Feedback Loops and the Power of Personal Change

There is a terrific article in the July issue of Wired Magazine about Feedback Loops. A feedback loop is a cycle that all of us experience probably hundreds if not thousands of times a day. We act, gather information or feedback about that action, and then we respond to the information we receive. You can read the entire article here. I will not delve into the science behind feedback loops, but rather share what I have taken away from this article.

The most striking thing I took from the article was this: Human beings are self regulating. This truth flies in the face of millennia of thinking regarding government, law enforcement and even religion. The philosophy that says a)Humans don’t want to change, and b)will only change when forced to, coerced to, or scared into it is simply not true. Yes, we can be lured into compulsive, even addictive behavior. Yes change is tough, but it is possible and even likely if certain key factors are in place. The first of which is information. We need to identify not only what is wrong, but what that wrong behavior is doing to us. Without data we are acting blindly and are likely to be guided by pure emotion or impulse, hence addictive behaviors. When the brain receives all relevant input it will act responsibly. Case in point: The article points out that when a utility company shared information regarding power use with its customers after the fact, power consumption at peak times was unaffected. However, when the company provided data in real time and showed the customer what their power usage was costing there was a dramatic drop off.

The second thing that struck me is this: Feedback Loops are amazingly simple. If there is a behavior you want to change the solution is really as simple as collecting data on the behavior. For instance, many dieticians will tell patients wanting to lose weight to write everything down that they eat throughout the day. The mere exercise of putting that data in front of someone will affect their behavior. Jack Welch, the former Chairman and CEO of GE said it this way, “What we measure matters.”

So given these two facts why don’t more people make the needed changes in their lives. Well one reason is, as the article points out, collecting data is cumbersome. It’s not difficult per se to write down what you eat throughout the day, but it interrupts the natural flow of life and is therefore easily forgotten. There are wonderful technology tools available and forthcoming that will make data collection easier which is good news for those seeking to make change.

Regardless of what technology brings to bear, however, I believe that this article and the science of feedback loops is good news to sufferers from compulsive addictive behaviors. Often times it can feel like an addiction controls you. You can feel totally out of control and hopeless. I testify that our Heavenly Father loves us and would not leave us without hope. He has blessed us with the most powerful computing device known in existence: The Human Brain. If we will harness the power of feedback loops and be honest with ourselves about the real costs of our behaviors we can make the changes needed to become more like Him.

Great Expectations

I recently read Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. I had actually read(skimmed) this book before back in 7^th grade, but as with most forced reading assignments, I didn’t really retain much of the book. Great Expectations is the story of Pip, a young boy with whom the reader goes on a journey as he grows from childhood to adulthood. Pip is endowed, by an anonymous benefactor, with a large fortune. He makes certain assumptions along the way as to who that person might be and begins to construct his life based on certain premises arising from that assumption. The love of Pip’s life is a cold hearted girl named Estella. Pip builds his whole world around the idea of making himself attractive to Estella.

Upon discovering who the real benefactor is Pip is disappointed and repulsed. The man who is responsible for his great fortunes is actually, in Pip’s eyes, someone to be looked down upon and avoided. As Pip journeys from poverty to wealth and back to poverty and indebtedness I began to identify with his internal plight. Pip becomes very ashamed of where he comes from and strives greatly to change what he cannot, ultimately change-the past. He begins to despise the life and those individuals who really love him most. His great dissatisfaction with this life and his yearning to live a life that he sees as being better lead, in the end, to his downfall. It is only when he has fallen that he realizes what truly matters most in life.

The most poigniant message from Great Expectations for me is a lesson taught by the Book of Mormon prophet Alma. Alma was a tremendous leader and missionary. He was a very righteous man. His desire was to have the ability to proclaim the word of God to the entire world. Alma, however, humbly acknowledges his limitations before the Lord and makes the profound statement: “I ought to be content with the things with the Lord has allotted unto me.(Alma 29:4)”

In recent months I have felt as if I am in a great tug-o-war with God. Pulling away from what He would have me pursue and become toward what I would rather become. At times this conflict has been all encompassing, causing me to pray and plead with the Lord. It is a struggle to realize that what I want may not be what He wants for me. The great key is to trust in God and realize that He wants infinitely more for me than I want for myself. Where I may desire riches and wealth, He wants to give me ALL that He has. What a profound gift and what Great Expectations can be mine and all of ours.

Personal Change: A Treasure Found

I recently stumbled upon a priceless treasure. While looking for something uplifting and motivating to read I went to my grandparents bookshelves to see what they had. Tucked among many westerns(Grandpa) and sappy love stories(Grandma) I found a little volume entitled "Think" written by a Col. William C. Hunter and published in 1918 by the Reilly & Lee company of Chicago.


My efforts to find much information about the author have proven fruitless, however, I did find some information about the publisher. The Reilly & Lee Company was first founded as Reilly & Britton in 1902. It is interesting to note that the founding of the company was the result of another publishing house going under-the same publishing house that first published the Wizard of Oz. But I digress. The Reilly & Lee company was eventually purchased by what is today McGraw Hill. The volume I found originally belonged to my great great grandfather on my grandmothers side of the family-Ed Fernley.


I searched the internet for any reference to the book and have only found it here.


Now for the treasure. "Think" is a collection of thoughts by Col. Hunter on a wide variety of topics from pills and medicine to religion to daily exercise. He does not pass himself off on an expert, but only expresses a desire to inspire the reader to, well, think. I found many of it's passages particularly inspiring and share on with you from the 13th chapter regarding personal change:

Big things take time and patience. The great ship lies in the harbor pointed North. A tug boat could make a sudden pull and break the great chain or tow line.

