In order to stop or curtail any disorder or addiction, you need to get your ducks in a row. The disorder or addictions are the symptoms, and while they need to be understood in their own right, it is necessary to go below the surface to the cause. This holds true for all addictions and disorders. This chapter is designed to help you to accomplish this. Be sure to have your journal. Be prepared to put aside some real time for yourself. This is not quick fix work. In fact, you will find yourself coming back to this area, time and time again. Patients often ask me when “all of this” will be over. This always makes me smile, as that question is not foreign to me. It is important to find the joy in the journey. Then one can stop wanting it to finish quickly. Self-work is truly never finished, and hopefully you will come to know that is a good thing.
You are already learning that it will be possible to change your lifestyle behaviors. The earlier chapters set the early stage for breaking old patterns. You are beginning to understand that patterns have many parts, all needing attention. In the past you may have thought of a pattern as being singular, such as disorderly eating, but this particular pattern can have a hundred parts or more. The more awareness you build, the more parts you will find. Then you will decide how you want to manage them. As you look at the negative parts, you will locate some huge time wasters many that tend to complicate life. Your own memories can affirm this for you. Here’s how. Think of how many times you thought about starting a program to re-order your life in some way? Now pile those thoughts up in the theater of your mind. How high is the pile? How many minutes, hours or days does this represent? These re-starts are not only time-wasters, but they re-etch failure, thereby making a new pattern for your collection.
You already know that these mind and body tools will also take you towards optimum performance, if you work with them in a consistent way. It’s one thing to have a tool, but quite another to know how and when to utilize it. This is just like purchasing a tool in a hardware store. You know why you bought it, but you still need to read the directions to become familiar with it. Once you are familiar, then you are ready to use it. Most tools, like the ones you are given here, are multi-purpose, and can be utilized in many areas of life. As you get to know yourself better, you will also become aware of the varied uses for the tools.
One of the basic tools of this program is called Heightened Awareness. It involves becoming very aware of specific behaviors, the emotions that color them, as well as the connected body sensations. Remember that you cannot assess or change what you cannot see, nor what you are not willing to see. This is key. Many behaviors and emotional reactions are very ingrained. You may know them as part of your personality or "just the way you are". This is perfectly fine as long as they are not interfering with the quality of your life experience and health.
Unfortunately, for many of us, our behaviors and emotions tend to do just that and more. They are infamous for robbing creativity and smashing possibilities for prosperity in all areas of life. You don't have to look far to know how true this is. It's easier to see this in others, but self-awareness and healthy self-assessment is quite another matter. When looking in the “self-disclosure mirror” it is difficult to honestly see ones self and even more difficult when one doesn't know what to look for. This is where the power of personal assessment comes to help and guide you.
GETTING READY TO SELF-EXPLORE
You already know that most of your mind programs are on automatic pilot, woven into the fabric of your life. The subconscious mind is available to help wake you, but you are going to need to know how to communicate with your subconscious mind in a very specific fashion, about what you want, as well as what you don’t want. For this you will need special data collection. This is what assessment is about; collecting data for careful examination without judgment. This opens your mind, giving you the opportunity to decide if you would like to change or mind-edit “your data” before returning it to your subconscious mind library. This is experiential interactive self-hypnosis.
Most likely, you do not know all the things you need to know to make changes in your lifestyle behaviors. Like the octopus, the head of the behavior may be above water, but the tentacles or roots of the behavior are below the surface. You may sense or experience these as blocks, resistance or procrastination. You may want to change, thinking you know what needs to change, but until you identify and own the tentacles below the surface, it will be very difficult or next to impossible. It’s not uncommon to have a physical sensation of being unable to move, just as if your feet were stuck in tar or cement. You may recognize this as anxiety or depression.
In order to move out of the tar, you will be needing additional information that may not be in your current memory bank, but waiting for you in your subconscious mind library. Some of these things will pertain to your family of origin, as well as from your own health, emotional and behavioral history starting from the time you were an infant, and up through this very moment. You will also be reclaiming memory files about your beliefs, how you got them, and whether or not they are blocking your current progress.
