Everyone's heard of the Law of Attraction. And although I agree whole heartedly, I believe that what's missing is the understanding of how the mind works.
All thoughts and feelings are stored subconsciously. These power our actions and habits. So to change on the level of behaviour, it needs to happen subconsciously. The logical mind is limited to willpower and short term memory. If it could fix anything we wouldn't need the many healing modalities available to all of us today.
I educate clients to understand that thinking about change or thinking how to change is a useless activity unless it leads you to the beneficial actions that will actually change something! You need to also find the vehicle that will affect change at the level of the deeper mind. Meditation is wonderful to quiet the (here is where the relearning happens) in order to open it up for change. Hypnosis used to coach your mind to change IS the most effective way to re-train the mind to work for you instead of against you based on your self beliefs.
Self Hypnosis should be taught as of Grade 3 which is when we are more able to focus our attention long enough to get those positive suggestions happening subconsciously. But it's never too late.
My Mind Coaching with Self Hypnosis workshop December 6th is full but if you are interested in learning how to use it to help yourself, send me an email at aloadoffyourmind@telus.net and I'll get you on my mailing list. The next workshop will likely be in February, 2015.
To help you understand how the mind works, here are the Rules of the Mind:
:
Rules
of the Mind!
Every
thought or idea causes a physical reaction
Your thoughts can affect ALL the functions of your
body. Worry triggers changes in the
stomach that in time can lead to ulcers.
ANGER thoughts stimulate the adreal glands and increased adrenaline in
the blood stream causes many body changes. ANXIETY and FEAR thoughts affect
your pulse rate and strain blood pressure which affects the heart and lungs
(think squeezing)
The brain and nervous system respond only to mental
images. It doesn’t matter if the image
is self-induced or from the external world.
The mental image formed becomes the blueprint and the subconscious mind
uses every means at its disposal to carry out the plan. Worry is a form of programming whereby you
form a picture of what you don’t want but the subconscious mind acts to
fulfill the picture’s situation, so if it’s a negative one, it works to fulfill
it.
Many
people suffer from chronic anxiety which is simply a subconscious mental
expectancy that
something terrible will happen to them or to someone they love. On the other hand, we
all
know people who seem to have that “Magic touch”. What they have is NOT a positive mental
attitude but a positive mental expectancy!!!! Another way of saying that is that we become what we think about!
Our
physical health is largely dependent upon our mental expectancy. Physicians recognize that if a person expects
to remain sick or even die, the expected condition tends to be realized.
Imagination is
more powerful than knowledge when dealing with your our mind or the mind of
another
Reason
is easily overruled by imagination. This
is why some people blindly rush into some unreasonable act or situation (think
of when you were really angry or sad and you may have let the emotion run your
actions). Violent crimes based on
jealously are called “Crimes of Passion” and are caused by an overactive
imagination. The idea accompanied by
strong emotion (jealousy, anger, betrayal)
or our political or religious beliefs, usually cannot be talked down
with reason. What you may have noticed
is the ‘after the fact’ reasoning. After
the strong emotion is expressed, the ability to rationalize returns which may
leave you feeling guilty or sad at the actions you took.
Once
an idea has been accepted by the subconscious mind, it remains until it is
replaced by another idea
The companion rule to this is that the longer an idea remains, the more
opposition there is to replacing it with a new idea (this is why one must
practise being mindful of self talk, habits and practise Self Hypnosis
regularly). Once an idea has been accepted, it tends to become a fixed habit of
thinking. This is how habits are
formed. First there is the thought and
the feeling and then an action that drives the thought. For example, it’s been found that teens feel
lonely when not accepted by their peers so they will attempt to join the group
by mimicking their actions, such as smoking or doing drugs. Some people believe that at critical times
they have to have an alcoholic beverage to steady their nerves so that they can
perform effectively. This is not a logical assumption but a subconscious
response to an emotion. The idea is
there and it becomes a fixed habit of thought.
There will always be opposition to replacing it with a correct/positive
idea.
Each
suggestion acted upon creates less opposition to successive suggestions as long
as they are congruent with the belief causing the habit
A mental habit is easier to follow the longer it
lasts unbroken. Once a habit is formed,
it becomes easier to follow and more
difficult to break. On other words, once
a suggestion has been accepted by your subconscious mind, it becomes easier for
additional suggested to be accepted and acted upon. This works whether the
habit is a positive or a negative. The
key to this is that the subconscious mind accepts that which is in harmony with
the habit (habitual belief).
To change a belief, the same rule applies. The suggestion regarding the change must be
compounded until there is no opposition to it.
When each suggestion is given, it creates less opposition to successive
suggestions. Although this takes time,
the subconscious mind can relearn.
An
emotionally induced symptom tends to cause organic change if it persists long
enough
It’s
been acknowledged by many reputable doctors
that more than 70% of human ailments are functional rather than
organic. This means that the function of
an organ or other part of the body has
been disrupted by a reaction from the nervous system to negative ideas held
subconsciously. We are a mind in a body and the two cannot be
separated. Therefore, if you
continue to let stress rule your life, in time, organic change must occur!
When dealing with the subconscious
mind and its functions, the greater the conscious effort the less the
subconscious response
This proves why “will power” doesn’t really
exist!! When an idea has been accepted
by the subconscious mind, it remains until it’s replaced by another idea. The
subconscious mind has to accept the new idea in order for it to change! So even when you logically realize that a
habit or an action or a feeling is irrational, it can’t change it using will
power. It will fizzle out like day old
coke when up against the power of the subconscious that is driving every
feeling, idea and action.
