If you’ve ever struggled to control your negative thought patterns, change unwanted behavior or wondered why affirmations seem not to work for you, then the techniques that area psychologist and life coach Dr. Adrianne Ahern presents in her new book, “Back in Charge: A Guide to Harnessing the Magic of Your Brain to Create the Life You’ll Love,” may provide the breakthrough you’ve been seeking. Ahern, who grew up in La Jolla and El Centro and now makes her home in Del Mar, will be speaking and signing books on Wednesday, Oct. 14 at 7:30 p.m. at Warwick’s Books, 7812 Girard Ave. She will preview several exercises she offers in her book. A clinical psychologist for more than 15 years who began her career working with the severely mentally ill and families of addicts, Ahern joined Scripps Mercy Hospital in 1994 and shifted her focus to working with relatively healthy individuals who wanted to become more effective in their lives. Through her work at Scripps and in her private practice she realized she could apply recent neuroscience and psychophysiology research and neurofeedback to help patients “rewire their brains” to alter the limiting beliefs and negative conditioning that had become hard-wired into the brain through constant repetition. “I left Scripps because I realized I wanted to help people change their patterns and help them live the path that they were meant to live,” she said. Moving to Reno in 2001 to focus on her research and writing, she developed the four-step program she debuted in her first book, “Snap Out of It Now: Four Steps to Inner Joy,” which she expands upon in the recently published “Back in Charge!” These techniques were showcased in the PBS special “Snap Out of It Now!” that ran on KPBS-TV in August and at affiliates throughout the country. Her new book includes two audio CDs with exercises as a companion to the book. These techniques to rewire the brain are effective in helping people meet goals in every life aspect, including employment, relationships, health, love and wealth. “My system is particularly beneficial to people who have not been successful using positive thinking or affirmations,” Ahern said. “Affirmations can work, but not when you have an internal saboteur who dismisses your efforts.  No matter how may times you repeat, ‘I am a loving, deserving, wonderful person,’ you won’t get anywhere if an internal voice is countering with, ‘Oh, yeah, I’m really an unpopular, unattractive loser.’” In her book she provides the tools, strategies and exercises needed to rewire the neuro-pathways of the brain to transform previously limiting beliefs and attitudes into supportive ones. Among her clients are athletes, business people and others seeking to change established behavior, experience life fully and achieve enhanced performance. “When we can change a thought pattern and activate another feeling and activity, we can change the pattern and the behavior,” she said. A key element in Ahern’s practical approach is asking what she calls “the obnoxious question: does this reaction really serve me?” Sometimes, she explained, we may be justified in our anger or our emotional reaction to a situation or a loved one’s behavior, but expressing that emotion may not help us advance to our goal. Growing up the fourth of five children in a “big, boisterous Irish family,” Ahern described herself as a therapist from an early age as she tried to make sense of her family’s interrelationships. She discovered psychology relatively late, at 27, after meeting her husband, prominent psychiatrist Dr. Barry Grundland. Previously she had studied linguistics at UCLA and worked briefly in her family’s seed business in El Centro. Once she discovered psychology, she knew she had found her life’s work and proceeded to earn two master’s degrees and a doctorate from the California School of Professional Psychology in Berkeley/Alameda. In addition to her book-signing at Warwick’s, Ahern presents workshops and speeches, many of which are open to the public and are listed on her Website, www.snapoutofitnow.com. Her private practice is located in Carmel Valley at 11622 El Camino Real, Suite 100, (858) 764-2422. The Facts. Period. Even without understanding the neuroscience of the brain, you can experience how to harness its power through this simple, practical exercise. Whenever you hear news or experience something that usually throws you into reaction (anxiety, anger, uncertainty, guilt, etc.), pause, restate the facts, and add a forceful “period” to the end of it. Don’t allow your brain to speculate or follow its normal path of anxious thoughts. Just state the facts neutrally, then say “period.” Try this out for yourself: “The stock market is faltering. Period.” “I didn’t go to the gym this week. Period.” “I can’t afford to go out to eat. Period.” By cutting off your brain’s typical dialogue, you reclaim your place of choice. You’ll find yourself responding to life’s situations more creatively and positively. And you’ll feel better! — Adrianne Ahern