IMAGINATION VS. WILLPOWER; WHICH IS STRONGER?
February 3rd, 2010
Both imagination and willpower are needed for different tasks. Willpower, which is part of the conscious mind, is effective for physical movement, like lifting weights, and for initiating change. (not for long-term change.) Imagination, which is part of the subconscious mind, is our capacity to create mental pictures. There are times when our will and our imagination are in conflict; like wanting to lose weight, but finding that food is fulfilling an emotional (subconscious) need. Whenever the conscious and subconscious are in conflict, the subconscious (emotion) program eventually wins; it’s much more powerful than our conscious mind. This is part of the reason why positive thinking doesn’t stick. We can think positively with our conscious mind, but feel anxiety, but long as we hold onto the picture of anxiety, no amount of willpower, effort, determination or forcing will cause us to be any other way for long.
Willpower is the wrong tool for long-term change. Trying to use willpower to make changes in our lives often comes across to the subconscious as a high-pressure salesman trying to force us to buy something we don’t want. We force ourselves to change, like stretching out a rubber band between our arms; as soon as we let our guard down, our old habits snap right back into place. The subconscious can’t be forced into long-term change without resistance.
When we force ourselves to change, we place a lot of stress on our nervous system, since we are going against our subconscious picture. In fact, the harder you force it, the less likely you are to succeed. Try to force yourself to remember a name you forgot; try to force yourself to fall asleep. Try harder, persist, think positive; it doesn’t work in the long term unless our subconscious mind is in agreement and in a relaxed state. The harder you try to do something, the more you work against your natural subconscious creative mechanism.
We get frustrated with the change process because we think change requires only more willpower when we fail. The subconscious responds to vivid images, and feelings, not words. The secret lies in focus; just as focusing a camera and gently pressing the button delivers the desired picture. Develop a clear picture of your goal, relax and let a stream of purposeful thoughts and images have free play in your mind. No forcing, no teeth-grinding. By consistently imagining and feeling the goal is already in existence, it will eventually manifest itself in reality.
Reading; The Great Equalizer
February 2nd, 2010
We take it for granted, but reading, perhaps more than any other activity, has the power to unlock our potential and change our lives. Despite the space shuttle and computer technology, I believe reading is still the most powerful breakthrough in human history. Looking at biographies of leaders, inventors, scientists, and business people its amazing how often they were inspired by a book.
Reading is also a great way to influence your subconscious mind. A recent study was done (sorry; I can’t remember the source) where students read from 2 different scripts of plays; one was a comedy, the other was a drama. After they were done simply reading from the plays, a blood sample was taken. The students who read from the comedy had higher levels of endorphins; the students who simply read from the drama had higher levels of stress hormones. (Think about that the next time you read the paper.)
But as powerful as reading is, as enriching and entertaining as reading can be, today, the sad fact is that although most people know how to read, most choose not to. Close to 40% of Americans never read a book after high school. Only about 3% of Americans have library cards. It’s like being handed a winning lottery ticked and not cashing it in. Sometimes it only takes one idea to turn your life around.
Being able to be a learner and to adapt to change are more important today than at any time in history. Gone are the days where you can work on a farm or in a factory and have that job stay stable for years. In this economy you need every edge; it’s not enough to say “I graduated” and think that’s going to take you to the next level. Progress is happening faster and faster. Information in some fields is doubling every 2 or 3 years. Even car mechanics need to know how to use a computer.
Just 30 minutes a day of reading books in your field will give you a edge over the majority of your competition. Get to know the thinking and ideas of the top performers. It’s probable that if you could get into the top 5 or 10 percent of your field, you’ll most likely never have to worry about a job. Companies will depend on people who can learn and adapt, and readers have a huge advantage over nonreaders. So the best edge in the new economy is still the old technology. If you want to be successful, do what successful people do–read, because as Ben Franklin said “an investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”
EMOTIONAL SELF-RELIANCE
January 30th, 2010
Being emotionally dependent on others is a fairly common in our culture. Just listen to just about every other song on the radio and its basic message is “I’m nothing without you, don’t leave or I’ll die.” That’s not healthy; it’s giving way too much power away. It’s sometimes a difficult concept to get across because we are social animals. Some think if you aren’t dependent on someone, you don’t really care about them, but that’s a leftover habit from childhood.