Beliefs are like coats, many that were placed on you when you were a child, or perhaps as an adult when you were unaware. Someone who appeared stronger than you in that moment may have forced them on you. But that was then, and now is now. Through this work you are taking back your personal power. You will be choosing only those belief coats that you want to own. This is your life and this is your performance.
You will be guiding yourself with images of what you do want. That is why we must spend time in thinking about this. It's important to review your life and notice the areas, both big and small, that do not reflect what you want, and also to notice areas that do reflect those positive aspects. They need to be divided, just as if you were cleaning and clearing your home. When you have accomplished this, you can enter any area of your Inner Library and start inner exploring. The lights will go on, and it will easier to see in the corners of your belief closet, and the past experiences that are connected to these. When your “subconscious mind librarian” spots something that may be of interest for a self-review, you will find yourself receiving the message. This is rather like having a wonderful personal assistant who is completely attuned to you.
BEGINNING INNER DETECTIVE WORK
The library of your mind is vast. You began collecting subconscious experiences and corresponding belief coats in the beginning of your life, even though you cannot consciously remember these. All coats and experiences, old or new, big or small can hold important information and keys to your success, as well as reasons for past failures. You may have a desire or tendency to rush through this kind of self-detective work. Perhaps you even recognize this as a past behavioral trait of yours. This is a good example of Heightened Awareness. You may have uncovered an unhealthy source that leads to procrastinating or self-blocking. When you spot these tendencies, pretend that they are colored child-blocks, labeled with their name. Place them in a pile over there.
While it's just fine to scan through this material to become familiar, don't fall into the trap of hurrying and not doing the detailed detective work. You will be cheating yourself, taking away from the quality of what you are capable of doing, and perhaps even taking you down past roads of failure. There is no easy road when looking to achieve high level health and optimum performance. If it were, more people would be experiencing it. This program offers you the opportunity to see, and address your short and long falls, as well as your potential. As you build your commitment to this self-development work, you will probably want to review this area more than once, so as to build on the already presented memories.
You probably know plenty of people who want to change something, but simply can’t figure out how or when to get started. Somehow it never seems to be the right time. Excuses abound that keep them engaged in procrastination. Perhaps you have had this personal experience, and are wondering right in this moment if you can do this. This is another colored child-block called "doubt". It usually accompanies "lack of self-confidence."
Do know that this time it will be different than before, because I’m going to help you get started and find your balance. In fact, you are already in the process because you are reading this book. It’s said that when a rubber band is stretched, it never returns to it’s original position, and so with reading material such as this. The actual process of reading engages your right brain, or subconscious mind and so inner motivators are already etching. Notice if you can sense them.
Throughout this inner detective work you will be activating the different areas with a light application of Interactive Self-Hypnosis. Managing health issues, addictions or getting to the heart of any problem involves the act of beginning. You must commit and step onto the merry-go-round of life. Life does not stand and still and wait for you. So reach out and grab on to the golden ring. The ring is the catalyst for moving you out of procrastination, and into the action of the merry-go-round of life. That's all you have to do.
A NOTE TO NEW READERS:
This experiential blog/workshop is based on my new book, "How Many Cookies Will It Take to Make Me Happy?" This book is not published as yet, but you have the opportunity to read it in it's unpublished state. If you are new to my writing, you might want to read the earlier mini-chapters. They are available on FaceBook, The PublishersMarketPlace & at the following link. Remember to scan down to find the earliest chapters & work your way up. http://beyonddisorderlyeating.blogspot.com/
A bit of background.... we are working with creative Interactive Self-Hypnosis imagery, planting suggestions directly into the creative subconscious mind as you read along. What appears like a story is a series of self-hypnotic sessions, designed to bring about desired lifestyle changes. The inner mind is creative & rather child-like, loving to play with images, especially when they are emotionalized. Just like the saying, "a picture is worth a thousand words", well-planted mind images, can be worth hours of therapy. We can actually change or motivate in 1/200th of a second. So come along & look forward to some lifestyle-changing events.
Copyright 2009 Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht
May not be copied or reproduced without permission of the author.
Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht is author of Sugar...the Hidden Eating Disorder & How to Lick It. She is also the writer/producer of over 350 mp3/CD programs in the areas of medicine, health, prevention, addictions, self-development & sports for adults & children.
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