We Can Change Our Thinking By Changing Our Actions

Do you believe that what you think defines your behavior, or do you think that, on the contrary, what you do defines what you think? Whatever your answer, you’re right, because both are connected and the influence is two-way. We can change our thinking by changing our actions and vice versa.

Still not convinced? Keep reading!

Are we happy because we smile or are we smiling because we are happy? Find out for yourself. Take a pencil and place it between your teeth, keep it there for 30 seconds. Your brain is, right now, secreting the same dopamine it would be if you were laughing at a joke someone told you.

This is just a very simple example of how we can trick our brain into changing its mood and therefore changing what we are thinking.

Fritz Strack and Sabine Stepper of the University of Mannheim, along with Leonard Martin of the University of Illinois, did an interesting experiment. They asked several people to hold a pencil with their lips, while they asked others to hold it with their teeth, without the pencil touching their lips.

People who held it with their lips could not make the most common expressions of joy, such as a smile. The effect that holding the pencil with the lips had was interesting.

These people found comics less funny – on a numerical scale – than people who held the pencil in their teeth and therefore had an expression of forced laughter.

With this, the researchers were able to conclude that by forcing the gesture of smiling, we improve our mood. As a result, we would be more likely to perceive situations as positive and fun.

What happens when we change our actions? Let’s see more data…

What would happen if we accelerated our heart rate while we were in front of someone else? Could we find it more attractive simply because we have our activation rate increased?

In 1974, psychologists Arthur Aron and Donald Dutt conducted an experiment to find the answer.

Two groups of young people had to cross a bridge. For one group, the bridge was safe and stable, while for the second it was a swaying bridge and therefore felt somewhat unsafe.

In the second group, the participants ended up being physiologically more activated, as they felt feelings of fear and danger caused by the bridge. The first group crossed the bridge without any kind of activation.

At the end of the bridge, participants were interviewed by an attractive woman who left her phone number with each participant. She told them that if they had any questions, they could call her number.

Participants who crossed the bridge insecurely and had greater activation, reaching the end of the bridge with the strongest heart rate, unconsciously interpreted this activation as an attraction. They called the woman more times than the group that crossed the safe bridge.

We trick our brain by changing our actions

What can we do with our behavior to change and improve our emotions? Each one of us knows what is best for ourselves, and each one of us knows our own way of adapting the exercises and thus being able to “fool” the brain.

Even if you don’t think this is true in your case, you can test all possibilities to choose from. Check them out below.

• Physical exercise. When we do physical activity, our body changes. There is release of dopamine and serotonin and we are able to move away from stress and improve the symptoms of sadness. After you go for a walk or run, you’ll feel a little better.
• What makes me laugh? They can be monologues, fun videos, comics, jokes, memes… The internet itself makes available to everyone thousands of possibilities to access and laugh or even die of laughter. Don’t hesitate to choose any one of them to change what you’re feeling and improve your mood.
• Breathe, relax. When we are able to relax physically, we do so psychically. That’s why it’s great to make use of meditation techniques, for example, which help us to calm our body and also our mind.

• Socialize. When we are with other people we can disconnect, because we force ourselves to put our minds in order to verbalize what we are thinking, listen to other points of view, other ideas. Thus, we forget about the rumination that often accompanies us throughout the day.

There is no doubt that we can change what we think with the simple action of changing what we do. So, be encouraged to look for what makes you laugh, what makes you feel peace and what sets you free.

Do this and you will see results. Is easy! You just have to be a little bit willing to get started!