As children, we were totally dependent on our caretakers for physical and emotional needs, but if we haven’t learned to fulfill our own needs, we carry these dependency habits into adulthood and expect others to fulfill our emotional needs. Healthy adult relationships are based on wanting to share our strengths, not compensate for our insecurity. Maturity entails accepting the fact that each of us is responsible for our happiness and self-esteem.
Emotional self-reliance is important because as Dr. Robert Anthony states “No one can let us down unless we’ve been leaning on them.” Feeling in control, even if it’s the illusion of control, is important to our mental health. When we place our self-esteem in things that are beyond our control, we undermine our self-esteem.
Emotional self-reliance exists when our “center of gravity” is within and we aren’t emotionally controlled or dependent on others for our self-esteem. Our relationships flow a lot more smoothly. We aren’t upset when others don’t fulfill our needs because we realize it’s not their job to make us happy and secure. They don’t really have that power anyway.
Steps to Emotional Self-Reliance
Learn to satisfy your own needs first. It’s not selfish; only when we’re doing our best to make the most of ourselves, can we effectively help or interact with others. To wait passively for something to happen that will raise our self-esteem, or someone to rescue us from our lonliness, is to sentence ourselves to frustration.
Develop an Internal Point of Control
A person with an internal point of control puts the responsibility for how she feels on their own shoulders. A person with an external point of control blames others, life, God, etc., and doesn’t accept responsibility. Most of us are a mix of both, but it’s been shown that people with more of an internal point of control are generally happier people.
Eliminate Blame
The habit of blaming contributes to a feeling of helplessness because we give away our personal power. We’re essentially saying “I can’t move forward with my life because you did____to me.” It’s a hard habit to break out of because it’s so automatic, but accepting ownership of our problems is the beginning of the healing process. Sometimes blame is appropriate, but it can turn into a bad habit. Every problem is our problem, regardless of who is responsible.
Everyone is Your Equal. Make your opinions matter more to you than other peoples. As psychiatrist Karen Horney stated “The backbone of all neurosis is making other peoples opinions more important than your own.” Stop giving your power away. You know what’s right for you better than anyone.
Overcome the Need to Manipulate. Emotional dependency is disrespectful to yourself. If you’re capable of doing something yourself, do it.
Don’t Always Trust Your Feelings
January 30th, 2010 It’s a common belief to “always trust your gut”, but I believe when you’re in a bad mood, you may want to rethink that idea. Sure, trust your genuine intuition; but the problem is that sometimes we mistake negative self-talk for our intuition.
Don’t always subscribe to the “follow your gut” idea when in a bad mood. In low moods, we lose our ability to listen, and our perspective flies out the window. Life seems serious and pressured, and we become more self-centered. Often in low moods, we want to solve our problems and confront other people and read into what they’re saying, but we should give it a break; we’re not thinking with a clear mind.
We often try to figure, think or force our way out of a bad mood, but the more force you put into it, the lower you sink. (We can’t change our emotions with willpower. We can guide them by becoming aware of our automatic thoughts and changing those.)
Trying to solve problems in a low mood is the cause of a lot of relationship problems. There’s a myth that a couple shouldn’t go to bed when they’re angry at each other. However, that’s probably the best thing to do; things will seem different with some rest.
We must allow our mind to become quiet to gain a higher perspective. A quiet mind is the best cure for a low mood. Slowing down can make us more open to a different perspective. The moment we recognize that we are seeing things from a lower perspective, we have already jumped to a higher level of consciousness. Simply being aware of what we are feeling is enough to raise our level of consciousness so that we can steer our thinking, rather than being driven by it.
Feeling bad happens, just like storms. We can’t try to figure out how to stop a storm or why it is there, but we can do what is necessary to minimize the damage, make ourselves comfortable, and wait for it to pass. It does not help to fight our thoughts. By distracting ourselves or relaxing and becoming quiet we can let the storm to pass.
