Stepping into change is often difficult, or so we would like to believe. Most of us tend to repeat "trying" and often deciding that the areas in which we seek change are simply unattainable. Why this inability to change such important behaviors that threaten our health? The keys below may open some doors for you. It's time to move past old failure patterns and onto the path pointing towards Optimum Health.
KEY: I
If you want to change, you must begin to think differently. It's not enough to daydream a resolution. The road to permanent lifestyle change takes time and a special kind of planning and execution. Pre-resolution work includes having a solid look at past failures and locating facets of the resolution that need revamping. The willingness to observe and work with past failures is key to success. In addition, it's time to grow-up, wake up to truth and move out of unrealistic expectations.
Meet Sue, a successful, but burned out executive who brought her resolution daydream to my practice. "If I lose weight, my life will balance. I'll be completely happy and never complain again! However, I've never been able to lose weight and keep it off and so I guess I need some magic! Perhaps I shouldn't do this before the holidays or while I have so much stress in my life." It's easy to see that Sue is already lost in mind confusion. She has no plan and has even programmed herself for failure before beginning.
KEY: II
Sue looks for magic, but magic has no place here. Heightened awareness is the route to success. The idea of magic erodes her personal power. Her mode of travel needs change, as well as her power of observation. She needs to train her mind to notice the unfolding moments of her day, what works and what doesn't. These are small resolution facets including thoughts emotions and actions. As they are brought to awareness, stress is released and the facets are ready for editing change. These then become new mind etchings, the beginning of new patterns, that will enhance Sue's ability to succeed.
KEY: III
It is imperative to uncover the auto-pilot programs. This is a matter of becoming expert at self-observation. As Sue learns to pay attention to her body communications, emotional patterns and built in resistance, she will spot these, as well as other pattern facets that may have gone un-noticed for years. Once spotted, she can work to reprogram these with those that benefit the resolution. On auto-pilot, Sue is out of her personal editing-game. Her heightened awareness is blocked and she can't spot the facets. She is blinded and may trip instead of skip on the stones that line her path. The chances that she will fall and not get up are very high. She might appear next year with her weight loss resolution, but this time more heavily etched for failure.
KEY: IV
The practice of heightened awareness, also known as mindfulness is vital to both stress management and achievement. Adding Interactive Self-Hypnosis helps to position images that assist the mind in waking up in specific moments. As Sue learns to apply this practice to the facets of her resolution, she will notice that she is awakened to other moments that have connections she might have missed, especially stress-related ones.
The actual practice tools are very simple, their power sitting in this simplicity. Sue learns to purposefully experience inner stillness, fractionated throughout her day. She comes to know stillness as separate from mind chatter. As her mind wanders, Sue brings her attention back to the sensation of stillness or the goal at hand. She comes to understand that her thoughts are mind programs that are presented by her emotions and as she isolates these she can examine the contents further, simply by request to her subconscious librarian. As Sue goes throughout her day, she begins to notice the playing of thoughts and emotions as they apply to her resolution facets. As she contains these in her consciousness, she is free to edit, as they were caught in a mindful moment.
It's important to know that there are many health benefits to this practice of awareness coupled with interactive self-hypnosis. When thoughts are predominating the awake state, the brain waves are going very fast, producing a large quantity of stress chemicals. These chemicals are responsible for making important changes in the body, often disrupting important systems, such as blood pressure, heart rate, metabolism, blood sugar levels, gastro-intestinal functioning including digestion, endocrine function and that of the neurological system. During the practice of fractionated stillness, the brain waves and stress hormone productions slow down, bringing homeostasis or balance back to the body and mind. The mind is now free for the programming of healthy active imagery.
Sue is learning to wake-up to her emotional and thoughts that make her life patterns and resolution facets. As she works to couple awareness with "Interactive-Editing Imagery" she removes herself from her failure mode and utilizes this moment to transition to one of success.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Self-Examining Eating Issues
Why do we have disorderly eating patterns and why is it so difficult to overcome these? I’ve worked with thousands of patients over the years, both in my office and online, most asking the same question. Some know the answers, but do not welcome them for it’s easier to stay in denial, to give permission to fail, so as to not face the truth and do the work involved. Lynn-Ellen, a high profile television writer, attended one of my workshops. Her food and beverage intake assessment made it easy to know why she was over-weight and I was surprised that she didn’t seem to know this. When I suggested some changes she became incredibly angry and went into a tirade about how stress-filled her days were and if this were the way, she certainly would have done it by now. Lynn-Ellen is an emotional eater who will need a very different approach in order to be successful at losing weight & staying healthy.
For the emotional eater, the idea of changing one’s eating habits can be very frightening and even simple or mild changes can be met with all sorts of procrastination devices. The level of creativity and emotional states enlisted to protect the self from even beginning to change can be quite something to observe. Food related thoughts can play out in the DVD of the mind throughout the day and especially when stress is high or when involved in triggering situations such as shopping, restaurants, social occasions and the workplace. Certain emotions have higher trigger value than others depending on the individual.
Some emotional eaters trigger when home alone or in the middle of the night, even keeping food hidden under the pillow or the bed to avoid bringing attention to a cupboard raid. Others eat in the car, hiding wrappings under the seat until they can dispose of them safely. The time of day can a full-blown binge, many occurring on the way home from work, a good time to release work stress before entering home-based stress. Compulsions can be intensely draining, attacking the emotional eater with real physical and/or emotional pain.
