marital Infidelity

I’m working on today’s radio show. The show is on sexual addiction, marital infidelity and spousal betrayal. Really, the show is on addiction because an addiction is an addiction is an addiction. You can argue the subtle nuances of how different addictions are best treated.

Yet, humans are driven to pursue pleasure and avoid pain. Two basic motivations. Addictions are basically a pleasurable chemical rush inside the body that occur due to thoughts, feelings or actions. When we get locked into a pattern of repeating destructive thoughts or behaviors, we are addicted.

We can be addicted to anything and everything - sex, alcohol, heroin, cocaine, marijuana, excitement, adrenaline, anger, stress, worry, fear, inflexibility, power, you name it. We can be addicted to behaviors, thoughts OR feelings.

Take heroin, for example, one of the most addictive substances on the planet, right alongside crack and nicotine. When you look closely at how heroin works inside the body’s cells, you see the injected heroin dock with the opiate receptors of individual cells. These are the exact same receptors that were designed to receive endorphins which are normally created via things like exercise, sex, deep breathing and positive emotions. Rather than receive the body’s natural endorphins, the cell takes in the heroin molecules and that cell grows to need the heroin. Over time, more heroin is needed to produce the same perceived high.

When a particular cell is bathed in heroin for a long time or repeatedly, it’s receptors shrink and it becomes less sensitive to the same amount of heroin or endorphins. This creates what we know as tolerance. The same amount of heroin is no longer sufficient to produce the desired high.

Here comes the wild part. Whether you are talking about heroin or cocaine, or anger or fear, it’s the same underlying chemical process. You can be addicted to your emotions. Feelings create peptides, or molecules of emotion as Dr. Candace Pert calls them. These emotion peptides dock with the receptors on each cell. With intense or chronic feelings, the cell begins to need or crave the same emotions over and over. And just as with heroin, your cells build up a tolerance to these peptides, or molecules of emotion.

For example, if you are addicted to anger, then you will gradually need either more intense anger (i.e., rage) or need to become angry more often, in order to satisfy the cravings of your body and it’s cells. And a self-perpetuating cycle is born.

Hard to imagine? I know. But it makes so much sense.

Do you have any of these in your life?

Destructive, negative feelings (short-term)or moods (long-term). These might include sadness, anger, irritability, fear, anxiety, stress, depression, resentment, disappointment, shame or guilt.

Encountering the same negative situations over and over.

An inability to change your self or your life.

A perceived inability to create a new life or pattern.

Yearning for certain emotions.

Looking for things to dull your pain.

Swearing you’ll never do something again. And then you find yourself doing that same behavior again in an hour, a day or a week.

Emotions are addictive. And I believe they lie at the base of all our other addictions - sex, drugs, alcohol, and more.

Find out more by listening to todays Guide To Self radio show on KDIA 1640 AM at 5 pm (PST). Listen live on the internet at http://www.KDIA.com.

Past shows on similar topics can be found at http://www.guidetoself.com/interviews.htm.

Begin a new life today. The first step is the desire to change.

Have a wonderful day!

Dr. John Schinnerer
Radio Show Host
Guide To Self Radio
http://www.guidetoself.com/

Guide To Self(C) 2005-06.
Guide To Self is sponsored in part by Infinet Assessment, the best in pre-employment testing. Please support their efforts at http://www.infinetassessment.com.

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12. January 2006 by John Schinnerer.

Are you a controlling person?
Do you have a little perfectionism in you?
Would you rather avoid your feelings?
Do you get ill because of
your stress?
Are you distrustful of others?

A 'yes' answer to any of these questions is an indicator of codependency. Codependency occurs on a spectrum and occurs when we care TOO MUCH for others, when we put the needs of others ahead of our own.

Find out more in this sizzling interview between Dr. John Schinnerer, host of Guide To Self radio, and Amy, teacher, mother of three and recovering codependent (aren't we all?!).

More shows available at www.guidetoself.com. Dr. John Schinnerer may be reached for coaching and keynotes at (925) 944-3440.
Duration:29 minutes, 56 seconds

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