How we think directly affects how we feel. If we change how we think we can change how we feel. An example of this is the placebo effect.
The placebo effect is a phenomenon where people feel beneficial effects from an inactive drug or treatment (placebo). Since the placebo doesn’t have a therapeutic effect, the benefit is attributed to the patient’s belief in the treatment.
However, medicine is not the only place we see these effects. Clinical psychologist Alia Crum spent years studying the placebo effect and thought food labels might have a similar effect on people.
In a study, Crum whipped up a batch of milkshakes and labeled them as either health shakes or dessert shakes. The shakes were identical, only the labeling differed.
People in the study drank one of these shakes while the researchers monitored levels of their hormone ghrelin, commonly referred to as the hunger hormone. Ghrelin levels rise when you haven’t eaten in a while to signal that you should go find food. Ghrelin drops after eating to signal that it is time for your body to digest food.
Crum found, “Ghrelin levels dropped about three times more when people thought they were consuming the indulgent shake.”1 Hunger dropped more significantly for the people who drank the dessert shake vs the people who drank the health shake.
Your thoughts and perception have power over your reality. You can harness this power to change reality by using a tool called reframing.
Reframing Your Thoughts
There is a basic principle behind reframing: Events and situations do not have inherent meaning; rather we assign meaning based on our interpretation.
In the milkshake study people assigned meaning to the shakes based on their interpretation of it being good or bad for you.
William Shakespeare said:
“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”
If you think about working out as punishment, you probably won’t enjoy it. Whereas if you think about working out as an opportunity to get stronger and relieve stress, you will likely enjoy it and look forward to it.
Nothing about the gym is inherently different, but changing your thoughts changes how you feel about it.
Reframing enables you to change your perception, and in turn, your interpretation.
To change your interpretation, you first need to become aware of your thoughts. Pause and notice your thoughts. Ask yourself, “How am I thinking about this right now?” Think about what your perception is.
Once you are aware of your perception you can question why you are thinking that way. You can consider alternative thoughts.
For instance, if you are experiencing negative thoughts you can replace them with positive alternatives. Here are some examples:
- Negative Thought: I am a failure.
- Positive Thought: I may have failed, but I can try again.
- Negative Thought: I always make bad choices.
- Positive Thought: There are positives and negatives with every choice.
- Negative Thought: I am worried about tomorrow.
- Positive Thought: What can I focus on right now?
If you want to change how you feel the first place to start is changing your thoughts.
This article is derived from an excerpt from Chapter 6 of my book Hard Wired. Read more here.