Next time you look across a crowded room and feel the 'boom
boom' of your heart and the subtle signs of sexual arousal, and
say to yourself 'He/She's the one', be very very wary. It's
not 'love at first sight', but an ancient genetic programme
kicking into action. It doesn't matter if he's a potential
wife beater or has latent schizoid tendencies or she's a
terrible nag or wants to live in the country when you are a real
townie. Your genes don't take personality into account. They
are on a one track mission to get you to have sex and
reproduce.
It all started with some rather interesting experiments on
mice...
Minnie wasn't drawn to Mickey beause he was a fun loving
little ball of fur with good prospects and a loving nature, but
because his genes were very different from hers.
Scientific experiments have proved that, if your genes are
different from his or hers, and he or she has a certain look,
you'll be driven crazy with lust.
After experimenting with mice, they did some tests on humans
with surprising results. They selected a number of women and
men who had both similar and different genetic MHC genes [that
stands for major histocompatibility complex]. MHC genes check
out protein markers on cells and help the body recognise hostile
organisms This sets off the immune system.
If someone
mates with a person whose MHC genes are differen from theirs,
the offspring will get a double dose of hostile organism
checkers.. That means their kids will have a better chance at
resisting disease.
The testers asked a number men to wear brand new t-shirts for
two days and nights, never taking it off. They were not allowed
to use anything on their skins that had any kind of scent .
They wanted them to get naturally whiffy.
Women in the test were then given six t-shirts. Three of them
were from men who had similar MHC genes and the other three from
men whose MHC's were very different from theirs.
The results showed that the women were more attracted to the
scent of the guys who had different MHC genes from their
own.
The interesting thing is that women taking the birth control
pill, which makes the body think it's pregnant, preferred the
scent of men who had similar MHC genes to their own.
Some scientists reckon that this is because a pregnant woman
doesn't want attract men to mate with during pregnancy, but is
more drawn to men/women who are family members i.e. with similar
gene-induced odours! This has something to do with a desire to
find protection and care from within the family.
This research suggests that attraction isn't just some
unexplained 'love at first sight' thing, but rather the immune
system doing what's best for the future progeny - going for a
guy or girl whose genes combined with his or her own will give
their kids a stronger immune system.
Of course in humans it's not just a matter of whether he or she
smells right, because there are other factors that determine
whom we fancy or not.
Have you noticed how some couples look like each other? Think
about this. Most of us hold a physical attraction template
based on the features of our opposite sex parent. If we look
like the opposite sex parent, then chances are we'll end up with
a mate who looks like us.
If we look like the same sex parent but very dissimilar to our
opposite sex parent, and we're attracted to someone who looks
like our opposite sex parent that person may look quite
different from us! So nature has provided us with a simple
formula for attraction
He or she's gotta smell 'right' and have some of the features of
our mum or dad.
Now that's all well and good for primitive beings who don't care
about personality traits or social status. These things are
important to evolved human beings. That's where the problems
start.
Those whiffy genes are pretty powerful and combined with the
'attraction template' they are going to kick off a huge surge of
'lust hormones'. Our body produces these hormones to make us
want to have sex. This is determined by the programming in our
DNA that says 'REPRODUCE'.
The 'lust hormones' are so strong that they often override
every ounce of common sense. While our bodies are overflowing
with desire, our brains are unable to make rational
decisions. That's why it's called love sickness!
So when those long term couples who claim to have fallen in love
at first sight claim 'I just knew', they didn't. Their
>genes knew they'd make strong kids with that person and
they'd been programmed to fancy the way that person looks.
It's pure chance that on top of the genetic and physical
compatibility, they also have matched personalities.
And of course we NEVER hear about those couples who had a gene
and looks match but didn't quite work out so we assume that
there is a magical syndrome that we call 'love at first
sight'.
Next time you're irresistibly drawn to someone, tell yourself
to wait at least one year before making any major decisions. It
can take anything from up to six months to two years or more the
lust hormones to die down and the pink clouds of 'perfection' to
fade away.
Give your brain an opportunity to check out all the stuff that
we should be aware of before committing ourselves to marriage,
buying a home or even more important the decision to make
babies.
For more information on our Pulling Power Weekend
playshops, click on the links below:
TESTIMONIAL! "Peta is a dynamic energetic and inspirational
teacher. I would recommend this course highly for people who
need to enhance their confidence in a relaxed and safe
environment. Lorraine C Clinical Psychologist"
Check out the Attraction Academy
website and links to information on our weekend Pulling
Power courses in the UK
TESTIMONIAL! Thank you for a fantastic and fun time this
weekend. I really enjoyed the playshop I got so much from this
weekend like learning to shut up the self conversation in my
head - the- importance of longer eye contact - - reading signals
for space and how small they can be (I've always been looking
for big things) Being in the now/body so the observations can be
taken in rather than listening to the chit-chat - - and above
all knowing how I am when I'm being at my best. Steve
Nichols
Peta Heskell is a relationship and body language expert and the
author of 4 books in the Flirt Coach series published by Harper
Collins Thorsons Element. She invented the concept of Flirt
Coaching - the elements of which are confidence building,
playfulness, connection and communication.
She runs weekend Pulling Power courses in London and Europe and
sees private clients from her home in Hampton in SW London. She
is also an NLP trainer and an