{"id":1352,"date":"2023-02-13T06:00:19","date_gmt":"2023-02-13T11:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amblesideschools.org\/?p=1352"},"modified":"2025-04-09T14:53:43","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T18:53:43","slug":"deceptive-brain-messages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amblesideschools.org\/deceptive-brain-messages\/","title":{"rendered":"Deceptive Brain Messages"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\"><p>[vc_row full_width=&#8221;stretch_row_content&#8221; custom_padding=&#8221;true&#8221; custom_padding_t=&#8221;30&#8243; custom_padding_b=&#8221;30&#8243; row_hide_sm=&#8221;yes&#8221; row_hide_md=&#8221;yes&#8221; row_hide_xs=&#8221;yes&#8221; css_zindex=&#8221;999&#8243; css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1706723933830{background-color: #faf5eb !important;}&#8221;][vc_column]<div class=\"templatera_shortcode\"><div class=\"container-fluid row_section vc_row_cp_lr_15 vc_row_cp_t_0 vc_row_cp_b_0\"><div  class=\"vc_row wpb_row vc_row-fluid vc_column-gap-15 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Mason<\/a><\/span><\/h5><\/div><div class=\"vc_empty_space  vc_empty_space_3\"   style=\"height: 10px\" ><span class=\"vc_empty_space_inner\"><\/span><\/div>\r\n<div class=\"vc_custom_heading vc_custom_heading_6953b01a4cae2598461494\" ><h5 style=\"font-size: 17px;color: #000000;text-align: left\"><span class=\"hilight\"  ><a href=\"https:\/\/amblesideschools.org\/blog\/\">Articles<\/a><\/span><\/h5><\/div><div class=\"vc_empty_space  vc_empty_space_4\"   style=\"height: 10px\" ><span class=\"vc_empty_space_inner\"><\/span><\/div>\r\n<div class=\"vc_custom_heading vc_custom_heading_6953b01a4cbd5140988827\" ><h5 style=\"font-size: 17px;color: #000000;text-align: left\"><span class=\"hilight\"  ><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amblesideschools.com\/main\/educator-support\" target=\"_blank\">Members<\/a><\/span><\/h5><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>[\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][vc_column width=&#8221;3\/4&#8243;][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h4><a href=\"https:\/\/amblesideschools.org\/blog\/\"><span style=\"color: #003865;\">&gt; Return to Articles<\/span><\/a><\/h4>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;30&#8243;][vc_custom_heading text=&#8221;Deceptive Brain Messages&#8221; use_theme_fonts=&#8221;yes&#8221; font_container=&#8221;tag:h1|font_size:30|text_align:left|color:%23020202&#8243;][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;15&#8243;][vc_separator width_in_percentages=&#8221;yes&#8221;][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;30&#8243;][vc_column_text]At any given moment, our amazing brains direct our reactions to life circumstances by integrating current experience with past experience and doing so along habitual lines. Our brains are organs of habit, responding according to established patterns of networked nerve cells. With a little self-reflection, it is easy to recognize that our brain responses are at times less-than-helpful and can even be quite destructive. In their book, <em>You are Not Your Brain,<\/em> Jeffrey Schwartz and Rebecca Gladding identify these brain responses as \u201cdeceptive brain messages.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>There are only a few true necessities in life, but for many of us, it doesn\u2019t feel that way. A lifetime of habits, ingrained by repetition, can seemingly make us slaves to a not always beneficial master \u2013 our own brain. Nothing is more confusing, or painful than when your brain takes over your thoughts, attacks your self-worth, questions your abilities, overpowers you with cravings, or attempts to dictate your actions. Have you ever felt something is compelling you to \u201cgo\u201d places, mentally or emotionally, where you don\u2019t want to be? Do you find yourself acting in uncharacteristic ways or doing things you don\u2019t want to be doing? The reason is simple: Deceptive brain messages have intruded into your psyche and taken over your life. Left to its own devices, your brain can cause you to believe things that are not true and to act in any number of self-destructive ways.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The brain thinks and reacts as it is accustomed to think and react. It is an organ of habit. When habits are destructive, we follow a line of reasoning justifying ourselves, alleviating responsibility for the desired outcome. As Charlotte Mason points out in <em>Parents and Children<\/em>, it is a particularly pernicious habit.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>We get into the way of thinking such and such manner of thoughts, and of coming to such and such conclusions, ever further and further removed from the starting-point, but on the same lines. There is structural adaptation in the brain tissue to the manner of thoughts we think\u2013\u2013a place and a way for them to run in.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Charlotte Mason recognized that both parents and teachers were far too often content to leave the children to their nature, to leave them to their deceptive brain messages and unhealthy behaviors. Any significant growth in virtue begins with the recognition of bad habits and their underlying deceptive brain messages (both conscious and unconscious).\u00a0These prevailing messages are sown into lives through relationships, both in verbal and non-verbal ways.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Adults must ask themselves the following questions: What are the deceptive messages that hold ground in the lives of those in my care? Am I a voice that communicates deceptive brain messages verbally or non-verbally? What are the life-giving messages that I wish to communicate to my child or student? How do I challenge the deceptive messages and relationally manifest the life-giving messages?<\/p>\n<p>We are always training in habit, whether habits of mind or body. Charlotte Mason gives us a potent reminder of how subtly these habits are formed:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>Thus we see how the destiny of a life is shaped in the nursery, by the reverent naming of the Divine Name; by the light scoff at holy things; by the thought of duty the little child gets who is made to finish conscientiously his little task; by the hardness of heart that comes to the child who hears the faults or sorrows of others spoken of lightly.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;30&#8243;][vc_separator width_in_percentages=&#8221;yes&#8221;][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;30&#8243;][vc_column_text]Image: Illustration of the human brain by an Ambleside 8<sup>th<\/sup> grade student.[\/vc_column_text][vc_raw_html]JTVCeWFycHAlNUQ=[\/vc_raw_html][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As an Ambleside teacher, we often discuss our \u201cparadigm shift\u2019 \u2013 from textbooks, grades, and stickers to \u201cliving books,\u201d \u201cnarrations,\u201d and \u201chabits.\u201d It\u2019s difficult, for many of us. We\u2019re not just learning about a method of education; we\u2019re learning again how to learn. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1353,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,9],"tags":[184,88,185],"class_list":["post-1352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ambleside-method","category-maryellen-st-cyr","tag-brain","tag-charlotte-mason","tag-habit-formation"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Deceptive Brain Messages - Ambleside International<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Charlotte Mason recognized that we are often content to leave children to their deceptive brain messages and unhealthy behaviors.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/amblesideschools.org\/deceptive-brain-messages\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Deceptive Brain Messages - 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