Using Affirmative Reminders to Connect with Respect

Most of us know what we want to do and how we would like to behave, we’re just not always great at sticking to the plan. Distractions, stress and old habits oftentimes get in the way. This includes how we treat others. While we would like to treat others in a manner that acknowledges values and supports them – treating them with respect – our behaviors don’t always reflect this. Even if we do an okay job in this area, most of us could (and would) do better - if only we had an affective and sustainable process for getting there. Now we do.

Psychologists and scientists have long studied the processes involved with changing human behaviors. Because of the work of scholars including W.B. Carpenter, B.F. Skinner and (more recently) Richard Suinn, we‘ve known for several decades that the most sustainable behavior change starts on the inside of each of us and then works its way out. Now, with additional research from the field of neuroscience, we know even more. In this unit, we’re going to introduce a tool called affirmative reminders and map out a process for steering our behaviors in any direction we desire. It is this life skill that not only permits us to more reliably treat others with the respect they deserve, it also gives us true authorship for every other worthy goal in our lives.