Health & Lifestyle Coaching by Karen Halifax
Last month we talked about challenging negative beliefs – are they true and do they serve your best interests? Did you pay attention to the narrative going through your head? What sort of things are you saying to yourself? Are they fact-based, or more emotionally-led?
In order to change the way you think, it’s useful to understand how your brain is wired. Are you aware that your brain is actually a complex, powerful computer? Your brain, and more specifically, your subconscious mind, takes in whatever you feed it (your thoughts), and then without question, returns the result to you. The old saying, “rubbish in, rubbish out” is so true. The subconscious doesn’t question what it is fed. Whatever goes in is accepted as truth. For example, what if your input is: “I will never lose weight, I will always be overweight.” Your subconscious mind will accept these thoughts, agree with you completely, and graciously help you to find any and all evidence in your life to support them. It will help you focus on how hard it is to get to the gym with the number of hours you work and how you don’t have any time to cook healthy meals. What if you tried telling yourself:
“I love the taste of fresh fruits and vegetables. My body is slender and fit.” Your subconscious mind will also take this input (it does not know the difference between true and false, it accepts all input), and it will be happy to help you to support these thoughts in your life. It will find the evidence for you that: I can find 30 minutes to go to the gym... Just because I only have a short lunch break does not mean that I can’t eat a healthy meal. Your brain will find creative ways to help.
How Can You Reprogram Your Powerful Brain?
One way is with affirmations. Affirmations are statements that are spoken, written, or thought repeatedly. Write down a positive thought that you would like to turn into a belief in your life For example start with something simple like “I can lose weight”. Write this out 10 times. While you were writing it, did you believe it? Probably not, unless of course you already hold this belief, then you would write something else. Next, write your affirmation again 10 times, however each time your write it, also write down the first thought that pops into your head, your immediate response. Here’s an example of what yours might look like:
• I can lose weight. There’s no way, I’ve tried too many times
• I can lose weight. It’s too hard
• I can lose weight. I don’t want to starve myself
• I can lose weight. I can’t give up sweets
• I can lose weight. Who are you trying to kid?
• I can lose weight. I can’t be bothered.
• I can lose weight. Why should I?
• I can lose weight. Give me a break!
• I can lose weight. This time won’t be any different.
• I can lose weight. I get too hungry
You might be amazed at what you uncover. You may find a lot of anger, hurt, perhaps shame, embarrassment, and fear. Whatever you find, these thoughts are your unconscious responses to the changes that you are trying to effect in your life. So what if you have been toiling away in the gym but underneath, your subconscious mind is fighting you with all its might? It believes that exercise is a waste of time, that it’s better to stay home and sleep, and that this is a phase, it’s only temporary. Look at the power that these thoughts hold in your life, and you are not even aware of them!
Write One Affirmation per Day
Start now by making a commitment to yourself to write one affirmation a day, followed by your immediate, unconscious response. Write your affirmation 10 times, or more if you want. The more you do this, the quicker you can uncover those beliefs and negative thoughts that are wielding the power in your life, while at the same time, imprinting new, positive beliefs. What you are accomplishing by writing down your negative responses is to bring them into the light, into your consciousness. Once you are consciously aware of them, then you can work to change them. Until you know what they are though, you will continue to be affected by them in your actions, in your life. You will end up taking those negative beliefs and making positive affirmations out of them, to uncover more negatives. As you can see, this process can be applied to any area of your life: money, relationships, work, home, anything. Our focus in this topic is weight loss, but there is no reason that you cannot go for it
and begin to make changes in other areas of your life.
|
Home Fitness Tips by Paula Blackwood
Rosemary and Judith for a wonderful evening which was thoroughly enjoyed by all the ladies who attended. We’re just wondering when you’re going to plan the next one Rosemary? 