Mental blockages – how to recognize and dissolve them

Mental patterns

Man is a creature of habit. This applies to daily routines in professional and private life as well as to our thinking. Habitually we think in certain ways. Our experiences and experiences have shaped patterns of interpretation with the help of which we interpret events. Mental patterns are habits of thinking and these, in turn, trigger a certain behavior: If I have positive thoughts about a person or situation, I behave differently than if my thinking is more negative or critical. Also in groups, departments and whole organizations collective patterns develop, which convey the message: “This is how it works here…”.

Thinking controls behavior

So behavior is always the result of the inner attitude. Sustainable changes in behavior can only be achieved by changing mental patterns. Behavioral conditioning in the form of reward and punishment systems regularly fail due to already pronounced thinking habits. On the other hand, a change in thinking and attitude always leads to a change in behavior.

Mental Blockades

Some thought patterns are so firmly established that an alternative thought model exceeds the imagination. The questioning of the previous point of view alone is perceived as so threatening that it cannot be considered in principle. Mental blockades trigger blocking behavior: Depending on the situation and environment, this can include retreat, sabotage, passivity, defamation and much more.

Reducing Certainty to Overcome Mental Blockades 

In order to overcome mental blockades, it is essential to stimulate the imagination, i.e. to develop imagination and learn to think beyond existing frameworks.

All instruments of organizational development for overcoming mental blockades in organizations, therefore, have one thing in common: a deliberate irritation of thinking arises, a confusion about previous thought patterns. Exactly this confusion is necessary in order to reduce the certainty of one’s own patterns of thinking and interpretation and thus to trigger the inner motive for the self-renewal of thinking as a motive for learning. The stimulation of the imagination provides the necessary inspiration that is urgently needed for the renewal of thinking.