"Sometimes you do not know long it will take to complete a journey,
especially if you have never ever been there." author unknown
It is time to begin. Each day I will be introducing you to different ways to utilize the tools you were given earlier. These new applications will allow you to practice "exceptional living." as well as sugar addiction management. You now have the opportunity to make the tools truly yours and in so doing you will create and experience excellence throughout your life.
In this particular program you are learning to manage eating disorders and addictions through the practice awareness and interactive self-hypnosis "in the moment." I do hope you have utilized your Assessments, having outlined some of the first changes you plan to make as you grow towards your personal goals. Remember that your goals are multi-dimensional. While you are managing issues, you are also self-developing in the direction of many different goals.
You are designing blueprints for future growth. Each and every time you work with the tools and techniques of this program you are etching new neurological tracks for programming your mind and body. Each and every time you place your goal pictures into your subconscious mind following Awareness Meditation Banking or regular practice, the etching becomes deeper. Your outcomes will be speeded along by frequent review of "the blueprint" with creative visualization techniques. There are times when you may feel overwhelmed by the number of changes needed, but do not despair. Your focus is on your daily work. You already know to recognize and diminish unhelpful emotional states. As you continue to do this "in the moment" your positive changes will be quick and permanent.
Lasting changes are best made in small increments. While your basic plan will present much work, keep in mind that you will be mastering your blueprint brick by brick. You will continually return to the drafting table, observing and delighting in the end goals. You do know that modifications will most certainly occur as different levels of the project take on a life of their own. You also know and accept that the end project may look very different indeed from the original blueprint. Do not be put off by this, but instead, celebrate the unfolding of the process while enjoying each step of the way.
Writing goal descriptions is one of the most powerful exercises you can do. Perhaps you will begin a special journal for this work. As you read earlier in this book, it is a good idea to divide your life up into separate goal gardens and choose one important goal for each area.
MIND EXERCISE:
Just as if you had a picture of one of your end goals sitting on your desk, go ahead and describe it in detail. Make it vivid and as complete as possible. Be sure to allow your emotions to arise that connect to this wonderful end goal photograph: __________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Let's go ahead and place this goal into the subconscious mind library. Take a deep yawn breath and allow your body to deepen. You already learned this work in the Awareness area, so utilize whatever images or sensations work best for you. Now tilt your eyes up 20 degrees and see your end goal picture as it plays on the movie screen. Spend some time with this. Allow it to play out in all it's detail. Bring in emotional states that benefit the goal, perhaps confidence, joy, focus and discipline. You might go back to your emotional crayon area and review the list of possibilities. Remember you will be continuing your work with this goal, so changes may be forthcoming. When you are ready place a gold frame around the activated goal picture and following another deepening breath, apply the following affirmation instructions in the form of living images.
• I make changes in small increments.
• I examine my blueprint many times a day.
• I invite helpful emotional states to color my experiences.
• I am excited about my plans.
• I enjoy change.
NUTRITIONAL INSIGHTS:
Coming to terms with the need to improve nutritional intake is most important. Food intake can not be taken lightly. Every time you eat or drink you are making changes that effect your future. Sometimes it is difficult to focus on the early changes connected to the development of chronic disease, but this does not mean that they are not there. You might practice imaging the you of tomorrow and the you of five years down the pike actually eating with you and experiencing the outcomes of those current food choices. This is a good wake-up image to play in the moment, especially if the food choices aren't very healthy! . This book will help you see these so you can change earlier in the destructive process and go towards health instead of disease.
Earlier on in the book you designed your eating plan, but this did not mean that your nutritional work is was over. Far from it! Actually it is just beginning. Your eating plan is foundation of your blueprint for nutritional change.. Whether or not one of your goals is to manage sugar addiction, lose weight, gain weight, or maintain weight, the integration of a sound, balanced eating plan works as a catalyst for all other work. This is simple logic. The mind and body need nutrition to function. If the goal is "exceptional functioning" it stands to reason that the eating plan must also be exceptional. Fortunately in our country there is no shortage of high energy nutritional foods. The truth is that many of us are lazy, unimaginative and careless in our nutritional self-care. Often as not, the mind and body are not fed properly, yet expected to function at high levels.
