***Are You Keeping Those New Year’s Resolutions?

Have you made your New Year’s Resolutions for this year? How’s it going? How has it gone in past years? If you are like most people, you start out with the best intentions and then gradually you revert back to old habits. Studies show that only 8% of people actually reach their goals! So why is that? Why do we always seem to return to our “default” behaviors, even when we know changes would benefit us? Take heart! It’s not because we’re all lazy or incompetent except for the shining few. The answer lies in our subconscious. Our Conscious and Subconscious Minds Our conscious mind is the one that makes the decisions and sets the goals. It operates in time, able to imagine a possible future and remember the past. Surprisingly, it has a relatively limited processing capacity, with a short term memory of about 20 seconds, and can process on the average, 40 bits of information per second. The subconscious mind monitors our bodily functions. It’s thinking is very literal and it thinks in present time. This is where our long term memory is stored--all of our past experiences, attitudes, values and beliefs that we absorbed as we were growing up. The subconscious processes, on the average, 40 million bits of information per second. Did you do the math? That’s one million times more than the conscious mind! Our subconscious accounts for about 95% of our consciousness. Before the age of six, our brains are operating at Delta and Theta levels, which, in an adult would be asleep or in a trance. The brain at these levels is very susceptible to influence. The educator Maria Montessori called the ages before six the years of the “Absorbent Mind”. Children are absorbing everything around them--attitudes and experiences. The conclusions drawn from these experiences are stored in the subconscious. They become the beliefs that act as the filters through which we experience life’s challenges. Our Performance is Tied to Our Beliefs How successful we are as adults, both personally and professionally, is tremendously affected by our subconscious beliefs. Behavioral scientists confirm that our behaviors are a direct reflection of our beliefs, values and attitudes that are formed by our past experiences. If you hold beliefs such as, “I am safe”, “ I am powerful” or “I am talented”, you are well on the way to being able to meeting life’s challenges and experiencing success. If, on the other hand, you believe thoughts like, “I always screw things up”, “Nothing ever works out for me”, “I’m never good enough, no matter how hard I try” , then you are running with some pretty heavy weights on. These limiting beliefs will sabotage your efforts. So How Do I Know What my Beliefs Are and What Do I Do? There are several ways to identify what your limiting beliefs may be. One is to listen to your self talk. We have around 60,000 thoughts per day and most are habitual. 80% of those thoughts are negative. That’s 48,000 negative thoughts per day! It’s impossible to keep track of all of them and not necessary. Just notice, when you have a quiet moment, like sitting at a red light, what you are thinking. Are you telling yourself all the reasons why you could never have that sports car you see, or look as good as the person in the car next to you? Do you catch yourself saying things like, “I’m so stupid” or look in the mirror and think “No one could ever love someone who looks like me!” Do you drop something and think, “I’m so clumsy!” These are limiting beliefs. They are all reasons you give yourself for why you can’t have what you want, and they were absorbed by your literal subconscious mind through experiences you had when you were young. And remember, the subconscious thinks everything is happening now. The good news, is that a belief is just a thought that you keep thinking. Once you become aware of them, you can begin to shift them. Scientists such as Dr. Joe Rubino have discovered that the brain is plastic. In other words, you CAN teach an “old dog” new tricks! We have the ability to form new neural pathways and “unhook” old ones. This can be done by consistently replacing old thoughts with new ones that serve us. Every time you catch yourself in a thought that is limiting, put a new one alongside it. Practice your new beliefs. Tell the new story and “re-script” your life. Practicing new beliefs is best done when you are feeling good. I also like the choice method. If your subconscious is arguing with you when you affirm a new thought, say “I choose to feel good” “I choose to be graceful” “I choose to be successful”. You will find your resistance to the new thought going away, because you are simply making a choice. Another powerful and quick way to shift limiting beliefs is PSYCH-K®. PSYCH-K is a method of using muscle testing to determine your limiting beliefs, then helping you to achieve a “whole brain” state, which is ideal for changing subconscious beliefs. You quickly and easily communicate directly with your subconscious mind and, using methods of whole brain integration, change old, self-limiting beliefs into new self-enhancing ones in just minutes.