MINDFULNESS FIRST
Considering we spend our entire lives using it to think, we humans are highly adept at ignoring our minds when they’re putting out clear messages that all is not well at the top end of the human operating system.
A GP once told me that long before stress related illness starts in the body, the mind will be putting out a clear and unequivocal message that things can’t stay as they are. It surprised me to hear a GP say something that I would have considered to be a bit alternative, a bit out there in the way the sun is a bit out there, and to realise that after 27 years in his profession he firmly believed this to be true.
This made it clear to me that caring for my thoughts, and how they manifested was an important step in getting my life back under control and protecting my physical body. At the time I was mainly concerned with my thoughts and the way they were transferring to my body as anxiety and fear, I hadn’t thought about how they might be putting stress into the body.
Nowadays we are far more aware of the effects of mental stress on the emotions and body, and yet far too many people continue to struggle through their everyday lives instead of saying ‘stop… what’s going on here and how can I change it?’
EVERYBODY STRUGGLES DON’T THEY?
Have you fallen for this myth? The idea that life must be a struggle, only 1{b8199d4e76d5c4c4a9fa89ec04f495f77a40e6e04d2b7b455e3b26e8fd6a6d2e} of our societies ever achieve their dreams, and the rest of us must just do the best they can with the limited amount of good luck that life has left to offer?
This is the worst possible kind of thinking, completely unnecessary, fundamentally untrue, and it represents an early grave for your dreams. Don’t engage in it. You don’t have to believe what others believe, and it’s incredibly important that you don’t. That you separate yourself out completely from the beliefs of others and start living life under your own steam, on your own terms.
Scientists are proving over and over again that our thoughts have a huge impact on our actions and outcomes, even our physical health. The link between thoughts and beliefs and illness is pretty much conclusively proven, and the power of the human mind is respected as never before. We are not the victims of the past, we have the mental processing power to be the creators of the future.
HOW?
Very good question. Let’s start with what you may not know about yourself. For example, you do know that your subconscious mind represents over 95{b8199d4e76d5c4c4a9fa89ec04f495f77a40e6e04d2b7b455e3b26e8fd6a6d2e} of your mind? Actually it represents over 95{b8199d4e76d5c4c4a9fa89ec04f495f77a40e6e04d2b7b455e3b26e8fd6a6d2e} of you, because your subconscious mind is your body.
Your mind trains your body into physical reactions such as fear, anxiety, anger, by programming receptors around the edge of your cells with those automatic reactions. When I first read this it didn’t seem feasible, yet about 30 minutes later I had an anxious reaction and I very clearly felt that it travelled from stomach to head, it didn’t originate in my mind. My body told my mind what to think about. The more the body tells the mind what to think about, the more neurons for that thought are created, until you have a mind taken over by anxiety.
That was quite an eye opener. The way that you create happier, more positive, proactive thoughts, is to train those reactions out of your cells and replace them with healthier ones. It’s surprisingly easy if you’re willing to engage in a bit of science based meditation and read a book.
How to “Break the Habit of Being Yourself”
I’m referring to a book by Dr Joe Dispenza, an American author and scientist who has done over 20 years research into this phenomenon, His courses are often attended by neurologists and neuroscientists, studying the outcomes using scanners so that they can literally see the changes taking place.
I had acute anxiety undiagnosed for over 22 years, and it took me a further 10 years to get control of it. By that I mean that I was aware that my anxiety was an illness, I took steps to control it, which often meant giving myself a good stern talking to, and it had become manageable.
Then I went to a conference in London in 2019 called The Conference for Consciousness and Human Evolution, which taught me several more things I didn’t know about myself and completely changed my knowledge of who and what I was as a human; as well as my capabilities.
Remember these were trained scientists speaking that day, one from as far away as Russia. Scientists who presented research to us, who have put their reputations on the line in many books which although under the heading of self-help go way beyond that. Those reputations are still intact and they’re still researching and learning more.
It was on that course I bought the book “Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself” and also the double CD ROM meditation set. One month later, not always having followed the programme properly, I was able to describe my anxiety as ‘normal’.
By this I mean that when there is a reason to be anxious, just like everyone else, I feel anxious. To put that in perspective, I had to have a tooth out last summer. I was fed up that I was losing another tooth, mildly concerned leading up the extraction, and my stomach was a bit tense when I woke up that morning. However, my uppermost feeling was “thank goodness it’s today I’ll be glad to get it over”.
I hadn’t been going through the usual process of visualising everything that could go wrong and more. I accepted that I was having a tooth out and it would be just that. He had warned me that the tooth may break apart, to which I did not reply “Oh my lord are you going to need to take it out with a road drill?!” or similar. I simply said “but you’ll be able to deal with that won’t you, this isn’t your first extraction?” He said yes, I left him to it.
I walked out of that dental surgery beaming from ear-to-ear. I hadn’t tensed up in the chair, as I’d said to my husband “It’s his problem not mine, he has to deal with this to my satisfaction” and I let him get on with it. I literally sat there and waited until it was removed, then went home.
That represented a huge change in me, like Grand Canyon Plus huge!
MINDFUL SELF-CARE
Returning to the original point that all self-care needs to start with the mind, the best way to create a new mind, because that’s what you would be doing, is through meditation, but not just any old meditation. One that shows you how to reprogramme that mind and takes you through a process from relaxing, to recognising old patterns, to eradicating them, retraining your mind to better thoughts, and then teaches you how to visualise a better, healthier future.
My personal recommendation is that you look at the work of Dr Joe Dispenza, and also Bruce Lipton and Gregg Braden. Lynne McTaggert is another author to consider. Start at that point and as you know, you’ll find your way to other people who will help you.
WHAT ABOUT PHYSICAL HEALTH?
The knowledge of how to take care of the human body is plentiful, but have you ever found that you know what you need to do but you just don’t do it? That’s because your cell programming is interfering with your conscious desires.
Starting by changing that mind you will find it far easier to do what’s right for your body. Anyone who has lost weight on a proscribed diet, gained all the weight back again and more, faster than they lost it, will realise that something is interfering with their genuine desire to be slimmer. Reprogramme that mind so that it in turn reprogrammes those cells, and you’ll find yourself wondering why the food you eat was ever an issue.
If it works for you as it did for me, and remember that I’m undisciplined and often missed two or three days out of the programme and had to pick it up again, you will find that the bad thoughts are gone.
THE KEY FACTORS FOR SUCCESS
- You genuinely want to do this.
- You research until you’re sure this feels right, that way you won’t be questioning every step of the way through and undoing your own success.
- You believe that you can do this.
If you can do those three things there’s no reason that you won’t be feeling far better in three months time.