I often hear the comment, "I do not know how to cook." "I have no time to prepare my meals." "I eat most meals in restaurants." "I have to eat in the car while driving." "My husband/wife/family does not like this kind of food." The bottom line is this....if you want to excel at exceptional levels, you must take full responsibility for your eating habits. Someone else's choices have nothing to do with what you are choosing for yourself. These are just excuses and poor ones at that! There really is no need to be a great chef, but if you really do not know how to cook a simple meal, this might be a great time to learn this life-sustaining skill.
This book is about putting the pen to paper and then putting the plan into action. It helps to make small precision-like steps, each building on the other. Here you will be making a commitment to yourself and this program:
MIND EXERCISE:
Relax deeply and tilt your eyes up inviting the alpha state. Notice you are taking a book off your library of life shelf. The title has to do with changes you are making and you are the author. Open to the chapter about nutritional changes and read the first paragraph. "A positive change I will make this week regarding my nutritional choices will be:__________________________________________________________________
The subconscious mind now takes the written commitment as a new mind program. Next it needs to be visualized and actualized with emotion. You already know how to reach your alpha brain wave level and to place a new program on the mind screen. Go ahead now and see yourself living out your nutritional change. Feel what it feels like to have this program in place. Allow the freedom of being well in this moment future-pace to next week, next year, five years from now and right down to the end of your life. Sit quietly and allow this program to sift inward.
Adding affirmations at this time will enhance the programming. Remember to energize them with emotions and active imagery.
• I make frequent positive changes.
• I am aware of my balanced eating.
• I enjoy eating high nutritionally balanced meals.
MINDBODY WORK.....
Today the focus is on the all important practice of Mental Biofeedback, also called body scanning. You already met up with this technique earlier in the book. Just as in your nutritional plan, mind tools have many areas of application and this daily process will allow the spoon feeding these to your subconscious mind. Just as sound nutrition is vital for the health of mind and body, the ability to read body sensations is essential for balanced living , high level health, cognitive and emotional functioning. It's interesting to note that most of us are completely out of touch with our bodies, despite the fact that we are preoccupied with them.
The body scan is a very powerful technique used to re-establish contact with the body through thorough and minute focusing. It is just like looking at very small muscle groups through a magnifying glass and noticing many things about them. It is an effective technique for developing both concentration and flexibility of attention simultaneously.
After completing the body scan you feel transparent, as if there is nothing left but the breath. In our program you practice this daily for at least a month. A good time to practice this is late in the afternoon, or an hour or so after dinner. While it is a great way to fall asleep, this is an awake exercise. If you find yourself falling asleep during practice, try doing it sitting up with your feet flat on the floor. Developing self-discipline is an important part of our work and this is a perfect day to get started.
Mental biofeedback or body scanning can be done slowly or quickly. There are benefits to both ways. Once you are well practiced and versatile, good communication is in place with the body and associated emotional states, you can benefit in additional ways. In any moment you have the power to request a change or shift in a body communication such as in a craving, pain or even an emotional state. As you work with sugar addiction and eating disorder, cravings or compulsions can be lessened and reprogrammed through body scanning.
MIND EXERCISE:
Sit up straight with both feet flat on the floor and allow your body to sit deeply into the chair. Place your finger tips on your lower abdomen and take in a deep yawn breath. Slowly allow it to exit your mouth, noticing that your body goes deeper into the chair. Once you have finished reading this, close your eyes and tilt them the twenty degrees and now scan your body with your mind, noticing any sensations or tension. Which areas of your body hold the most tension?_______________________________________________________________
In the future these parts will speak out to you more frequently. You already know how to open them and the benefits of doing so regularly. In the days that follow this you will be learning more applications of mental biofeedback so they can be etched into your subconscious mind as new and powerful programs. You will also learn to open the body sensations, release the stored tension and observe the connected emotional states that placed the tension there in the first place.
Before leaving your mind exercise, plant the following affirmations with live imagery.
• I practice the body scanner daily.
• My ability to focus is improving day by day.
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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