Take John’s example with his mother. This event could have detrimental consequences for John’s life. Just like that, John might have learned that being messy is terrible, perhaps that he is not good enough (if he, for example, thought in that moment: “I can never please my mother, whatever I do.”), perhaps that being lazy is bad (Thought: “If I hadn’t been so lazy, I could’ve avoided that.”), perhaps that his mother doesn’t love him like his older sister (Thought: “How come Susy never gets scorned, even though her room isn’t the cleanest), etc. The thought patterns that John had while experiencing the emotion dictate what inferences he makes about himself and the world. This situation alone can have diverse effects on his personality and his behavior. Every time John realizes that his room is messy, he will experience the nauseous feeling of sadness in his stomach from the time his mother unjustly scorned him; he will feel bad about himself and insufficient because he is so lazy that he cannot even clean his tiny room; he will experience the brief shortness of breath and anxiety because he hears the footsteps of his mother in the corridor, as she could chime in any second and scorn him again when she sees the mess.

And it goes waaaay further! Most of the time, the LS spins its web well beyond the obvious aspects that one could think of. Let’s go with the scenario that during the initial event John inferenced that his mother doesn’t love him like she loves Susy. This could lead to John being constantly jealous of his older sister, for example, when she gets praise from his mother for her grades in school and he does not (even though, at that moment they talked about Susy at the dinner and not him). Out of that situation, he could even interpret that his parents devote so much time to topics related to Susy and not him, even if there is no empirical proof of this being true. In order to preserve your survival, the LS makes generalizations. John could misinterpret every behavior of his father in this fashion, as well – see how the LS made its generalizations: for the LS mother (an aspect/detail of the initial situation) == parent --> so, parents (mother and father) treat me worse than they treat Suzy. Based on these inferences, John will modify his behavior. He could get rebellious and get into fights with his parents; he could be drawn to problematic peer groups in school, because from them he gets the appreciation that he missed from his parents; he could develop slight resentment towards his sister, or any person that gets praise from an authoritative figure, e.g. his school buddy Sam that is being praised by the teacher – in this case, for John’s LS Sam is a representation of Susy and the teacher is a representation of his parents. These behaviors could then lead to further consequences – for example, getting in trouble in school while being part of the peer group or doing drugs with them. The drugs can then lead to further complications. The bottom line is this: seemingly innocuous events, like John’s situation with his mother, can set up a chain of events propelling the individual into further dysfunctional behavioral patterns. You can picture this initial event as a little snowball being pushed down the hill and having the potential to result in a snow slide. This is all the work of your limbic system.

Of course, John could also have positive effects from the event. He could develop a need for achievement, driving him to get good grades in school and trying to outperform his peers (peers are his LS’s representation of Susy). This could lead to him getting into better colleges and working his way up the ranks in the company that he works for later. But, be assured that this behavior would also come with a price. Every time John fails to meet his unusually high standards, because of whatever life circumstances preventing him, he will experience great stress (and probably that nauseous feeling in the stomach from the event with his mother), while his LS will store new information along the way. He could develop chronic pain, because his body cannot sustain the toll of a lifestyle structured around being the best in every area of life; he could get into conflicts with his peers because he cannot stay when somebody is better than him; or he could neglect his dating and relationships because he is too busy trying to win a “never-ending” race of achievement.

You might think that I’m exaggerating and catastrophizing, but this is the story that I’ve seen countless times with patients seeking treatment, either in an outpatient clinic with more functional patients, or in a psychiatric institution where more severe psychological disorders are present. The difference between John and my patients is miniscule, only lying in the level of impairment in everyday life. If John would have faced a situation that he cannot overcome with his existing personality and behavioral patterns (for example, not being able to achieve great results at his work because of a sickness), suffering would arise and John might end up seeking psychotherapy. The only difference between John and patients fulfilling the criteria for a DSM-5 disorder is that one last event that leads to him not being able to fulfill his need for achievement. The formation of the behavioral patterns prior to that event, though, is the same.

That is why it’s important to understand the etiology of your behavioral patterns. Limbic hacking is the process of identifying and changing behavioral patterns that do not serve you in your everyday life. Limbic Hacking represents the process of eliminating, or rather extinguishing, the information from your LS that is holding you back in order to become the person you always dreamt to be and to achieve the things you always wanted to achieve. I devised this step-by-step system through long experimentation with every possible technique being taught in the studies of clinical psychology and psychotherapy, as well as the self-help world. I was able to overcome multiple psychological disorders and an autoimmune disease in the process (which was my main motivation when I started this long quest). I then started to implement this system to other people’s problems. I tested the method with great success with dozens of clients battling with a myriad of issues in their personal and professional lives. I even applied the system successfully with 100+ patients during my employment as a psychotherapist in a psychiatric facility – individuals so affected by their dysfunctional behavioral patterns, that they are not able to manage their daily lives.

If you want to hack your limbic system, you can book a free strategy session with me on the following link. It might help you finally uncover the mechanisms behind your behavior and give you the push in the right direction to change them permanently. Because remember, until you make your subconscious conscious, it will direct you and you will call it fate.