Starting the Journey of Making Real Change Happen
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.