THE IMPORTANCE OF SELF AWARENESS
January 26th, 2010 Most of us go through life in a form of mental sleep; living our lives preoccupied by a stream of negative thinking which we never challenge or analyze. Our mind is our basic tool for survival; we cannot feel very competent going through life in a negative mental fog. To become happy and effective, we must live more consciously.
Developing a positive outlook requires thoughtfulness. We must take more control over our thoughts, and start directing them towards a goal, rather than letting them control us. Control of our thinking begins by becoming more aware of the damage our thoughts can do.
To be self aware means to know why we think, feel and behave the way we do. Awareness consists of observing without interfering or judging. We don’t have to like what we see, but we must acknowledg that we cannot overcome a fear or problem we deny.
The first step to solving our problems is to acknowledge that they exist. We may defend against the pain of remembering and re-experiencing trauma, but by repressing it, we also deny the potential for repair and resolution. Remembering and naming what happened is a crucial part of the healing process.
Why Awareness is Important
* We can better control the thinking and behavior that we are aware of. What we are not aware of controls us. Awareness allows us to choose rather than react impulsively.
* We can deal with problems when they’re smaller rather than waiting until they get overwhelming.
* Since our emotions work much faster than our rational minds, we can use feelings as a guide to attaining an insight into our behavior.
* When we struggle to make sense of ouselves and the world, we develop a powerful source of strength.
Being Aware of Stress Signals
Body stress signals; whenever we’re stressed we tense our muscles; hunched shoulders, eye strain, pounding heart, upset stomach
Emotional stress signals: depression, anxiety, overwhelmed, impatience, feeling out of control, hopeless, helpless, defensive
Cognitive stress signals: forgetfulness, difficulty organizing, catastrophizing
Behavioral stress signals: insomnia, difficulty sitting still, increased drug use, oversleeping, overworking, over controlling
Just as our cars have gauges to warn us if we’re running out of gas or our temperature is too high, our body/mind has the same mechanisms, but we have to pay attention to them. Don’t pop a Tylenol at the first sign of a headache. Settle down and reflect on if you’re going too fast, stressing yourself, or need to take a break. The same thing goes for antacids; our stomachs are very sensitive to stress. It would be good to pay attention-before the break-down.
Why Do We Worry Most Before Sleep?
January 24th, 2010 Part of the job of the conscious mind is to act as a filter to all the information streaming into it; some call this part of the mind the gate-keeper, or critical faculty. Most information in our environment is picked up by the subconscious mind and is recorded; sounds in the environment, news on television, how hungry you are, birds chirping, or the traffic outside. The subconscious mind’s ability to absorb information is phenomenal. It is estimated that it can process several million bits of information every second; the conscious mind, however, can only handle a few bits of information. We don’t focus on the information in the environment, but it passes through our mental gate-keeper and is recorded. Only if we attach some value to them do we become aware of it. For example, if we hear our name called out at a noisy party, our conscious mind would filter out all the extraneous noise and focus in the direction of where we heard our name.
Before we go to bed, our mind relaxes and doesn’t filter information as much. When the gate-keeper starts to rest, all the information that was recorded in the subconscious mind starts to bubble up. If we were working at home while watching the news, all the information about the crime report, wars, financial chaos and other negativity, now starts to play out in our minds. It gets added to all the things that didn’t get done, our on-going frustrations, and all the problems we have to face, and we build even more tension. Remember, our subconscious mind cannot tell the difference between what is real and what we imagine, so our body starts to react to these thoughts and images as if they were really happening. We become agitated and our thoughts get more and more caught up in the imagination.
What to Do:
1. Be aware of negativity in your daily environment. Set it up so that you have optimistic reinforcers about the positive side of life; affirmations, pictures of loved ones, or your goals, etc.
2. Give your mind a goal to work on before going to sleep. Stop listening to your mind and start directing it with affirmations or planning. If we don’t direct it, someone else is. It simply digests information that comes from the environment.
