On a special edition of CNN's Larry King Live,
Mr. King interviewed a panel of "mind experts" about how the thoughts
you think literally turn into the events you experience, the material
things you possess... AND even the health of your body.
For years, "positive thinking" and
goal-setting were often criticized as "pollyanna" and "the law of
attraction" was relegated into the category of "new age" fluff.
Scientists have even identified specific parts of the brain, such as
the reticular activating system (RAS), which works with the visual
parts of our brain to call our conscious attention to things that are
important to reaching our goals and to filter out those things that are
unimportant.
The RAS is activated by "programming"
goals into our sub-conscious minds. Our sub-conscious mind is the
"power center" and THIS is the mechanism that explains why goal setting
and positive thinking are now being accepted as scientific methods for
change.
Here's the kicker - the sub-conscious is
completely neutral and impartial - it will carry out any instructions
you give it.
Unfortunately, many of us are still
running negative programs we picked up from others as children when our
non-conscious minds were totally open and impressionable, or which we
developed over the years as a result of repetition of our own negative
thinking.
As it turns out, our own thoughts,
repeated daily, are one of the primary ways that our "mental computer"
is programmed on a sub-conscious level, which is the level of beliefs,
habits and automatic behaviour.
To change your results, you must overwrite
old negative programming and install positive new programming into
your sub-conscious. This can be achieved through techniques as written
goal setting, positive self-talk (affirmations), and mental imagery
(visualization).
You can begin the positive mental
reprogramming process by writing down your goals, changing your
internal dialogue and taking a few minutes to relax, quiet your mind
and perform a session of visualization or mental rehearsal every day
(seeing yourself in your "mind's eye" not as you currently are, but as
you ideally would like to be).
These methods, repeated often enough, will
begin to program the non-conscious portion of the mind, which is the
same part of the mind that controls your heart beat, digestion and new
cell production, all on "automatic pilot." The Old neural pathways are
like grooves in a record, and if you are struggling with your health
related behaviors or behaviors in any other area of your life, you have
been playing the "old records" over and over again.
If you were to carve a new groove into
that record, it would never play the same way again. The old pattern
would weaken and the new one would take over. Brand new, positive
thoughts, feelings and images begin to create new
neural patterns.
Psychologists estimate that it takes 21 to
30 days to establish a new pattern in your brain. During this time,
the focus on sticking with your practice and repeating your new thought
patterns is critical.
Is this easy? For most people, no it's
not. In fact, controlling your thinking and keeping it constructive may
be one of the most difficult challenges you have ever faced.
Fortunately, writing goals and reading affirmations can help get you
started.
You can take some of the pressure off yourself by simply
accepting that negative thoughts and self criticisms will pop up from
time to time. Just observe them, without mulling over them or adding to
them, and change the polarity of the thought by quickly repeating one
of your positive affirmations or by changing your mental pictures.
So is there something to this whole "positive thinking" thing?
The philosophers and theologians have been
saying yes for the entire span of recorded history: "As you think, so
shall you be."
But... if you are the left-brained,
"prove-it-to-me" type, you dont have to go on faith anymore. Scientists
are beginning to prove more and more convincingly that thoughts are
powerful things.
So how soon are you going to begin your
mental training right alongside your physical training? When are you
going to learn how to harness this power locked up inside your mind?
Guess what? You're already using this
force every day because you cannot turn it off. Whatever you are
thinking and picturing in your mind repeatedly on a daily basis is on
its way to you already, so it's simply a matter of HOW you are using
it, not IF you are using it.
What do you say to yourself every day? Do
you say, "I am becoming a great belly dancer, I am feeling fitter and
healthier?"... or do you say "I can’t dance or do any movements – I’ve
tried everything, nothing ever works?"
The fact is - you can think yourself thin
and healthy or you can think yourself obese and ill. You can think
yourself into becoming a great belly dancer or the belly dancer you
want to be or you can think yourself not being able to. Maybe not in
the literal sense...but most certainly as the critical part in the chain
of causation...
You see, there's a lot of talk these days
in the personal improvement world about law of attraction, manifesting,
intention, visualization and of course positive thinking
Without understanding that there is an orderly, scientific basis
underneath all of this, many people will simply remain sceptics, while
on the opposite extreme, others may get the idea that you can sit
around meditating and visualizing, then expect a mystical "law
of attraction" to kick in and then "poof!" a great belly dancer
materializes out of thin air... along with the perfect relationship, a
nice bank account and career success.
What really happens is "Positive thinking"
and related methods quite literally re-program your brain, which in
turn creates new behaviours that move you physically toward whatever
you have been thinking about and focusing on.
So success is achieved through positive
thinking + positive doing... attraction + action. There are two sides
to the coin. Without paying attention to both, you may continue to
struggle... often against nothing but yourself.
If you want to transform yourself or any
other aspect of your life, then you have to change on the inside (the
mind) first and then everything else will follow.
Train hard and expect success…