Alright then, this second post will be a continuation of the first.
And the main idea was to try to understand and incorporate the fundamental principle that explains why only so few people really can change their lives while the vast majority just stay stuck hoping and wishing.
The mind is what the brain do, so the question is what is the important rule about how the human brain works to control a great deal of what we do?
And here I will give it again:
Human Brains are Attracted to Something Different, but They DO only What Is Familiar
Basically, my observation is that in general, people tend to do what they are used to do, think what they were used to think and feel like they were used to feel.
Yes, they may be willing to change, on some level.
But the reality is that, if they are used to act, feel and think in a certain way, and only vaguely wish they could be different, THAN THE WAY THEY ARE, IS NOT GOING TO CHANGE AT ALL.
It took me many years to realize that the key to any kind of real change is mental rehearsal.
Didn’t they teach you that in school?
In order to change, you must learn to rehearse.
You must learn to rehearse the way you like to feel, act, think, believe and respond and do so with sufficient repetition that the new feelings, actions, thoughts and beliefs are perceived by your brain as being more powerful, more vivid, more real and more familiar than they used to be.
This is so important. I will say it again. It is NOT enough to realize you want to change. It is not enough to think about changing. If you want a change that is radically different, you must mentally rehears it! VIVIDLY!
In a future post I will give you 3 key ingredients to make mental rehearsal successful.
The first key ingredient to make mental rehearsal successful is using the role of breath as a vital ingredient to make deep level change.
Now, I am not the first person to talk about this, but based from my own experience, anything that I tried without including breathing exercises, any method, or any system out there that didn’t have this vital ingredient,
Pure and Simple, It Did Not Work!
We will not go into all sorts of meta-physical explanations but for a while, let’s keep it scientific, at least. There is a strong scientific fact that if you have a fear or anxiety response, the limbic part of your brain will control all of your responses that can get progressively triggered by small input signals, (like when you have a “job interview”, or you have to speak publicly,,,,).
Unless you can over drive and interrupt this limbic system, any programming you try to do with the other levels of the brain and mind are going to get sabotaged and disrupted, so change will take much more “will power” and fighting yourself.
It’s better when you do things the easy way.
So the first step to do your mental rehearsal will be to take ten minutes to do a breathing exercise. There are tons of materials on the web to learn breathing exercises, but if you aren’t willing to take ten minutes for yourself to do this then:
YOU CAN PACK UP and MAKE ROOM for other PEOPLE to READ on THIS PAGE!
My favorite breathing exercise is targeting a spot on the body located about 2-3 inches below the belly button, between the navel and the pubic bone. If you’ve studied any martial arts, occult or esoteric disciplines, this spot is called different names: the kunda, the tan-tien, the hara, etc. Without getting into intricate explanations, you just need to view it as a major power center in the body and a major awareness center as well (your “gut feeling” center).
So….stand up right, well grounded with feet planted about 2 feet apart. Take a deep inhale, and as you do, imagine the breath is moving in a soft line of energy feeling down the front of your body and swirling in the “hara” center. It doesn’t matter if it is clockwise or counter-clockwise you will find which ever works best for you.
Exhale by pulling your belly toward your spine and as you do, feel the line of energy from the small of your back up the center of your spine, out through the top of your head.
Repeat this for 10 minutes. Remember that our limbic system is at the core of our existence as biological beings. It is basically making sure that our heart is beating; pumping fresh blood in the body and is making us breathe oxygen to provide our system with life sustaining energy. We cannot beat our hearts consciously (at least, not without being one of those yoga masters practicing this all their life), but we can learn how to become conscious of our breathing in just few minutes.