Have you ever had to wake up in the morning without an alarm clock? If you have, you probably repeated to yourself “five o’clock, wake up at five o’clock” over and over. Magically, at 4:58, you wake up. How did that work? The subconscious mind is a perpetual motion goal-achiever; it works 24/7 to make our goals happen. All night long it worked on the goal of waking up at five o’clock. The last thought of the night becomes the first thought of the morning. Give it orders for a peaceful nights sleep or for your workday to flow smoothly, or for you to do a great job on that presentation and it will make those goals happen as well
3. Decrease news watching. Most of it is negative, and with the 24-hour news cycle, it creates the sense of non-stop crisis in your subconscious mind. Television is especially powerful because we’re in a state of hypnosis while watching it and usually we watch it right before bed, when we’re trying to settle our mind down. As business philosopher Jim Rohn says “guard your mind.”
Tags: insomnia, sleep, sleep deprivation, subconcious
The Benefits of Goal Setting
January 22nd, 2010
“A fool with a goal will always beat a genius with no goal.” T. Boone Pickens
Goals help give our life structure and meaning. We’re generally happier when we have meaningful goals. Setting goals helps dispel the nagging feeling that life is passing us by. Meaning helps us endure through suffering. Goals help us identify what really matters. We start looking at daily activities and our time in a different light; our purpose becomes more focused and we begin prioritizing our time better. The mind needs something worthwhile to focus on; it’s a proven fact. Living a life without goals is very uncomfortable; we operate like a ship without a rudder.
Goals help us realize our potential. Everyone is proceeding towards a goal. We may not be aware of what the goal is, and it may have even been chosen by someone else, but our brain still thinks of it as a goal.
For example, a client I worked with began acting out in school when he was a child. He was stressed out from his mother’s alcoholism and the constant arguing from his parents. He’s labeled learning disabled and is sent to special ed. He begins to feel more and more of his identity being absorbed by the learning disabled label. It gets continually reinforced every day he goes to school and he begins to believe he’s learning disabled.
He grows into an adult, never having challenged or questioned whether or not he really did have learning problems. In other words, his “goal” was to act like he had a learning disability. Even though it was chosen by someone else, the subconscious mind proceeded as if it were a legitimate goal. (The subconscious mind doesn’t care if the goals it is given are constructive or destructive; it simply goes after goals.) Luckily, we challenged his thinking and realized he wasn’t acting out because he had an actual learning disability, but because he was angry about the family chaos. He grew confident enough to begin classes at a community college.
Our outer lives gradually shapes itself to the inner world of thought. We may not consider “I’m just not good in math.” as a program, but the subconscious does. Whenever you use “I am” you’re making a program. Eventually these thoughts grow into attitudes and habits, which will attract and create the circumstances that are in harmony with the main thought.
Goals reduce stress. A feeling of control is a major part of a healthy mental attitude. Goals help set in motion what we want to happen rather than reacting blindly to events around us. Like a magnet, a goal focuses our energy so we don’t waste any energy worrying about options or “what ifs”.
Goals make us more alert to opportunities. We pay attention to things in the environment in proportion to their value to us. When we program our mind with a goal, our subconscious mind becomes sensitized and starts becoming more aware of things in the environment that can help manifest the goal. If there’s no goal, this mental power goes to waste. It’s like a mother with a newborn baby; she’s programmed her mind to wake up when she hears her baby cry, but will sleep through car alarms, sirens or any other noises. Her subconscious mind filters all that extraneous information out and only lets in the baby’s cry.
Another example: you decide to go back to school for business administration. That becomes your goal. With that, things start to pop up at you; you start to see advertisements for open houses at colleges or you meet people who are doing what you would like to do. Weird “coincidences” start to happen because you set the goal. Those ads and people were there all along, but they never had any importance to you because you didn’t set the goal.
Success, happiness, and peace of mind are not accidents. They are results created by clear, consistent instructions given to your brain’s guidance system. It’s been said that we put more planning into a week’s vacation than we do with our life. Next, we’ll talk about some steps to creating a life with more direction.
ELIMINATE COMPLAINING
January 20th, 2010 William James, an early American philosopher/psychologist, stated “the greatest discovery of my generation was that a man can control the circumstances of his life by controlling his thoughts and attitudes.”
