Working on Personal Growth and Still Feeling Stuck? This May Be Why…
Does this sound familiar?
You’ve been working on personal growth. You’re exercising, practicing yoga, doing the affirmations, journaling, listening to podcasts, reading blogs, following all the personal growth “gurus” to learn about the latest mindset hacks, etc.
Yet, you’re not moving forward the way you hoped. Sure, there have been “a-ha” moments and glimpses of what you know in your heart is possible for you, but somehow you still feel stuck.
If this sounds like you, you’re not alone.
In the wellness and personal growth space, I’ve noticed far too many practitioners focus primarily on changing mindset.
And don’t get me wrong, shifting mindset is an important part of transformative work.
But when we’re focusing on mindset alone, we’re missing a HUGE (and essential) piece of the puzzle in the process, which can leave many people feeling stuck.
Here’s the thing: You can repeat affirmations, use the latest mindset hacks, or try to talk yourself into being more social/confident/authentic etc., but if your nervous system doesn’t feel safe in doing so, it will call bullsh*t every single time & you won’t get very far.
This is because our bodies house far more intelligence than we give them credit for.
The vagus nerve - the main component of the parasympathetic nervous system and controls internal organ functioning such as heart rate, respiratory rate, etc. - has pathways of fibers running between the body and the brain, sending data back and forth between them.
There are two main pathways of the vagus nerve: The afferent pathway, which has fibers running from the body to the brain and is responsible for sending emotional data, & the efferent pathway, which has fibers running from the brain to the body.
The afferent pathway (body to brain) makes up about 80% of the vagus nerve (!), whereas the efferent pathway (brain to body) makes up only about 20%. (Source: PubMed, PMID: 248378)
Let me say that again: 80% of the information carried through the vagus nerve (including emotional data) runs from the body to the brain, and only 20% runs from brain to body.
Now, when we think of an essential piece of transformative work, behavior change tops the list.
But guess what? Much of our behavior is driven by our emotions, and when you consider emotional data is sent via the afferent pathway (the fibers running from body to brain which makes up about 80% of the vagus nerve), our bodies (and nervous systems) play a huge part in our behavior.
In addition, our nervous system responds to our emotions, and when our nervous systems become activated, our prefrontal cortex (the part of the brain responsible for higher levels of thinking like decision making, problem solving and regulating emotions) goes offline -and OUR BODIES respond to this activation in various ways.
Speaking of nervous system activation, there’s another factor to consider: Experiences from our past can impact how our nervous system responds to experiences in the present moment if the present experience elicits similar emotions as those past experiences - even if the context of the present experience is different!
For example, if someone approaches you to start a friendly conversation and your emotional response to that mimics the response you had when that bully made fun of you back in third grade, your nervous system will have the same response in the present day experience as you had back then.
So, considering all of these factors, how can we expect to create sustainable, long term transformation by working on mindset alone?
For any type of mindset shift to happen (and stick), we must first recognize the signals that our bodies give us when our nervous systems are activated and learn how to bring our bodies and nervous systems back to a regulated state so our thinking brains can come back online.
Then, once we regulate, we can then relate and reason to what is happening in the present and do the work to break through the barriers that are keeping us stuck.
This is why, while working on mindset is important, mindset alone is not very effective at creating lasting change; getting the body on board as well and integrating the two however, is.
- Franchesca
PS - If you’re ready to break through the blocks that keep you stuck and cultivate sustainable practices that can help you find peace and freedom in your life through mind-body integration, self-discovery, self-exploration and embodying your true self, I’d love to chat with you about how I can support you.
Photo cred: Aubrey Odom