What is that factor?

It is your subconscious mind and the thoughts stored in it. So you have to ask yourself: Is my subconscious mind working for me or against me? Now your subconscious mind isn’t a separate entity with its own plans and designs. It is present in every part of you. It is within your entire being. It is your energy and your deep seated beliefs. It is the part of you that governs all those processes that we don’t ever have to think about like breathing, digestion etc.

It is also our connection to infinite creative power, limitless energy and timeless wisdom. It is entirely on our side and work for us 24 hours a day. So how then can it be stopping us from reaching our objectives in life?

The subconscious is very sensitive to impressions from our environment and has been since we were brought in to the world.  During our development as human beings we were exposed to all manner of influences that our ‘conscious mind’ hadn’t yet learned to discriminate against. These influences come from parents, family, friends, social beliefs, world beliefs, and economic beliefs and so on.

Much of this input is positive, constructive and sets us on the road to becoming productive individuals. However many ideas and concepts that we are exposed to have a tremendous negative impact upon us and are driven into our subconscious mind where they become deeply ingrained and powerful.

As the mind is creative and very efficient, it will set about creating the circumstances which will support the ‘faulty belief’ systems that we have unknowingly allowed into our lives. Eventually, we end up creating, building and becoming attracted to a reality that supports these unhelpful beliefs!

Why do we allow this?

Unfortunately we are not taught about the power that exists inside ourselves. This is the power of choice. This is the power of being able to choose what enters our life and how it enters. This is the power to create exactly the type of life we desire in order to fulfil our highest destiny.

In general, we are taught the opposite; that we do not have the power of choice.  We are taught that we are slaves to circumstance. We are taught that factors outside of ourselves govern our life. We are taught that the economy, the stars, other people or the environment has more power over the course of our life than we do. This is false.

Our external world is reflection of our mind and beliefs. It is a reflection of our subconscious mind. One is the perfect mirror of the other. If we change the content of our subconscious mind we change our world. We can create the life we desire by influencing, directing and commanding our subconscious.

Once implanted, the subconscious mind and its negative or unhelpful beliefs are hidden deep and can be removed only through an alternative powerful emotional experience or through consistent emotional work on ones attitude using positive techniques. It is good to know though, that our negative thoughts can always be changed, improved or banished altogether and positive beliefs put in their place, permanently.

Discovering the inner workings of your subconscious means becoming aware of what and how you are thinking on a day to day level.  It is the small thoughts and seeming inconsequential thoughts that we have all day long that indicate to us the deeper attitude or belief at work.

How can we find out which thoughts are influencing us?  Let’s take an example of a faulty belief system that most of us have to fight against at some point in our lives; our attitude about money.  Money is the classic example of misdirected thoughts.

Beliefs about money include:

• ‘Money is hard to find.’
• ‘It’s hard to get a job.’
• ‘I’ll never have enough money.’
• ‘I’ll never be rich.’
• ‘Having money isn’t for me. It’s not who I am.’

Money is an energy that is positive and always flowing.  With a healthy, positive mind you should have a plentiful supply circulating in your life.  If you always have money troubles or never have enough it is a good bet that you have some deep seated, unhelpful attitudes about it in your deeper mind.

For instance, if we see something that we would like to buy and our first thought is: “I’ll never be able to afford that”, then, at once, we know that at a deep level we must be feeling limited in a financial sense. We most likely have a negative belief working here. Perhaps at a young age we may have been exposed to great poverty or limitation or some constricting financial situation which left a deep impression or possibly there are guilty feelings associated with ‘having money’.

This negative belief will then work against you in subtle ways. It may result in feelings of unworthiness, dissatisfaction around career issues, difficulty obtaining a promotion, fear of running out of money, paying bills, always being in debt etc.

In order to reach our highest potential we need to change whatever unhealthy attitudes we have inside ourselves. We must become more aware of the patterns and types of thoughts that we hold whether they’re about how good we are, money, health, the world or humanity in general.

Begin to become aware each day of exactly what you are thinking and its nature. At different times during the day, ask yourself:

• Is what I’m thinking positive or negative?
• Is this constructive thinking or destructive?
• Is this helpful or unhelpful to me?
• Does this make me feel good or bad?

It can be quite a revelation to find out exactly what you have been thinking.  When you have begun the process of bringing these thoughts into conscious awareness you can then begin to develop a strategy to deal with them or replace them with something better. Once we begin to change our minds, our reality will soon follow.