Complaining is one of those “harmless” habits that we’ve learned, but never stop to realize the effect it has on our lives. Most of it has no worthwhile value, but it creates immediate and powerful chemical and electrical changes in the brain. The subconscious accepts every complaint or self deprecating statement as a program. It prints it, stores it for future reference, and responds to it.
Complaining negatively affects your attitude and creates more stress.
Complaining replaces objective reasoning with frustration.
Complaining attracts other complainers, which reinforces your negativity.
Complaining usually doesn’t do any good and keeps you from looking for a solution. As long as negative mind chatter fills our mind, nothing positive can emerge from it.
Complaining reinforces the habit of looking at the negative.
Complaining uses up alot of energy. Some days we don’t do much physical work, but wind up exhausted at the end of the day, fighting straw men in our minds.
For some people, complaining is a way of life. Become more aware of the habit of complaining in yourself and others.
Attempt to figure out the benefits of complaining. Is it just a habit you picked up unconsciously from others?
Politely excuse yourself from other complainers. Emotions are contagious. Other people influence us on a subconscious level-whether we like it or not.
More often, happiness is found by giving up negative limiting beliefs, than acquiring the things we think will make us happy.
Stress Control and the Imagination
January 20th, 2010 The “fight of flight” response is a series of changes that happens in your body in order to prepare you for emergencies. During an emergency, the brain releases chemicals to energize us to deal with, what we perceive to be a dangerous situation. These chemicals sharpen our eyesight, bring more blood to our muscles, makes our heart beat faster and slows down our digestion. These chemicals were meant to help us spring into action. After the crisis is over, our body would return to normal.
Back in the early years of our evolution, the stress response was stimulated by an actual threat to our safety, like a bear or tiger. Today, most of our stress response is due to an over-active imagination. We aren’t fighting for our lives every day, except the subconscious mind doesn’t know that. ( It cannot distinguish a real threat from a threat to our ego, or imaginary threat, like worry)
We have an incredible capacity to use our imaginations to create a better life, but most of the time, it controls us with worry and stress about circumstances that haven’t even happened. To our subconscious mind, it doesn’t matter; it still releases the stress chemicals which slows down our digestion, stresses our heart and muscles and over time makes us irritable and decreases our functioning. The crisis chemicals were meant for helping us with a physical fight, and were meant to remain in our system for only a short period of time. However, many of us go throughout the day continually stressing our system with a stream of depressing or anxious thoughts. On top of that, we don’t allow, or have the chance, to release them through a physical outlet, like exercise. It’s no wonder that most of what primary care doctors see are problems that are the result of stress (much of which is generated from an out-of-control imagination): high blood pressure, muscle pains, digestive problems, anxiety and depression.
A Roman philosopher and general, Marcus Aurelius once said that we should “erase the imagination”. He realized how destructive it can be if it weren’t guided or controlled. Stay in the here and now. Constantly bring your mind back to the present moment. It’s the only time you have to live. If you take care of the present moment, the future will fall into place. You won’t be needlessly over-taxing your body’s crisis response system. Many people complain that life goes by too fast. That’s because they’re never living it. They’re being driven through it, by an undisciplined imagination.
Confronting the Inner Critic
January 18th, 2010 One of the main causes of low self-esteem and por performance is ongoing self-criticism. When left unmanaged, negative self-talk can be a huge source of stress because our thoughts influence our feelings and behavior, and can take on a life of their own.
The inner critic is that part of us that is always judging everything negatively. Most of us go through life unaware of how we create prisons in our mind or simply accept the limited views handed down to us from dysfunctional caretakers. Year after year, word by word, our programming is etched into our minds. After a time, their voice becomes interwoven with ours and we start repeating their messages to ourselves. This critics voice is so interwoven with our own voice that the attacks seem justified; that “it’s just the way I am.” or “it’s the way life is…”
When we were children, we were sponges for everything that was going on in our environment, whether it was positive or negative, healthy or unhealthy. We didn’t have the capacity to consistently reject negative messages, and these messages sink into the subconscious mind where they stay. These programs may remain dormant for years, but eventually they create the circumstances that they are in consistent with: (“You’ll be an alcoholic, just like your father!” or “We just never have enough money…”)
The inner critic:
* warps you self-image, like a fun-house mirror, minimizing your strengths and magnifying your insecurities.
