Affirmations, Smaffirmations...
If I'm So Wonderful, Why Do I Feel Like Crud
By Debi Livingston, BCH, CI
Okay, you know the routine. It’s New Years Eve and you have your list of all the New Years resolutions you’re about to employ at the stroke of midnight. The new day arrives and you embark on the new you program. Perhaps it’s no more cigarettes, or a new diet, or maybe you have affirmed you are going to be a more patient, tolerant person.
Day two arrives, and these new ideas are not as easy as you thought they would be.
Day three - and you’re back to smoking, eating pizza and ice cream and feeling cranky.
If that scenario doesn’t fit you, read on.
You’ve been feeling a little depressed, down on yourself and just know you need a boost to help you feel better. You go to the bookstore and thumb through the self-help section and choose a book filled with wonderful, positive, affirmations. This seems easy enough, so you take it home, excited to begin your journey as a new, positive individual.
You stand in front of the mirror, look yourself in the eye and state, “I am a wonderful individual! People like me! I love myself!”
Before you know it, your reflection is giving you the “raspberry” and thoughts like, “who are you kidding, you don’t really believe that garbage, do you?” are flooding through and washing away the good words you had previously spoken.
In all the classes and seminars I teach, I ask this question; How many of you have had long term success with New Years resolutions or stating positive affirmations? Usually, not one hand will be raised. Why is this?
The truth is, we are always doing “self talk”. This is the silent stream of thoughts running through our mind all day long. However, these thoughts and ideas usually tend to be focused on the negative aspects of ourselves. “I’m overweight, I’m a failure, I’ll never have a loving relationship, work is going to stink today” are some of the ideas we unconsciously focus on throughout the day. We’ve been repeating this quality of thinking for so long, they have become like a record groove, deeply imprinted in our subconscious mind. Try to think one positive idea and it will be swallowed in the groove of negative thinking. Why? Because we are attempting to quit smoking, diet, and think good thoughts from our conscious mind. The conscious mind has never been intended to create permanent change.
What is the conscious mind?
This is your Rational Mind. It presents the problem and how it should be fixed.
• It is the Analytical Mind, analyzing and dissecting everything.
• Temporary Memory is stored in the conscious mind. Telephone numbers, names, birthday dates, etc.
• Will Power. The mental rush of adrenaline to get things done. Will power is not intended to hold things permanently.
• It is the Critical Mind, deciding what you like and don’t like about people, places and conditions in your life.
When you start a new regime such as a diet or attempt to quit smoking, your conscious mind may hold this new thought for a short time, but eventually will let it go as the old patterns emerge and take seniority back over your life. To achieve any kind of permanent change, be it a change in habit or how to think better about yourself, you must go into the arena of your subconscious mind.
What is the subconscious mind?
• Permanent Memory. The subconscious mind is the storehouse of memory of everything that has ever happened to you in your life, including things people have said to you from birth to the present.
• Habits and learned responses, both “good and bad”. You want to keep some habits like brushing your teeth, taking a shower etc.
• Emotions. Your emotions and how you respond in various circumstances are stored in the subconscious and are fed to the conscious level of awareness in different situations.
• Lazy Mind. That’s right! Your subconscious mind can be very lazy! So when you try to diet and tell yourself, ”no more snacking after dinner!”, your conscious mind will ask the subconscious if it wants to accept that new idea? The subconscious will respond, “heck no, I like watching TV and eating ice cream!”. So that new idea is filed on the conscious level in Will Power, which will only hold it for a short time, then discard it altogether.
From the time of your birth, your subconscious mind has been programmed and conditioned to believe certain things, based upon your personal upbringing. Unfortunately, most people have not been raised in a household where only positive talk and thinking was allowed. Most of us heard things like “You’re just like your father. You’ll never get it right. Why can’t you be smart like your sister? No, you can’t have that toy! Money doesn’t grow on trees you know, you have to work hard to have money! You are such a cute little butter ball.”
Your subconscious mind doesn’t know the difference between fantasy and reality, so accepts all those statements as the truth. When we try to override those beliefs with a new idea such as “I’m a great person”, it gets swallowed up by the negativity and not accepted as true.
What can you do?
The key to successful affirmations is to first, empty out the subconscious of all the non-positive thoughts you have believed about yourself. The only way to do this is by going into trance; you must by-pass the critical factor of the conscious mind to enter your subconscious.
Once you’re in your subconscious mind, it’s very easy to create change! You can release the old and create space for the new you, at last! Say a positive affirmation from within your subconscious mind, while picturing and feeling it is the absolute truth, and you are on your way to creating a whole new set of grooves for your thoughts to move into. The results are miraculous, to say the least.
I have had the privilege of watching hundreds of people experience self-acceptance and love for the first time, by employing the power of their subconscious mind. What are you waiting for? The truth is, there is a power within you that is so great and awe inspiring, just waiting for you to tap into it and say hello. Your subconscious mind is your servant. It’s up to you to decide what thoughts you truly want to experience, then take action to empty yourself out from the past negativity. Isn’t it about time you got your own personal groove back? I say yes!
Debi Livingston is a Board Certified Hypnotherapist and Instructor with the National Guild of Hypnotists. She teaches self-hypnosis classes and Hypnotherapy Certification at the International Spiritual Hypnotherapy Institute in Berkeley, CA. For more information go to: www.ishihypnosis.com, www.debilivingston.com or call (800) 642-9355.