Sometimes it can be awfully tricky to make those hard decisions in a short time and there is always the nagging doubt that we may have taken the wrong road. Is there another way to cope with this situation when it appears other than hair pulling, lack of sleep and grumbling at our loved ones as they try to be encouraging?

Well there is another way but it requires a level of trust you might not have yet. It requires asking your deeper mind for its wisdom and letting it give you the answer when it is ready – but, rest assured, it will always be the right decision and at just the right time.

By “deeper mind” I am talking about the subconscious mind and our intuition. Everyone has intuition even though they might not think they have. The subconscious has stored within it an enormous amount of information gleaned from the world around you and it can make connections in ways your conscious mind would never be able to so why not take deliberate advantage of that. Most people do rely on their intuition or gut instinct probably more than they realise but did you know you can get an answer from it whenever you want and not just by chance.

How do you get an answer from your subconscious when you need it? The best time to seek or ask for an answer to your question or a solution to your problem is right before you go to sleep. Concentrate on the problem for five minutes all the while asking for an answer. Try to let go of any anxiety or bad feeling as it isn’t good to dwell on this. You want to maintain a positive frame of mind before sleeping. Ask out loud if possible, something along the lines of, “give me an answer to this question” or “how can I achieve so and so…” and so on. Just word it in a way that makes sense to you.

The key here is desire. The more you desire an answer to your question, the quicker it will arrive. The more passion we can generate around the issue, the more important our mind will assume it is and the quicker it will produce the solution. It may take one night or a couple but if you trust in the process you will find exactly the information you seek coming to you at just the right time.

Please DO NOT spend your money on every EBook out there that promises to give you:

“secret techniques to attract all the wealth you ever dreamed of”

…or something like that.

Most of these e Books are just rehashed and plagiarized material from other law of attraction authors, such as ‘Wallace Wattles’, and other old books on the ‘Science of Mind’, ‘New Thought’ and so on.

I should know, I’ve bought most of them!

They will often have a long page of key buzzwords to entice you and draw you in as well as an enormous amount of free (everyone likes freebies right?) giveaways worth $500 dollars, $275 dollars etc and so on.
Now, for the most part many of these books and their writers are ok and well-intentioned and there may be a few nuggets of information inside that are useful. You could probably find most of that on the web from websites such as this. But many are just cleverly marketed pages designed to excite you and take your money in return for average ‘copies’ of information you have read before!

Ok, I’ve finished ranting! How, then, do you find out which materials are worth investing your money in?

Well, there are a couple products that I would recommend as the best and I promote them here on the site. I do this because I know they worked for me. They have worked for me in small ways and in BIG ways and they have contributed immeasurably to my own personal growth. I wouldn’t be able to recommend them otherwise. I couldn’t recommend something which I knew didn’t work; its not my way and I would be creating too much bad karma for myself. Nothing is worth that.

More importantly than this though, I feel the teachings and the teachers themselves have real insight into the fundamental truths of subjects like the ‘Law of attraction’ and ‘manifestation’. I believe this can really help us to create more happiness and more success in our lives.

I believe you can tell this when you read something truthful. You can feel it inside you and you know this is right. You get a sense that what this person is saying is so true you can almost feel the power of the knowledge beginning to resonate inside you. When you get this feeling then, for me, it is a sign of real integrity, authenticity and understanding. This is rare with so many so called law of attraction teachers and e-book sellers.

There are three products and teachers that I recommend and they are:

The Wealth Beyond Reason program
Bob Doyle lives and breathes the law of attraction. He was recently featured in the movie ‘The secret.’ I found his writing and easy to follow explanations, not only inspiring and uplifting, (like an injection of pure, positive mental attitude) but also very simple to put into practice. There is an awesome amount of material on his site from downloadable written stuff, audio and online lectures. He is a teacher with real passion and integrity. If you want great results with the ‘Law of Attraction’ and ‘true abundance’ on an energetic level, you need to listen to this guy!

Revolutionscape: A happy pocket full of money
This e Book took my understanding of all things quantum to a whole new level. Again easy to read and understand but incredible in its simplicity and power. It makes you think about time and our mental states and how to almost flick a mental switch between poverty and wealth. Amazing. You have to read this book if you haven’t already. If you are lucky enough to already have it in your life then you well done; go away and read it again now! You can follow the link aboveto the ‘Revolutionscape’ site where you can buy the book on its own or get it as part of a bigger wealth fundamentals package!