*constantly compares you to others and makes you feel less-than
* blames you when things go wrong
* constantly judges and insults you
Steps to control the inner critic:
Become more aware of your negative judgment. As a general rule, what we are aware of, we can control; what we’re not aware of will control us. Be especially aware of reactions and self-talk, especially during stressful times.
After listening to the inner critic, stop listening, and start directing it. The subconscious mind doesn’t care what you tell it; it simply moves in the direction of its strongest thought.
Use a techniqe from Psycho-Cybernetics 2000; the CRAFT formula:
Cancel the negative thought; say it out loud if you have to.
Replace the negative thought with the opposite positive thought.
Affirm and repeat the new positive thought.
Focus the mind to create a new mental picture.
Train the mind to respond differently in the future.
Myths About Hypnosis
January 16th, 2010
Myth 1. If I’m hypnotized, I’ll be surrendering my will and will lose control of myself.
This is one of the most pervasive and frightening myths, but it is still a myth, no matter what you may have seen at a stage show. The hypnotist does not possess magical powers. Cooperation, on some level, is critical for hypnosis to be effective. In stage hypnosis shows it looks like the participants have given up control, but the hypnotist uses some technique and careful selection. He selects the most hypnotizable participants, people who are extroverted and will go along with the act. They’re hypnotized, but never give up total control.
Myth 2. Intelligent people can’t be hypnotized; only weak-minded people can be hypnotized.
Intelligent and creative people are usually the best candidates for hypnosis because it takes concentration, imagination, and cooperation in order to get the most out of hypnosis.
Myth 3. A person can get stuck in hypnosis.
A person can come out of hypnosis any time they want. There are directive statements given to the subconcious mind that take effect after the hypnosis session is over, whicha re called post-hypnotic suggestions, but these must be agreed to by the client.
Myth 4. There is no hypnosis without the hypnotist.
Daydreaming, becoming absorbed in a book or movie or being “in the zone” in athletics are examples of light trance states that naturally occur all day long. A hypnotist uses the mind’s natural ability and guides it to achieve a particular goal.
Myth 5. Hypnosis can change me without any further effort.
Hypnosis doesn’t involve teeth-grinding willpower, but some habits are so ingrained it will take practice and reinforcement to make the new thinking sink into the subconscious.
Myth 6. I’ll find out I’m a Dr. Jeckle and Mr. Hyde.
Under hypnosis, you may uncover repressed trauma or information, if that is the goal, but you remain in control of the process. If the subconscious mind wants that information to remain protected, it will.
What is Hypnosis?
January 15th, 2010
Hypnosis is a term for a natural process our minds go through every day; a state of relaxed attention; alert and concentrated, but unconcerned with what is happening around you. Hypnosis is the Greek word for “sleep”, but it isn’t sleep. It’s similar to the concentration used when totally absorbed in a movie or a good book. Daydreaming is actually a light stage of hypnosis where we get caught up in the pictures our mind is producing. All hypnosis does is guide that process to help achieve our goals.
Hypnosis is an effective method of self-development, because through it, you can reach the mind’s “hard drive”, the subconscious mind. About 95% of our thinking, feeling, and behavior is controlled by the subconscious.
Normally, changing habits is difficult because when we try to think positive and aim for success, another voice in our head says “Success? You don’t deserve it! You never succeeded in anything!” This filtering process is constantly at work and doesn’t allow the positive messages to sink down into the subconscious where they can take root.
During hypnosis, that critical judgment is greatly reduced or eliminated so the subconscious mind is more open to the new suggestions or directions. Since the subconsious mind can’t tell the difference between reality and the imagination, the new mental pictures and suggestions “tape over” the old, dysfunctional patterns. Since most of our behavior is determined by our memory, we are in a sense, creating new “memories” to act from. Much like a file cabinet, when the time comes to make a decision, we think and behave naturally from the new pattern.
