#10

Welcome to Weekly Whispers #10

Which whisper did you hear from Week #9?

Did you tell yourself you were exercising whilst making dinner? 😊

Did you reflect on what you currently have and how long ago you wanted that?

Did you consider what a great life is for you and those closest to you?

Here's what’s struck me this week.

1. Mindset & Milkshakes

A famous study used milkshakes to see if our perception of the calorific content of a milkshake might determine how our body reacts to it. ‘No way’ I hear you think. ‘Calories are calories no matter what you believe, right?'.

One group were told their milkshake was high in fat and calories. The other group were told their milkshake was lower in fat and calories. In fact, both groups would be consuming the exact same milkshake containing the exact same fat and calorific content.

Blood samples taken before, during and after the study showed that the hormone ghrelin (often known as the hunger hormone which is usually highest before a meal and reduces afterwards) was lowest in those who believed they were consuming the higher fat and calorific milkshake.

In other words, because they perceived and believed that their milkshake was higher in fat and calories it led their body to produce less ghrelin thereby causing the sensation of feeling full!

If only appetite suppression was this easy. This is a fascinating example of the power and influence our own mindset has over how our body actually responds. So, calories might be calories depending on what you think!

The American Psychological Association Brief Report can be found here and a further NPR article 'How Your Thoughts Fool Your Stomach' can be found here.

2. Optimists Live Longer

That’s it. Simple yet hard to act this way consistently particularly whilst going through challenging times.

Here is an interesting Forbes article Optimism The Key To Longevity.

It reminds me of a famous study involving nuns. The study followed 120 nuns over a long period of time. They were all exposed to the same environment and behaviours and yet some lived significantly longer than other. The researchers dug deeper into their interpretations and expectations when they were younger and found that the more positive, optimistic nuns would often out-live their less positive and pessimistic peers. Their optimism appeared to have a less stressful effect on their bodies.

Simple hack for optimism? The 3 Ps from the original work of Martin Seligman. Pervasive, personal and permanence. Optimists tend to frame positive events personally, pervasively and permanently. Whereas they tend to frame negative events as objectively, specifically and temporary.

Click here to take a look at the animated summary of Learned Optimism Positive Psychology by Martin Seligman.

3. Question of the week: When will she be right?

It’s impossible to avoid some of the recent headlines about the myriad of gender inequalities that are currently being exposed.

This short video produced by https://unwomen.org.au/ really hit me hard. Using common Aussie vernacular to focus emphasis on a particular part of the question.

4. Quote of the week: "One size fits one"

I got this from a buddy of mine who was looking for a new pair of swimming goggles and the tagline that attracted him was the quote above.

The goggle company used technology to measure the unique contours of his face and produce a pair of goggles that were a perfect match. So, rather than the ‘one size fits all’ mass produced goggles he was prepared to pay a little bit of a premium to have a pair that suited his own face hence ‘one size fits him only’.

It got me thinking about other circumstances where one size fits one might be a better option. Given we are all unique – biologically, psychologically, experientially etc etc – then I wonder if we should look for more circumstances where we can mould the product, service or experience to our own particularly unique needs and circumstance? Would we be willing to pay a premium for that or is ‘one size fits all’ good enough?

One size fits one – what does it make you think about?

5. Freedom Fridays - My weekly experiment with time and focus

Episode 8 of Freedom Fridays Podcast is predominantly about making invisible progress through the balance of inner fulfilment and outer achievement.

Click below to listen to Episode 8.

That's all for this week and I hope you enjoyed Weekly Whisper #10.

Feedback is my fuel so if you have any comments please hit reply and let me know your thoughts.

Cheers

Pete