Let's face it, we all slip up now and then. We all struggle to keep balance between work, life, and health - it's as if we have to choose between an enjoyable life and a healthy one.
Maybe it's negative thinking, maybe it's overeating or an addiction to sugar, maybe you travel all the time for work, or maybe you're just dying for a good night's sleep -- we all have at least one area of our health that we'd like to improve. Whatever it is, it sits perpetually on your mental to-do list, just slightly out of reach.
You hope and wish and dream of having a different body, more energy, or a happier life. But, the actions you take don't always line up with those dreams. You try and you fail. And then you feel frustrated and deflated (again).
There's an obvious disconnect...but what is it?
As a health expert and co-creator of the #MindBodyMethod, I've helped thousands of private clients identify this exact disconnect in their lives:
You have all the information that you need to make permanent change, but you also have core subconscious beliefs that are holding you back.
Every time we think a thought, feel an emotion, or take an action, we activate certain neural pathways in the brain. Every time we think that thought, or feel that emotion or take that action again it makes the neural pathway stronger and thicker and deeper. Eventually weak pathways can go from being like a thin piece of string to a sixteen lane highway that is deeply embedded in the neural network of our brain.
For example, when you learn to drive a car, it's a very conscious effort at first. You're checking all the mirrors, breaking too hard, trying to remember all of the rules as you navigate around town. But, after a few months, the pattern becomes so embedded in the brain that driving becomes subconscious. In other words, it becomes automatic. It becomes a program that runs in the background while we talk to people who are in the car with us or even daydream or sing along with the radio.
This is the same process that turns a few late night binging sessions into an eating disorder, or a number of stressful days at work into a nail biting habit, or a traumatic event gone unchecked that balloons into full-fledged insomnia, and the list goes on and on.
These programs running silently in the background are the source of the choices we make that create our lives.
The good news is that our subconscious habits and beliefs can be observed when we deepen our awareness. A key component of the #MindBodyMethod for lasting change is based on the fact that when we relax deeply and feel safe we can transform our subconscious minds to work for us, rather than against us.
In order to solve the disconnect between what you want for yourself and the actions you take to create your life, you need healthy subconscious programming and it can't come from knowledge alone.
You need more than information to make lasting change in your life.
For example, most people think reading a book about their problem will solve the issue, but 9 times out of 10 simply acquiring new knowledge is like taking a handful of seeds, (knowledge), throwing them on top of a field full of weeds, (bad habits), and somehow hoping the seeds will take root.
The trick is to complement conscious knowledge with subconscious programming to create changes that stick -- for the long haul.
Let me explain.
Let's say you want to grow a beautiful garden. What do you do first?
1. Remove the weeds to make space to plant your seeds
2. Plant new seeds by choosing the seeds you want to plant and place them in the right position in your garden
3. Water these new seeds constantly so that your seeds grow and flourish into beautiful flowers or plants.
Well, it's the exact same process for the human body and mind to experience growth and what it needs to flourish.
1. Remove the weeds by becoming aware of the bad stuff that's in your head and remove it so you give space for new thoughts and habits to be formed
2. Plant new seeds by choosing which thoughts and habits you want to nurture, and allow your mind to absorb these
3. Water the seeds by constantly reinforcing these new thoughts and habits so that they become a reality in your life, allowing you to experience flourishing health.
By getting to the root (your core beliefs that determine your thoughts and actions) you can undo the negative programming that has led you to struggle in the past and by carefully weeding out the bad thoughts and cultivating positive, supportive thoughts, we build the neural networks of brain in alignment with our goals.
If you're interested in getting started with some simple exercises for starting this process, sign up here for a free video training series to learn the #MindBodyMethod.
To learn more about the #MindBodyMethod, visit: http://mindbodyacademy.co/method