The Super Manifesting program from Enlightened Beings
This ‘manifesting’ program has incredible exercises for generating everything from ’showers of money’ to whole new career paths, relationships and massive personal growth. Many of the detailed visualizations I have used to incredible effect on a regular basis. If used consistently just one of the visualizations will rocket your ‘vibration’ to a higher level and keep it there. As well as this, there is a complete ‘ninety day plan’ for increasing the level of wealth, joy, satisfaction, personal power, health in your life and being, to the point where nothing will ever be the same again.

These three systems each allowed me to see things in a significantly different way and opened my eyes to new perceptions and I wholeheartedly recommend them. Like I said above, I have used these three systems on a regular and consistent basis in my life for the last three years and I can vouch to their effectiveness.You will find links to the websites and the material through the site.

All the best,

Michael.

Relaxation
Practising the art of relaxation affords us a natural method to control and eliminate stress. By learning to completely relax our bodies and minds we allow room for more constructive, harmonious thoughts to be deliberately ‘planted’ into our subconscious mind. This can be the powerful basis of all our self improvement strategies.

Meditation
This allows us to focus our consciousness to a single thought, object or idea. This in turn has tremendous benefits which affect all aspects of our every day life such as the ability to think more and more clearly, greater decision making ability and becoming aware of our own intuition.

Visualization
With visualization we can sense an image in our mind’s eye, a picture of our future goals and the ambitions that we desire to appear in our lives. By always keeping in mind the images of our goals, the possibilty of reaching them becomes more and more believable.

Affirmation or Auto-suggestion
The interior dialogue that goes on inside our heads has a profound impact upon our state of mind and our ability to achieve the success we desire. Replacing any habitual and ongoing negative self-talk is essential if we are to create a happier and more successful future life. Any positive ‘suggestions’ we can make to ourselves, can have a dramatic influence upon our subconscious mind and therefore our ‘reality’ for ‘as we think, so shall we be’.

Inspired Action
Taking action follows the changes that we make on the inside. It is not as difficult as you might think once you have realised the direction you want to go in. No-one should feel afraid of taking action. Inspired action is not like work or a chore it is exciting, thrilling and an expression of our greatest self. You too will be able to take action in the most effective way and at the perfect time by putting these tools into practice and making them a part of your life from now on.

These strategies can help to create acceptance of who we are because they help to bring about rapid change in how we feel about ourselves and are the foundation of a powerful, positive mental attitude. Once we have created a positive mental attitude it is far easier to then begin taking the right kinds of actions in our daily lives that help us to move forward toward our most cherished goals.

“Do not be surprised now when the outstanding truth unfolds to you that your consciousness is the all power and the only power acting upon your affairs, controlling and maintaining your health, revealing to you the intelligence and direction necessary for your success in any and every walk of life”
(Joel S. Goldsmith, 1992, p122)

“When your mind thinks correctly, when you understand the truth, when the thoughts deposited in your subconscious mind are constructive, harmonious, and peaceful, the magic working power of your subconscious will respond. It will bring about harmonious conditions, agreeable surroundings, and the best of everything. Once you begin to control your thought processes, you can apply the powers of your subconscious to any problem or difficulty. You will actually be consciously cooperating with the infinite power and omnipotent law that governs all things.”
(Joseph Murphy, 1997, p7)

“If you will let your dominant intention be to revise and improve the content of the story you tell every day of your life, it is our absolute promise to you that your life will become that ever-improving story. For by the powerful law of attraction, it must be!”
(‘Abraham’, 2008, p206)

“Carry any kind of thought you please about with you and so long as you retain it, no matter how you roam over the land or sea, you will unceasingly attract to yourself, knowingly or inadvertently, exactly and only what corresponds to your own dominant quality of thought.”
(Swami Sivananda, 2004, p21)

“If you wish to demonstrate prosperity, begin to think and talk about it and to see it everywhere. Do nothing that contradicts this thought either mentally or physically. The world is full of good; take it and forget all else. Rise above depression and be glad that you are saved from adversity; the human mind needs to be cleansed from the morbid thoughts that bind through its false beliefs.”
(Ernest Holmes, 1987, p23)

The physical laws of the universe are actually this whole process of divinity in motion, or consciousness in motion. When we understand these laws and apply them in our lives, anything we want can be created, because the same laws that nature uses to create a forest, or a galaxy, or a star, or a human body can also bring about the fulfilment of our deepest desires.”
(Deepak Chopra, 1994, p5)

References:
Chopra, Deepak, (1994), ‘The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success’, Co-published by Amber-Allen Publishing and New World Library, California, USA.
Goldsmith, Joel. S, (1992), ‘The Infinite Way’, Devorss Publications, California, USA.
Hicks, