I had some great responses to my last blog, so I thought I’d continue that train of thought and give you some more practical ways to get access to and re-programme your subs-conscious.
A reminder: Your brain is built to reinforce and regulate your life. As discussed in the last blog, it isn’t just regulating your physical self, but also your mental self.
Your mind is constantly filtering and bringing to your attention information and stimuli that affirms your pre-existing beliefs (this is known in psychology as confirmation bias) as well as presenting you with repeated thoughts and impulses that mimic and mirror that which you've done in the past.
Your subconscious mind is designed to keep you in your comfort zone.
It is also the realm in which you can either habituate yourself to expect, and routinely seek the actions that would build and reinforce, the greatest success, happiness, wholeness or healing of your life.
So, here are a few ways to start retraining your mind to be your ally, not your enemy.
1. Be willing to see the unchangeable change.
The first step in creating change is not actually believing that it's possible, it's being willing to see if it is possible.
You are not going to be able to jump from being a skeptic to a believer. The step between those is just being open to seeing what could be possible.
2. Give yourself permission to be successful.
Instead of regurgitating the same old narrative of believing you'll be happy once you're 10 pounds lighter, one promotion and two life events down-the-line, work on changing your inner monologue to: "I allow my life to be good." The old adage – “the living is easy” is one that really works for me.
Give yourself permission to be happy and successful, and not feel guilty about it. If you have a subconscious association between success being amoral, or corrupt, or selfish of course you're not going to do what you need to do to live the life you want to live. Instead, give yourself permission to step into a whole, happy, healthy, grounded and meaningful existence.
3. Don't allow other people's fears to cast shadows of doubt.
The way people respond to news of your success will tell you how they are really doing in their lives. Other people’s fears are projections of their own situations. That has nothing to do with what you are or are not capable of.
“Do not let another day go by where your dedication to others people’s opinions is greater than your dedication to your own emotions” – Steve Maraboli
4. Start a gratitude journal.
I’ve shared this one in a few blogs, and I know some people really roll their eyes, but honest, the best way to start putting yourself in a headspace of "having" rather than "wanting" is to have a gratitude practice. By expressing thanks for all that you do have, you shift your mindset from being hungry for change to feeling satisfied with where you are at. Nothing magnetizes abundance to you like gratitude.
There's a proverb that addressing this directly - once you believe you have enough, you are open to receiving more and more and more. That is undoubtedly true.
“To those who have, more is given, to those that haven’t, more is taken away.” - Proverb
5. Surround yourself with positive reinforcement.
Prepare your environments to reinforce the positives in life. Keep a bottle of champagne in the fridge ready to celebrate. Change your morning alarm on your phone to read the message: "CONGRATULATIONS!!!" Make sure that the items that you see and touch most often bring you positivity and hopefulness. Keep an inspirational note on a post-it on your mirror or next to your computer. Bring those messages wherever you can – I even have jumpers aspirational messages on them. Unfollow people who make you feel bad about yourself, follow those who are constantly positive and interesting. Make your newsfeed a place that can catalyse your growth, instead of lessening your perception of your worth.
6. Surround yourself with allies.
Start spending time with people who are ambitious, supportive, and creative. Remember that you will truly become who you spend the most time with and choose who that is very carefully.
“Who you spend time with is who you become. Change your life by consciously choosing to surround yourself with people with higher standards” - Tony Robbins
7. Speak your success as a present fact, not a future plan.
Though you shouldn't say things that are factually incorrect like "I am a millionaire” or "I am a CEO," but do start speaking about what it is you want out of life not in the context that you will one day pursue it, but that you are already living it.
Instead of saying: "I hope to do that one day," say, "I am strategising how to do that now." Instead of thinking: "I will be happy when I am in a different place in my life," think, "I am completely capable of being happy right here and right now, nothing is holding me back." I incorporate this into my daily gratitude exercise – 5 future states in present tense that I repeat every day to hit the habituation quota to get into the sub-consicous
8. Create a vision space.
Being able to imagine what it is you want out of your life or any aspect of it is absolutely essential for creating it, because if you don't know where you're going, you won't know which way to turn first.
Once you have a crystal clear image in your mind for what it is you want and how it is you want to live, you are then capable of beginning to enact and create it. If you are still hazy or torn between what you want, you will be rendered incapable of taking real, meaningful action toward anything.
Whether you use a Pinterest board, blog or notebook put together words and images that represent who you are, and how you want to live. I have vision boards and diagrams of things like my garden and my career that enable me to prove I am capable of having and already have aspects of them, they are not unobtainable, they are just in progress.
Here’s an example of a vision board I created with a business partner over a retreat we are manifesting.
9. Identify your resistance.
When our subconscious minds hold us back from pursuing something that we love, it is because we are holding a conflicting belief about it.
To identify your resistance, question yourself. Ask yourself why you feel better when you procrastinate, or why getting what you really want could actually put you in a place that makes you feel more vulnerable than ever. Find a way to meet those needs before you proceed. In the last blog this was the purpose of the 250 reasons exercise. I attach it again for you to this blog
10. Release your attachment to the "how."
Your job is to identify the what, and then to work in tandem with the universe (people, choices, environments etc) for the how.
Life will always surprise you with how things come to fruition. Instead of being obsessively attached to every little detail working out the way you think it should, be open to potential and possibility, even if it's something you never imagined before.
“You are now coming to understand that there is abundance for you, and it’s not your job to work out how… It is your job to ask, to believe you are receiving, and to feel happy now. Leave the details to the universe on how it will bring it about.” – The Secret
11. Be single minded about it.
Creating new long-lasting neuronal wiring takes between 28 – 90 days. It’s easier for the brain to achieve the lower end if you focus on one change at a time for at least 4 weeks. For those weeks, be dedicated - do it every night before sleep or just when you wake up. Get into a routine – create neuronal wiring in the same place and time. If you are used to reflecting and evoking emotions at 9 pm, do it every night at around the same time. Find 5-10 minutes during the day to repeat it. If you think you do not have time, have less screen-time or prioritise this over some other media related items. Creating new neuronal pathway and shaping your reality is far more important than insta, twitter or facebook.
The great thing about this, is there is no right answer, or way of approaching it – it’s an entirely personal matter and you can some or all of the above tips to make yourself more primed to interact with your sub-conscious so that you help create habits and beliefs that support your hopes and dreams.
If this is a subject that interests you, and you also enjoy podcasts, then I would really recommend that you check out this interview with Bruce Lipton – he explains all these concepts with such passion and depth of knowledge that is inspiring. Remember of course than when you’re reading this or listening to the podcast, you’re only engaging your conscious mind – but it may help you to garner the impetus to start putting into practice the above…
Until next time...
Comments