There are hundreds of ways hypnosis can improve the quality of your life. The most popular are smoking cessation and weight loss, but the list goes on and on, from pain managment, to improving your golf game, self-esteem enhancement, getting control of spending/wealth-building, stress/anxiety managment to improving relationships. The subconscious mind is an incredible tool, that for most of us, is full of old, limiting, negative messages from the past. Hypnosis is a great way to tune-up the mind to get more living out of life.
Why Are Long-term Changes Difficult to Maintain?
January 14th, 2010
Why do we fall back into our old habits after we’ve made changes?
1. We use only willpower. Willpower is great for initiating change, but it’s not meant for the long-term. The subconscious mind, which controls our habits, doesn’t like to be pressured. It’s like a salesman trying to make us buy something we dont really want; we resist and shut them out. The subconscious does the same thing.
2. We must be consistent over a long period of time for the new behavior to take root and feel natural. Our habits are automatic and run deep. If we let our guard down, the old programming is right there waiting to take over. It takes more energy and awarness than we think to over-ride the old habits.
3. Long-term changes are difficult to maintain because our emotions are much more powerful than our rational thinking. Our emotions don’t respond to our willpower very well. If they did, we’d just will ourselves to be happy.
4. Long-term change is difficult to maintain because we haven’t set up positive reinforcements in our environment. Negative people can be extremely draining and have a powerful subconsious effect on our thinking and behvior. If we haven’t gotten rid of the junk food, (when we’re trying to lose weight) or bottles of alcohol (when we’re trying to stop drinking) they can become triggers to return to our old behavior.
How to make changes longer-lasting?
1. Use your creative imagination. Make the changes in your mind first. Visualize and feel as if the changes were already in your life. This is ‘priming the pump’ for the subconscious mind to accept the changes as if they were natural.
2. Set up positive reinforcers in your environment. Stay away from negative people. Who we associate with has a powerful subconsious effect on our thinking and behavior. Hang up pictures of your goal or keep them in your wallet to remind and reinforce the change.
3. As with any positive change, self-esteem is critical. Continually reinforce the idea that you’re valuable and important and that you are worth being as healthy and happy as you can be.
The Benefits of Using the Subconscious Mind
January 7th, 2010
1. We’ll stop sabotaging ourselves. When our consious mind and subconscious mind are in a battle of wills, the subconsious programming (habits and beliefs) will eventually win. When our two minds are alligned and both heading toward the chosen goal, we’ll get there alot easier. However, no matter how badly you want to achieve your conscious goal, conflicting beliefs and habits will continually halter progress. 2. More things will start to work out without a struggle. When you’re on the right path and both minds are aligned, there’s alot less struggle and fighting to achieve the goal. Weird coincidences seem to open up the right opportunities; you meet just the right person who can help you toward your goal. The law of attraction begins to work in your favor. The subconscious mind takes the thoughts you repeatedly send it and eventually makes them a reality.
3. Outside forces will effect you less. Since you’re more aware of how your subconscious mind operates, you’ll be more aware of what makes you tick. If we are unaware of how our subconscious operates we’ll only react to people and situations, rather than consiously act. When we’re in reaction mode, we’re being controlled. Feeling in control of your mind and our life is a large part of mental health (even if it’s only the illusion of control). If you aren’t using your subconsious mind, someone else is. It could be an advertisement, a parent, or politician doing the “thinking” for you. Ignorance of how to use your mind, leave us open for others to take advantage of us. A general rule is: control your mind, or someone else will.
The Subconsious Mind
January 6th, 2010
We pass our days thinking that the consious mind is in control and that we are always making rational decisions. The truth is that the vast majority (some say up to 98%) of our choices, behavior, and thinking, is done on a subconsious level. We’re not aware of much of what we do, think or feel. Many of us are driven through life unaware of this power, and unaware that we’re often programmed with goals that are counterproductive to our conscious goals. It’s like a pitcher and a catcher constantly getting their signals misinterpreted; that approach can’t be successful for long.
