It’s no fun; looking in the mirror tells you again and again that you somehow don’t have yourself under control. The stomach could be smaller and the rims of the eyes also reveal the long working hours and the short sleep. Or: You just don’t have the necessary enthusiasm to get up for a training session in the gym after work. And in general, you “actually” want to live a healthy life, but then you keep reaching for sweets. Alcohol consumption should “actually” be a little less, and yet there is often a glass of wine next to the plate. “Actually” …

If it weren’t for the inner bastard, perhaps the word “actually” wouldn’t exist either. At least in terms of one’s behavior. What are your behaviors? Your habits make up to 50% of your decisions every day. These behaviors allow you capacities for other important decisions. In this sense, the inner bastard could represent your habits.

What would it be like if you could simply give your “inner bastard” commands? In principle, this would mean changing one’s habits at will. Your habits take place in the subconscious. They are fixed in the networks of our brain and can only be changed in the course of a longer learning and practice process. In neurobiological terms, we are talking about a basic system for impulsive, spontaneous and predominantly automatic behavior and a controlling structural system. The most important components of the basic system are the reward systems located symmetrically in the midbrain, the two fear centers located deep in the temporal region, and the hypothalamus located at the base of the skull, which is important for stress reactions and sexual functions. Characteristics of the basic system are affects and moods of all kinds – we owe it the tendency to give in to every little temptation immediately, to put everything that tastes good in our mouths and not to miss an offer during sex. Other, less likeable behaviors such as laziness or impatience also have their origin in the basic system. It’s the older system, this reptilian brain designed for instant gratification. Without the second fundamental system, we would be mindless and driven by instinct. The assembly system exerts top-down control and has its neurobiological address in the frontal lobe, the so-called prefrontal cortex (PFC). It enables people to focus their attention and block out distractions, regardless of whether they come from the outside or – e.g. as feelings or thoughts – from the inside. Incidentally, the ability not to follow external distractions or internal impulses is called inhibition.

The second system in the frontal lobe is able to control the drive system top-down. When well trained, it enables us to postpone the gratification of needs. Prof. Dr. medical Joachim Bauer (neuroscientist, specialist: internist, psychiatrist and psychotherapist) calls this Self-control. Self-control enables longer-term strategies which usually achieve greater rewards and success. The content in this article is taken from Prof Bauer’s book Self-Control. I will use them to scientifically illuminate the “inner bastard”.

The abilities of the prefrontal cortex are not innate, but only develop in childhood and adolescence in and through contact with the social environment. If this contact is missing in the first 20 years of life, then these mental abilities atrophy and are missing later in life.

“Use it or lose it”
I like to quote this neurobiological basic rule that has become famous when training my clients. Usually it is the exercises that you find particularly difficult that your body needs. The nervous system has to learn anew here, for example to compensate for imbalances that have arisen from old posture and movement patterns; according to the motto “If you don’t like it, you need it”. Neural systems and the functions they control atrophy if they are not used.

If you like, the so-called “inner bastard” is the bottom up system, i.e. the drive system. Automatic and rather involuntary behaviors are his work. In order not to be submissive to the bastard, one should make friends with him. On the other hand, the top-down system must be trained from the age of three. This ensures independence through self-confident decision-making in accordance with your own needs or with your weaker self (inner bastard). Then self-regulation does not contradict the pleasurable satisfaction of basic human needs, but on the contrary should increase self-satisfaction by fully exploiting the possibilities that remain for individual life in the given social environment. Those who do not have sufficient control of their own self-control will always have the negative feeling of being manipulated from outside. Who does not know the feeling of being unwell after an uncontrolled craving. You have the compelling feeling of not having been in control. It is therefore important to constantly establish a balance between one’s own interests and the external demands of the social environment through self-regulation. If the living conditions do not allow sufficient satisfaction of basic needs, it would be wrong to try to compensate for the resulting deficits with substitute satisfactions offered from outside, such as increased food intake, increased media use and the consumption of potentially addictive stimulants. Unfortunately, however, the currently dominant structures of the capitalist social order are increasingly offering precisely these substitute satisfactions. Current social developments, which impede the self-control of the individual as a result of increasing work stress and premature exhaustion, therefore tend to reinforce themselves.

A healthy lifestyle and diet achieved through successful self-control directly promotes health maintenance. The activity of the biological organism can be influenced to a large extent by the activity of the nervous system. In particular, the body’s immune and defense systems are controlled by the nervous system far more than is generally assumed. This is particularly evident in studies on the effectiveness of drugs and placebos, which depend to a large extent on the extent to which the subjects were informed about their effectiveness. The body’s own healing systems can be activated by self-control. This control is primarily carried out by hormones, the release of which is triggered by brain processes.

In this way, self-control can make a significant contribution to maintaining personal health and personal satisfaction. However, self-control must be exercised on the basis of one’s own free will. A person’s self-regulation can therefore not be demanded in any way by the social environment, but at most made possible and encouraged. This is exactly where I try to work as a coach with my coachees. My approach: feeling how we are constantly driven by restless impulses. Recognizing the secret longing to get out of there one day. Create a desire for self-control.

Applied to the inner bastard imagery, this means not taking action against the inner bastard. Look lovingly at the impulses emanating from Him and pause for a moment and reflect without immediately giving in to them. Spontaneous impulses are like a nervous little (inner bastard) “pooch” on a leash that – while you’ve just decided to take a break – keeps wanting to run away. There’s little point in yelling at or scaring the pooch. The best thing is to gently but consistently bring it back again and again. Then it will come down to you at some point.

If you want to read more about this topic, I recommend Joachim Bauer’s book Selbststeuerung: Die Wiederentdeckung des freien Willens.

With this in mind, stay healthy, your Health Coach Bardo.