4 tips to help change and turn off the autopilot

Can you believe in a future that you cannot see or experience yet?

Did you know that in one day you have over 60 000 thoughts and over 90% of those thoughts are what you thought yesterday and the day before and the day before that.... they are in your past.  You are relying on your past thoughts, habits, emotions and experiences to build your next day, your future.  That means every day you are confirming your old thoughts, habits and emotions and you will keep doing this, even when it is not working for you, anymore.

The hardwired brain follows the same comfortable and familiar pattern and due to that repetition,  your body knows how to do it and you can shut off the thinking and go on auto.

What if you decided to create new possibilities?

The hardest part about change is not making the same choices you did yesterday.

Change is a place of uncertainty

Change process requires unlearning and relearning

It is going to be uncomfortable as it will no longer be familiar

Your body will challenge you and question these changes, make you doubtful and undecided

 AND the good news is

You are more powerful than you acknowledge

When you know your thoughts, behaviours, your actions, your personal reality are not serving you well and you want to make changes, start by checking what you are thinking and challenge the autopilot.  Look to what is anchoring you to the past. Those beliefs about needing another to feel complete, not enough money, I won't get my dream job, I have never done that before...and on and on.

Past                                          Future

To cross from the past to the future

1. Be comfortable in the unknown, get used to it, know that when it is uncomfortable then your change is happening
2. Create your future in the unknown, unlearn the thoughts that are anchored in the past and relearn the behaviours you want to demonstrate
3. Mentally act how you want your future to be and teach your body. Through repetition, your body will believe that it is living the new reality
4. Cultivate the emotional state ahead of the actual experience

Meditation and visualisation are two practices to bring order and focus to your mind and to connect your intended thoughts with the emotion.  Make it your intention to set up a "time" each day for meditation and visualisation practice.   For some, we may fall over on this habit before we can get it into our everyday routine. The chatter in our minds and the pull of the external environment causes restlessness and we give up. The body wants to get the "jobs" done, to move on to the next part of our routine.

If this is you, here are some simple ways to take you to regular meditation:

One thought  

To create a new life you are objectively looking at how you think, act and feel. 
There are no excuses, no blame, no external element that you can say I do this, because...

Start with building your skill of being very familiar with your unconscious state of mind.  

Remember, we have many thoughts in our mind, going through unchecked and your brain is organised to reflect everything you know from the past. 

Try this once every day, take just one thought or  behaviour and look at it objectively and decide if it is to be a part of your future. 

Here is a scenario   

Perhaps the positive..." I like when I walk into a crowded room, I am going to meet some very interesting people" Yes, I will keep that thought, I feel energised and it feels true and I see it in every part of my life.

Or, the thought that is not serving you well, "I hate when I walk into a crowded room, I am feeling very uncomfortable."

No, that is not serving me, I want to be confident with other people and make the most of this opportunity.

You are now becoming more intention aware. 

Rehearse 

You are continuing to build your attention skills.  At any time of the day, take one thought or one behaviour that you no longer want to be a part of your future and rehearse how you want it to play out. This is your life story, you can change the script.

You can do this when sitting down, close your eyes, reduce the external stimulus around you, play it through your mind and when you get up, you want to naturally feel different.  

When you train your brain, you train your body.  Your body may not accept it at first, you may feel doubt and challenge. Repetition, whenever and wherever will help you unlearn and relearn.

Wanting more

You are meditating because meditation means to become familiar with.  You are becoming more comfortable with your intention awareness and disconnecting from the external world.  You enjoy just being mindful of your breathing.  There is less chatter and diversions coming to you in this quiet place. You are becoming stronger in your focus and you now want to go deeper, slow the brain waves down and focus on just nothing, on healing or on your future.  

Paying Attention is a good starting point

I have found that the best lessons, the lessons that stick are the ones that I have lived as they leave a lasting impression on my psyche.

When you pay attention to those defining moments it leads us to make change happen.

The Before

For two years I was not paying attention and allowed procrastination and excuses to rule, I lead a reactionary life and then had the cheek to feel stagnant and confused, blaming others for my lack of purpose, blaming my environment for my situation.

The anxiety would increase and manifested physically. By not paying attention it cost me dearly, being stuck manifested in lower back pain and there were times I struggled to walk, pain would be in my shoulder and I couldn't lift my arm which made it difficult to do everyday things, like dress myself, drive the car, cook the meals.

By not paying attention, my immune system was weakened, more trips to the doctor, more worries, more anxiety, more struggle.

So I stopped. This was not the best life, I was overdue to pay attention.

In a quiet moment, these are the lessons that spoke to me

What do you see here? How do you relate to this seagull?

• Don't give the power to everyone else's thoughts

• You are only worth what you believe you deserve

• Stop allowing your environment to predict your future

I paid attention

I knew I was to pay attention to the lessons I have lived and recognise that all the skills I have learnt and inherited are useful, that no experience  is a waste.  This lead me to change and action.

 When you are in times of change……

• Seek clarity as it provides the step to unconscious motivation
• Know that setbacks are your steps to success - the scars you carry are a testament to your strength
• Understand what is your purpose, your vision, your unique path you need to walk
• It's more than OK to be vulnerable and ask for guidance
• Act how you want to feel, who you want to be and set up habits that will serve you well

Love this moment. A unique path for everyone

Feeling stuck?  Finish these thoughts

"I am worthy and capable of success because......"

"If I fall I will take care of myself by...."

Successful people are not superhuman or require a super intellect, there is nothing mystical or lucky about success.  Just ordinary everyday people, like you and me, who have developed belief in themselves and in what they do. It appears they have superpowers more than the mere mortal can accomplish. 
Why is that so?  It is because they show strong thinking and belief in their place in this world, they have focus, persistence, innate motivation, they think big on what can be achieved and know that is not done alone and surround themselves with like minded. On the flip side anxiety, indecision, procrastination, self sabotage can cause you to freeze and get stuck in thinking that is not serving you well.

Perhaps, you are stuck and seeing the effects of not having your best future?
Give yourself the time to pay attention to your thoughts, actions and habits and this will lead to the path of change.

Just 2 simple tips here for action

  Act your life into a new way of thinking.  

Don’t overthink – don’t think yourself into a new way of acting..act your way into a new way of thinking, if you want to be enthusiastic, you act enthusiastically. The power is in the doing.

Start with your identity how do you identify yourself – act out who you want to be.

·      Useful Habits

The mind has a memory. And it’s damn smart; it “subconsciously” recognizes patterns.

Once the patterns become a habit, it’s hard to stop. It requires extra mental strength to break the habit.

It takes at least 2 months for the actions to become a habit

“Starting from small, it becomes big.”

·      Start with thinking outside the box, repeatedly, you become extremely creative.

·      Start with getting out of your comfort zone, repeatedly, you become confident and fearless.

·      Start with telling yourself what you want to achieve in life, repeatedly, you will get there.

·      Start with just getting it started, repeatedly, anything you want to be and do, you can be and do.

"Another world is not only possible. She is on her way on a quiet day I can hear her breathing. " - Indian Activist 

All about my business at http://isucceed.info