“People are marionettes of their own making. They dance on strings; the result of the conditioning process during their years growing up. They can be freed from this conditioning. They can be freed from habitual ways of doing things. They can learn to be free.
It is an unconscious learning process. That was and still is how we learn most everything. We learned to sit up, balance, crawl, walk and feed ourselves unconsciously. We learned from modeling others and experimenting. We didn’t read a book or talk our way through it.
We learned it all without much conscious effort, other than intent. We tried and continued until we succeeded. During this time and through our early childhood development we adopted other’s beliefs and values. We accepted other’s points of view.
It Is What It Is – Accept It – And Take Charge Of Your Life
Now we live from that conditioning. We made their beliefs our own without ever fully examining them to discover and decide whether we wanted them or not. We learned most of them unconsciously. Today, most of us don’t even know all that we believe inside us.
We operate habitually, subconsciously. We are unconsciously competent at being who we are. We don’t even have to think about it. Those beliefs are us. Well, not really, but they fit so well we don’t know where those beliefs start and end. We identify them as ‘mine’.
Those beliefs become ‘my beliefs’. They have to do with whether the world is a friendly or cruel place. Whether it is good or bad to be rich or poor. They determine whether or not we feel worthy or unworthy of money, love, success and possessions. We live from these beliefs.
You Were Born To Win – You Were Born For Greatness – Be It
We don’t even know how many we have. Beliefs tend to cluster as grapes do. They seem to come in bunches. Until challenged or provoked in some way, or until we attempt to do something outside our personal comfort zone, we don’t even realize they are operating.
When we consciously attempt to change ourselves we encounter that habitual, unconsciously competent set of thoughts, feelings and behaviors. We encounter those well worn neural pathways. The electro-chemical firings of our beliefs scream ‘Whoa! No you don’t!’
Consciously we call it self sabotage or resistance. It isn’t any such thing. It is self preservation mechanisms. It is homeostasis. It is the brain working perfectly as it does. The Amygdala, a part of the brain, works to keep everything the same and consistent. It is protective.
You Were Born To Be A Champion In Life – Accept It – Live It
It works to preserve the status quo. That is it’s job. If you want to stray out of your comfort zone your Amygdala rushes in to keep you from getting hurt. It fears for your life (metaphor) it wants you safe rather than sorry. It doesn’t know any better and it works perfectly.
It doesn’t know a penny from a million dollars and it doesn’t know an imaginary threat from a real one. It treats it all the same. You want to lose weight and it reacts by keeping you heavier. You want to make more money and it responds by having you spend more.
Status quo. It works as a thermostat does to keep the temperature the same as the set point it is at. It works to keep you in your comfort zone no matter how uncomfortable that may be. It works to maintain all your prior chronic, habitual, negative conditioning too.
If You Want To Be Better – Do Better – It’s All On You – Create It
Because we have learned to be who we are we can also deliberately decide to learn how to change who we are. We can learn to improve ourselves and operate from a new set of consciously chosen programming instead of the programming we did not get to choose.
This is incredible, fantastic news and it has been around since ancient times. Only more recently neuroscience has helped to validate what few have known for eons. Many hear it but few live it. Many are called but few are chosen. It is a secret out in the open.
We can change and we have been told how. Still, few actually bother to attempt it. Why? Because they are conditioned to not attempt it. Our own programming rises up and says, ‘it will be too hard’, ‘it’s not worth the effort’, ‘you could never do it’, ‘can’t teach and old dog…’.
Everything We Know We Learned From Someone Else
Still, the truth is you and I and anyone can change if we decide to. You, and I, and anyone can live it when we are ready to. This helps us understand the statement ‘the teacher appears when the student is ready’. When ready one accepts that one can change and begins.
Prior to ‘being ready’ one listens from one’s old, chronic, habitual conditioning. That conditioning, isn’t all bad. Some of it is supportive and some isn’t. Good taste or wisdom means you can determine which is which and let go of that which does not serve you.
You can create or learn and embrace that which does support you. It is simple to do but not always easy. Changing any habit can seem tough at first but if you decide to change it you can absolutely change it. Some don’t because they don’t believe they can.
Do Not Let Your Past Dictate Who You Are – But Learn From It
Nor do they give it enough time and effort to make the change. Again, the concepts are simple enough. Yet, most miss them. In practice one must believe and commit and see it through. Humans can make most any change they put their mind to. Truly!
They can become more positive and powerful than they presently think they can. They can get better results than they have gotten in the past when they focus on what it is they want. It isn’t airy fairy wishing! It is the art and science of getting what you want.
A champion athlete knows what is necessary to compete at that level. The same is required to create a champion mindset. It isn’t wishing and hoping. It is action and work. It can be difficult but it can also be fun and exciting. It means becoming aware and noticing.
Doubt Kills More Dreams Than Failure Ever Will – Believe
It means taking responsibility and control. It means managing your thinking and feeling. Whenever you discover you are thinking negatively you shift back to thinking positive. Not always easy but doable. You do it as often as you need to for as long as you need to.
Learning new habits means you correctly repeat the new behavior or new thinking of thoughts over and over again, for a long enough time, for new neural pathways to be laid down. You do it again and again, long enough, until it becomes the new habit. YOU do it.
You do it until you get so good at it you no longer do it consciously. It becomes automatic and habitual. It is just how one goes from playing scales on a piano to being a good pianist, a good baseball player, chess player, chef, seamstress, bicycle rider. We do until we ‘get it’!
The More You Take Responsibility For Your Past And Present …
Habits take time and energy to acquire. Most of yours you acquired growing up. NOW it means deliberately replacing the ones that don’t serve you with ones that do. The process needn’t be thought of as difficult. It can be fun, exhilarating and exciting. It can be a blast.
Going from the old you to the new you can be an incredible journey. You will think and feel and see and tell yourself and others new things. You transform. It can be positively incredible. So don’t think of it as arduous just because it means replacing habits.
Getting good at any sport, swimming or golfing, can be enjoyable even though effort and commitment are involved. However, how you approach personal change may be from a tired old, negative mindset. Then it won’t seem much like fun and delight. But it can be.
… The More You Are Able To Create The Future You Seek
Change can take time. It can also be almost instantaneous. It can be many different things. It is many different things. Mostly it will conform to whatever you believe it is. So choose how you want to think about it. That can be your first lesson.
You decide whether it will or won’t be fun. Get it? THAT is how it works! YOU make it happen. You are doing it. Enjoy it or not. That is up to you. Easy or hard? That is your call. When it is tough do you wimp out or love a challenge? Will you commit and be unstoppable?
Will you give up along the way? You decide. It is your journey. A great beginning point is to begin with gratitude. Feel thankful for what you already have and what you are able to do. Be grateful for everything. Live in appreciation! Delight in all of it. Celebrate everything!” Rex Sikes
Have an incredible day!
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Photo used with permission of Phil Koch.
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