Beyond positive thinking

A while ago I made a decision to become a more positive and energetic person that enjoys life to its fullest and to live my true purpose. It started out good, I was feeling optimistic and thinking positive and I began to do more of the things I enjoyed. I started feeling more joy and enthusiasm and the small details that used to get me annoyed, angry or sad didn’t seem to have the same impact. Life began to flow more easily, and I began to think I could follow my dream and do the impossible. Somewhere along the way though, things started to go awry, the annoyance came back, my fear began to grow, and I was no longer feeling like the optimistic self I had been a moth ago. Somehow the old self had re-entered, and I was again feeling stuck, overwhelmed and nowhere near my dream.

How often have you started something new, a workout- routine, a healthy diet, attempting to manifest your desires, and after a while fallen back into your old patterns and way of living? This is because while you may think you have changed; the change is only made in your conscious thinking mind.  

“The problem with the notion of positive thinking as a cure for our ills is that the idea is truly misleading…positive thinking alone cannot get us to our wishes. The primary reason for the failure of positive thinking is that the programs operating from our subconscious minds, not from our “thinking” conscious minds, primarily control our lives. Unfortunately, as the name implies, the subconscious mind operates without observation by the conscious mind.” Interview with Bruce in Planeta Magazine – Part 2 | Bruce H. Lipton, PhD (brucelipton.com)

Underneath our thinking mind, lies our subconscious mind. And it is our subconscious mind that runs the show. The subconscious mind is the operating system of the body, and it controls our heart rate, digestion, blood sugar levels, body temperature, hormonal secretions, temperature regulation, and it controls all our unconscious habits and what we believe.

When we keep performing something over and over again, repeating it, it becomes a neurological connection. And we no longer do the task consciously. We do it automatically without thinking, like when you leave your house in the morning, and you can’t remember if you locked the door. The door is most likely locked, but you have no memory of putting the key into the keyhole and turning. This is because you have done it so many times it has become a habit, then become a program in your subconscious mind. It has become something we just do without thinking about it, it is something our body just performs without “consulting” with our conscious thinking mind. And these habits are actual neurological connections in our brain, they are hardwired. And these hardwired connections are the operating system which we run by. When we learn a new skill like a new language or driving these skills become hardwired into our brain’s circuits, the more we practice the skill the more hardwired it gets and eventually we can do it automatically.

By our constant repetitions of a thought or action this becomes a neurological connection in our brain, then an operating program.

What then, if we have made a habit, of thinking and saying, “I am a failure”, and this becomes our hardwired operating program? Then we go about life with the belief that I am a failure. And we let this belief govern our every move and decision. 

Most of the fundamental programs and “beliefs” stored in the subconscious mind were acquired before six years of age at which time the brain starts expressing alpha EEG waves associated with conscious activity. Therefore most of the subconscious mind’s programming occurred while we were not even expressing conscious awareness. Psychologists reveal that many of our developmental experiences actually result in the programming of limiting or self-sabotaging beliefs in the subconscious mind.

The problem is further exacerbated by the fact that over 95% of our life is controlled by the programs stored in the subconscious mind. So while we may exercise wonderful positive healing thoughts with our conscious mind, our unconscious mind’s programs and beliefs are actually shaping our lives” Interview with Bruce in Planeta Magazine – Part 2 | Bruce H. Lipton, PhD (brucelipton.com)

This is why we so often return to our old self, habits and way of thinking. It is hardwired in our unconsciousness.  And if we don’t change this neurologic connection no change will last. It is like trying to push a floating device underneath the water. It will only emerge again and again to the surface. Unless we remove it completely, we will not be able to break free from it.

When I began to become aware of my subconscious programs, I saw what limiting beliefs I was living by. In my subconscious I was living by the belief “I’m not good enough” and this was creating a lot of fear and then a lot of procrastinating.  If I really wanted to become a positive energetic person and live my true purpose and dream, I needed to break free from my subconscious programs .