The key to understanding and changing human behavior is not by attempting to change the mind, but rather, changing the body.
Learn MoreThere are two types of change: change that happens to us; and, change that we want to bring about. Both are difficult. Change that happens to us With the first, we are compelled to adapt to change. Often the change is unwanted. Sometimes it is major and our ability to adapt is not there. We experience stress as a result. As well, often, there are things we would like to change in ourselves. We make New Year resolutions. We read the self help books. Or, attend personal growth workshops. And we vow, that we will implement what we have learned. And we often do….for a while. But we can’t keep it up. Before too long we’re back where we started – often with a renewed sense of failure. Stress often accompanies these experiences as well. For our desire to change is usually motivated by a dislike of the way things currently are. We feel hopeless and helpless. Should we simply resign ourselves to these outcomes? Should we give up? The key to resolving this dilemma is to understand why change is so difficult. To do this, consider this: who we are and how we react to the world around us is the result of a lifetime of experiences. We don’t consciously choose how we behave or react. It simply happens as a result of the way we’ve been conditioned. It’s the result of the way we’ve been parented, how and what we were taught, what happened in the schoolyard, what our religion taught us, the barrage of messages we’re bombarded with day in and day out by our culture. It’s all of that. If you’re fifty years old, who and what you are is the result of fifty years of experience. It has little or nothing to do with what you think – what resides in the neo-cortex or thinking part of your brain. It’s about who you are – the programming that’s been laid down deep in your subconscious mind. Mindfulness is a practice which works on the deep levels of the mind to slowly undo the lifetime of programming that’s taken place there. Efforts to Change or Improve Ourselves “I have only three enemies. My favorite enemy, the one most easily...
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