How does one begin to take control of such a complex situation and stay motivated long enough to build new habits? In my experience, I like to take the emotional eater into a nutritional self-discipline, working forward from there. It helps to know that practicing poor nutrition is not a small thing. It’s akin to digging a big dangerous hole while teetering on the edge. For most of us, there is no time to waste. The following steps are etched into the mind and traced over and over again.
The Physical Component
Lynn-Ellen needs to get to know her self and what her body needs. Each of us was born with genetic tendencies towards all sorts of things, including certain diseases. Genetics are wonderful wake-up tools because they guide us towards knowing what our body and mind needs in order to stay well over the course of our lifetime. Ignoring genetics is asking for trouble. The body and mind have specific needs in relation to food and beverage, as well as timings for having these. The body is a machine that needs to be taken care of in a very specific way. If this is ignored the mind will be headed for trouble as well. Everything is about getting this right.
The Emotional Component
Managing disorderly eating means being willing to look at many aspects of our personality, including the lessons of our early mentors, including parents, family members, siblings, teachers, friends and whoever handed us our belief system. Whether we are addicted or not, part of what ails us can be found in these lessons. Once we are willing to identify these and not shy away, we can learn to release them or at least part of them. Lynn-Ellen, like many of us, didn’t get the self-nurturing she needed as a child, or even later in life. Perhaps she weren’t allowed to express her emotions in a healthy manner. Maybe she didn’t learn to self-regulate or to set healthy boundaries for her self.
When these tools of self-management are not sufficiently developed or missing entirely, one tends to go to excess to manage the unresolved stress. Going to excess over and over again, etches the habit into the subconscious mind where it is ready answer to any stress chemical production.. It can certainly be frightening to be without one’s habit when stress appears.
The Higher Self Component
Each of us has a Higher Self. This part is mature, balanced & knowing. This part does not hide from the truth, no matter how painful. It embraces it, getting to know it intimately. The Higher Self understands that facing reality is the way to freedom from emotional eating. Connecting frequently through the practice of Interactive Self-Hypnosis or specially designed inner work allows one to self-examine & to manage the surrounding emotions. Lynn-Ellen is learning that managing her emotional eating is a journey in self-discovery & can be the catalyst for change throughout a good portion of her life.
2010 copyrighted. May not be reproduced without permission of author.
For the emotional eater, the idea of changing one’s eating habits can be very frightening and even simple or mild changes can be met with all sorts of procrastination devices. The level of creativity and emotional states enlisted to protect the self from even beginning to change can be quite something to observe. Food related thoughts can play out in the DVD of the mind throughout the day and especially when stress is high or when involved in triggering situations such as shopping, restaurants, social occasions and the workplace. Certain emotions have higher trigger value than others depending on the individual.
Some emotional eaters trigger when home alone or in the middle of the night, even keeping food hidden under the pillow or the bed to avoid bringing attention to a cupboard raid. Others eat in the car, hiding wrappings under the seat until they can dispose of them safely. The time of day can a full-blown binge, many occurring on the way home from work, a good time to release work stress before entering home-based stress. Compulsions can be intensely draining, attacking the emotional eater with real physical and/or emotional pain.
How does one begin to take control of such a complex situation and stay motivated long enough to build new habits? In my experience, I like to take the emotional eater into a nutritional self-discipline, working forward from there. It helps to know that practicing poor nutrition is not a small thing. It’s akin to digging a big dangerous hole while teetering on the edge. For most of us, there is no time to waste. The following steps are etched into the mind and traced over and over again.
The Physical Component
Lynn-Ellen needs to get to know her self and what her body needs. Each of us was born with genetic tendencies towards all sorts of things, including certain diseases. Genetics are wonderful wake-up tools because they guide us towards knowing what our body and mind needs in order to stay well over the course of our lifetime. Ignoring genetics is asking for trouble. The body and mind have specific needs in relation to food and beverage, as well as timings for having these. The body is a machine that needs to be taken care of in a very specific way. If this is ignored the mind will be headed for trouble as well. Everything is about getting this right.
The Emotional Component
Managing disorderly eating means being willing to look at many aspects of our personality, including the lessons of our early mentors, including parents, family members, siblings, teachers, friends and whoever handed us our belief system. Whether we are addicted or not, part of what ails us can be found in these lessons. Once we are willing to identify these and not shy away, we can learn to release them or at least part of them. Lynn-Ellen, like many of us, didn’t get the self-nurturing she needed as a child, or even later in life. Perhaps she weren’t allowed to express her emotions in a healthy manner. Maybe she didn’t learn to self-regulate or to set healthy boundaries for her self.
When these tools of self-management are not sufficiently developed or missing entirely, one tends to go to excess to manage the unresolved stress. Going to excess over and over again, etches the habit into the subconscious mind where it is ready answer to any stress chemical production.. It can certainly be frightening to be without one’s habit when stress appears.
The Higher Self Component
Each of us has a Higher Self. This part is mature, balanced & knowing. This part does not hide from the truth, no matter how painful. It embraces it, getting to know it intimately. The Higher Self understands that facing reality is the way to freedom from emotional eating. Connecting frequently through the practice of Interactive Self-Hypnosis or specially designed inner work allows one to self-examine & to manage the surrounding emotions. Lynn-Ellen is learning that managing her emotional eating is a journey in self-discovery & can be the catalyst for change throughout a good portion of her life.
2010 copyrighted. May not be reproduced without permission of author.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
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