The subconsious mind is the greatest wonder of nature, the secret of genius, and a critical factor in happiness and success. We have this force, sleeping within us, waiting to be utilized. It’s as if we have a Ferrari, but never take it out of first gear. We don’t realize that if we can shift a gear, we can speed up and at the same time use less energy. Our mind is the tool we use to build a productive, meaningful life. Learning how to influence the subconscious mind will help us move past addictions, low self-esteem and pessimism. It is a gift from the Universe, waiting to be used and controlled by you.
The Power of a Moment of Clarity
January 4th, 2010
Albert Einstein said “It is impossible to solve a problem with the same mind that created it.” Einstein understood that if we want to solve a problem, we have to move to a higher mental vantage point. We have to get out of our habitual mind, where we do things automatically and unconsciously. The first step to the process of making changes is to realize that there is a problem. You can’t escape from a prison if you don’t think you’re in one. A shift in perception is one of the most important phases of change; the idea that things could be better or different. This is where a moment of clarity can help. A moment of clarity can come in various ways; from an emotional shock, or from a quiet moment meditating. It allows us to see ourselves or a situation more clearly because it is unobstructed by our egos. Without having to worry about our egos, our thinking is more relaxed so that new thoughts are able to flow in and take root.
Awareness of Subconsious Programming
January 2nd, 2010
Full grown elephants are chained to the ground with a relatively small stake. Though the elephant could easily pull up the stake, it doesn’t. When the elephant was a baby, it was chained to the ground with a much larger spike. it discovered that no matter how much it struggled, it couldn’t pull it out. It soon learned how futile it was and gave up trying. By the time it was an adult, even though it could easily pull up the spike, it accepted and went along with its old beliefs.
How many of us have become “hypnotized” by old, limiting beliefs left over from childhood? It is, sometimes unfortunately, one of the characteristics of the subconsious mind, that it simply accepts whatever has been programmed into it; positive or negative, healthy or unhealthy. The subconsious is simply raw power and is designed to simply go after goals.
We all want to be happy, healthy, and wealthy, but how many of us are taken off track with programs we don’t even know existed? Often, we settle into a groove and think “that’s just the way I am…it’s my nature” without realizing it may an old, limiting program left over from childhood.
Harry Houdini, the great escape artist, made a bet with a warden that he could escape from the most secure cell in his jail. He was placed in the cell and worked furiously for hours. He finally collapsed in exhaustion against the cell door-and it opened! It had accidentally been left unlocked by the guards. Of course Houdini had assumed it was locked and never tried to simply slide the cell door open. There are many assumptions that we make about ourselves that we never challenge. Like the prison cell, they look impossible to overcome. However, with knowledge about some simple facts about how the subconscious mind works, it becomes easier than you think to move past limited thinking.
Make resolutions that stick
December 31st, 2009
A common tradition at the beginning of the new year is to make a resolution to change a behavior, like to lose weight or stop smoking, or to save more money. A phenomenon that’s almost as common is to settle back into our old behaviors when we find a change too hard to maintain. This is occurring because while part of you may want a change, another part of you, often a part we’re unaware of, gets a benefit from maintaining the old behavior. Making long-lasting changes will be a constant battle unless we reprogram that part and get it on our side. Too many of us try to change with brute willpower, thinking that if a change makes sense and is beneficial to us, that it should be easy. The subconscious mind operates on a different agenda: it simple accepts and acts out whatever has been downloaded into it; whether it’s healthy or unhealthy, constructive or destructive. It really doesnt care; it simply makes it happen.
Reprogram the subconsious mind using a different way: with relaxation and mentally creating images of your goal. The subconscious operates in a different way; it doesn’t like to be forced to do something; it needs to be sold on the new idea.
Steps:
Quiet your mind with a relaxing music or with a breathing exercise.
Create a mental picture of both the process of accomplishing your goal and the end result.
Trust and be patient. Continue to visualize and feel as if the goal has already manifested. The old habits have been in place for a long time. It may take time to convince the subconsious of the reality of the new change.
Since the subconsious mind doesnt know the difference between reality and an intense mental picture, we can “trick” the subconsious mind into believing that our goal is already accomplished, making it easier for it to accept.
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