Adrianne Ahern, Ph.D.:Articles and Quotes

Ready to Use Quotes:

On Handling Reactions to Terrorist Threats - "Michael Chertoff , chief of Homeland Security, recently told Americans he has a 'gut feeling' we may be attacked by terrorists this summer. Although treated as a warning, it is not. A warning is information regarding a specific threat, such as a tornado or hurricane, against which we have the power to protect ourselves. The most effective action we can take against our own fear is to acknowledge it, breathe deeply, focus on our breath as our bellies rise and fall, and release the fears as we exhale. We have no control over external circumstances, but we do have control over our emotions and our breath if we choose it. In fact, correct breathing is the most powerful tool available to each and every one of us."

"From competitive skiing to cash in the bank, from the Boardroom to the bedroom, our thoughts control our outcomes."

"It's not just about a lower golf score or more confidence in the Boardroom. Our conditioning, both positive and negative, determines our satisfaction in all areas of life: our sex lives, our creativity, our ability to make money, our relationship with our kids."

"The attitudes and messages of our unconscious conditioning aren't just fleeting thoughts. They are hard-wired into our brains. A conditioned thought often feels as if it has a life and energy of its own, as if it's thinking you rather than you thinking it. You may not even be able to verbalize what that conditioned thought says—but you only need to look at your behaviors and reactions to define it."

"What has been unconscious can become conscious if you choose to make it so. Conditioning can work for or against you. You can use conditioning consciously, or you can let it use you unconsciously. You're not weak, dumb, or lazy. You aren't unloving or unsuccessful or simply a rotten putter. But your wiring might have you acting and reacting that way."

"Anybody can make the life change that I did. It isn’t a question of whether it is possible to change or of going to school to become a doctor as I did or of therapy. It’s a matter of when you can commit to opening up your awareness and listening to the voice you have begun to recognize as your own. This voice has always been there, but it is often overwhelmed by the conditioned voices of your environment. It is in the listening to this voice, your true voice, that you become able to distinguish it from those of the conditioning—those of your mother, father, older siblings, teachers, and society. You will become aware that, within your conditioned awareness, you have been living your life unaware of the only voice that truly matters: yours."

"Unconscious negative conditioning is responsible for racist/biased thinking. Until we bring our conditioning -- the preconceived notions we live by -- to our awareness, we don't see that the thoughts we think and the words that come out of our mouth are racist or biased. So we thoughtlessly inflict pain on our fellow citizens and insist that we are not racist. Hip-hop lyrics are a perfect example. Agreeably, the problem is complex, but only when each one of us faces the conditioning within ourselves can we begin to address as individuals our own culpability. By making Don Imus or the 'hip-hop culture' the scapegoat, we are ducking the fact that each of us -- with our own conditioned biases -- are part of the problem.

As Ghandi said, we must 'be the change we want to see in the world.'" Ahern is author of "Snap Out of it Now."

Articles to Download:

Stop Multi-Tasking and Get More Done

Ten Keys to Performance Excellence

How Far Have Women Really Come?

Running Up the Down Escalator

Learning to Say "No"

To Be or To Do?

5 Steps to Re-Wire Your Brain for Great Sex! (PDF)

5 Steps to Re-Wire Your Brain for Money

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June 2008 - Beauty Quest