I listened to a podcast the other day. The subject was about how our minds are conditioned and continually so to respond to subconscious messages.
The man being interviewed discussed how he had become successful very quickly in the fitness and health coaching industry. His own journey to success had brought him to living the high life and addiction to drugs, alcohol and caffeine and then to working through these issues and becoming healthy and vibrant once more and of course free from addiction.
The story is multi layered but he found when working with his own high end, high paying health coaching clients. They would reach a limit, say lose a significant amount of weight and then put it all back on again, frustrated as to why he couldn't get the results he wanted for his clients he asked the question.
Why are they afraid of being their best self in an underachieving society?
I found it such an interesting question as it had come up time and again for me in my own life but also after last weeks post about self sabotage it took me deeper into the question.
The subconscious mind is often termed as the “autopilot” behind your conscious mind. It is where your mind stacks away all its memories. It keeps your experiences, concepts, insights, and perceptions long after your conscious mind has forgotten them. From here come the feelings and notions that rule your conscious self, behaviours, habits, decision-making, and mindset. Through its complex mechanism of neurological functions, the brain is responsible for vital emotions, including negative emotions. These include anger, happiness, grief, and the like. These interpretations give shape to the kind of behaviour we exhibit. It influences whether a person cultivates positive thinking or limiting beliefs.
He also discussed the tribal part of us that needs to fit and to feel safe. The tribe we are in influences our beliefs and so if this tribe comes from a poverty or lack mindset then to step out will feel uncomfortable and in some cases unsafe and so without consciously deciding, we will sabotage our own progress just to feel the embrace of the tribe or group.
We are also bombarded with constant messages from advertising, social media and even going to the shops is filled with subliminal messaging. This type of messaging is created for the purpose of reprogramming your mind. They are stimuli that enter into the lower level of conscious awareness. They bypass human consciousness where reason or logic resides and influence how you think and behave.
It is hard to get your head around that what we experience is layered with all this going on underneath. But when we raise awareness of this then we can start to work with it. Look at like a reprogramming or defragmenting of your internal computer.
The guy on the podcast is now working fully in this field and runs a self sabotage coaching school where his students are educated on the subjects of mind control, behaviour modification and psychological manipulation. His story was so interesting.
Towards the middle of the podcast he says "You can change these 'spells' for positive effects, it doesn't all have to be negative." He goes on "The media are casting spells to manipulate the subconscious mind. They manipulate the repetitive content of what we see and hear and the subconscious does the rest. The subconscious lusts after the content, believing it represents what the bigger herd is saying, thinking or doing and forces us to act it all out, we aren't conscious of it at all."
The conclusion that stood out most noticeably was that however much we try to create a better life, without dealing with the day to day repetitive content of what we are seeing, hearing and doing and the underlying programming in our minds then we will constantly reach these sabotaging behaviours.
“So if we want to change some aspect of our reality, we have to think, feel, and act in new ways; we have to “be” different in terms of our responses to experiences. We have to “become” someone else. We have to create a new state of mind … we need to observe a new outcome with that new mind.” ― Joe Dispenza
I believe this first takes a decision to want to change and some will choose not to. That's ok! But if you want to change its another example of becoming conscious of ourselves, our patterns, cycles and behaviours and it's not always pretty. But once we are aware and accept we can find the support and resources to move forward, drop the conditioning and live our best life.
Change can be scary. Being uprooted from a comfortable place to process new information and experiences entering your life can be overwhelming. Yet, whether we want to admit it or not, change carries evolution. It does not come from a place of comfort and requires us to expand our knowledge, shift our habits, and adapt to new situations. In my own experience, when we avoid change at all costs, life will bring it to us, one way or another.