Starting the Journey of Making Real Change Happen
It all begins with an idea.
As the new year approaches, thoughts of what we’d like to change in our lives start to formulate in our heads. New Year’s Resolutions start to take shape.
However, for most of us, those resolutions fade and disappear far quicker than we’d hoped, and we quietly resign ourselves to the thought “well, there’s always next year.”
Many of us often ask ourselves “Why? why can’t I stay on my diet? why can’t I stop smoking? Why can’t I motivate myself to go to the gym?” It seems our heart is in it, we’re all gung-ho about it, for about a week or two. Then something comes up, we break that new routine, and soon all thoughts of our resolution fade into a distant memory.
The problem is, change doesn’t come from the conscious mind. The conscious mind, (CM), has the idea, but the real power and dictator of change comes from the Unconscious Mind, (UCM).
The UCM is the crew of your ship, and they need several things to carry our your desired order.
So how do we get the crew to follow the new orders and change direction?
Any seasoned traveler knows the key step in making an arduous journey is PREPARATION:
Chapter 1: Laying the ground work.
The Unconscious Mind follows a series of ‘Prime Directives’; while there are 21 identified Prime Directives, I will focus here on a few that I feel are important to note when it comes to making real, and long lasting changes in our behavior.
It runs the body.
It preserves the body. It’s function is to preserve the integrity of the body.
It is service orientated, it needs clear instructions to follow ( hence the crew reference ).
It maintains our instincts, and helps us generate habits, for good or bad.
Habits are formed through repetition. Do something long enough it will become a habit.
It follows the principle of least resistance. Once the habit is established it tries to maintain it, even when we no longer want that habit, or want to develop a new one counter to the established one.
The genuine beauty of the UCM, is that is does not process negatives. So when you tell yourself your goal is to stop doing x, such as ‘I want to stop smoking’, instead the UCM treats the statement as “I want to smoke”. [Test this yourself. Tell yourself to not see a blue elephant in your mind. What comes to mind instead? It’s a blue elephant.]
Ok, so now we know the UCM is the protector of the body, the maintainer of habits. What can we do to make lasting changes in our lives?
In order for you to get lasting results, you need to understand four key principles:
Perception is Interpretation
Empowerment ( Cause —> Effect )
The relationship between the four key elements of your UCM, which are Spiritual [Energy] ,Mental [Thoughts], Emotional [Emotions], and Physical [Neurological Transmitters]
You are Responsible for Change
Want to learn more? : I will break down these definitions in a follow on blog.
Laying the Groundwork: Continued
It all begins with an idea.
Understanding the Problem and why it is a problem
Your Perception is your Reality: What is perception? Perception is the external world filtered by everything that’s going on inside of you. Two different individuals can see the same event and recall completely separate events.
The Human brain takes in 2 Million bits per second, (bps), of data every second, yet our Conscious Mind, (CM), can only process 126 bps. Imagine the data your brain is taking in as a firehose, and you’re trying to capture the water (data) in a teacup. Even two people capturing the water in their own teacup will capture different water (data).
The data you do capture will be handled in three different ways. The UCM filters the data.
Deleted: Things your Unconscious Mind, (UCM), doesn’t want to see; it will delete. Your internal ‘programming’ determines what you delete.
Distorted: Each person comes in with their own beliefs and that can distort the data they ‘see’ and ‘retain’.
Generalized: Taking small bits of data, and lumping them together.
Your UCM takes in this 126 bits of data, along with your filters, to create an Internal Representation of the event. Internal Representations are the deepest level of programming in your UCM.
Behavior is based on your programming.
Being Empowered: (Cause vs. Effect):
The Inter-Relationships of your UCM:
Responsibility for Change: You are in charge of your mind, and therefore you are the ultimate arbitrator of the outcomes.
Blog Post Title Three
It all begins with an idea.
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.
Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.
Blog Post Title Four
It all begins with an idea.
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.
Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.