Yet you could take a half-inch rope and with your own hands turn the great ship completely around by pulling steadily and patiently. The movement would be slow, but it would be sure and you would finally accomplish your purpose.

Don't jerk and fret and be impatient with yourself. You have been for years perhaps worrying and thinking fear-thoughts. You have put a lot of useless and harmful material in your brain.

You can't clean all your brain house in a day or a week, but you can do a little cleaning each day.

You can take the faith-rope of good purpose and start to pull gently, and finally you will turn your whole life's character toward the port of success.

This simple yet eloquent analogy has actually been a blessing for me to understand and utilize in my own journey of personal growth and change. We do not accomplish monumental change all at once. We must keep at it and little by little realize the change we want.

How Joshua 23: 4-13 relates to fighting addictions

Nephi taught us in the early part of the Book of Mormon that we should “liken all scriptures unto us, that it might be for our profit and learning. (1 Nephi 19:23)” In my study of the Old Testament book of Joshua I am impressed by Joshua’s council to the Israelites regarding the people who remained in the land of Canaan after the Israelites had settled in the land. To me it reads as a formula for overcoming and avoiding addictive behaviors.

Background: Joshua and the children of Israel had just completed a grueling campaign of war, ridding the land the Lord had promised the Children of Israel of its previous inhabitants. Joshua then divided that land among the 12 tribes and had given them each an inheritance in the land. The Lord then granted unto Israel a period of rest from war and bloodshed and allowed them to settle into their new homeland. Joshua, who had been their leader throughout this campaign, was old and about to die. He gathered the tribes of Israel together to give them some last council regarding the land they now occupied.

Joshua 23:4 - Behold, I have divided unto you by lot these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for your tribes, from Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, even unto the great sea westward.

Even though the Israelites had taken possession of the land of Canaan, there was still a remnant of the peoples who lived there before. We too are like the land of Canaan. Though it had been “cleansed” of all the wicked populations, there remained some residue of the previous occupants. Addictions can be like this remnant of people. We can be clean for a time or even have gone to great lengths to remove that uncleanness from our lives but there may still remain some residue of past behavior-a yearning to return to comforts of the past. And just as the Israelites felt about the people that remained, it may seem easier to leave them in place than to fight to remove them.

5 - And the Lord your God, he shall expel them from before you, and drive them from out of your sight; and ye shall possess their land, as the Lord your God hath promised unto you.

However, just as the Lord was desirous to expel this remnant from the land which Israel occupied, He is desirous to remove the remnants of former sins and addictive behaviors from our lives. Boyd K. Packer of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles stated: “It is contrary to the order of heaven for any soul to be locked into compulsive, immoral behavior with no way out!” Not only is it possible to overcome these addictions, it is part of the plan of our Father in Heaven.

6 - Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left;

It takes courage to live the gospel. Fear and doubt come from the adversary. In 2 Timothy 1:7 we read, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” We can rest assured of the fact that the Lord wants to remove these addictions from our lives just as much, if not more, than we do. We can take courage in that fact.

Just as the Law of Moses was given as a protection to keep Israel in the right way, in the fight to overcome addictions it is important that we obey all other gospel commandments. These basic commandments such as daily prayer and scripture study, church attendance and service will give us strength from heaven to draw upon as we resist the temptations to fall into old patterns of behavior.

The Law of Moses was a very strict code of commandments given to keep the Israelites from wandering. We must also be very careful to live a simplified, narrow life. We cannot afford to “turn aside” at all or we may be dragged back into our patterns of addiction.

7 - That ye come not among these nations, these that remain among you; neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow yourselves unto them:

We must identify all of the triggers in our environment and eliminate them. This will be a powerful preventative against future addictive behavior. Even tiny little missteps can lead to great transgression.

8 - But cleave unto the Lord your God, as ye have done unto this day.

In Doctrine and Covenants 88:63 the Lord says, “Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” We must learn to draw strength from the Lord by keeping his commandments and listening for the promptings of the spirit. As we cleave to Him, He will cleave to us.

9 - For the Lord hath driven out from before you great nations and strong: but as for you, no man hath been able to stand before you unto this day.

Two things here: One, the Lord has performed similar miracles in the lives of many thousands of people and He can do so in our lives. Two, He has performed great miracles in our lives as well. If we will take honest inventory of our lives we will see the hand of the Lord at work. This review will cause our hearts to be grateful and further strengthen our reliance on Him.

10 - One man of you shall chase a thousand: for the Lord your God, he it is that fighteth for you, as he hath promised you.

In our battle with addiction we must realize that it is only with the Lord’s help that we can truly overcome. That is a very reassuring thought. We don’t have to fight this battle alone. We are incapable of doing so. Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said, “As you pray for help, the Lord will place in your path priesthood leaders who will counsel and friends who will give support if you’ll let them.”

11 - Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the Lord your God.

We must love God. We must realize that the standards and commandments are not given to restrict our freedoms or cause us pain. They are given by a loving Father who knows the way home for each of us. We must not become resentful of the counsel we are given or the repentance process we are asked to go through. If we do, we lose the Spirit and risk falling back into wrong behaviors.

12 Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you:

13 Know for a certainty that the Lord your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the Lord your God hath given you.

The Lord will always welcome us back when we sincerely try to repent and change. However, if we indulge in behaviors that are a part of our addictive pattern, or try to live with “one foot in Babylon and one foot in Zion” we cannot be assured of the blessings of the Lord in our efforts to overcome our addictions. We cannot pray for protection from temptation and hang onto “pet” sins. Our prayers will be without power.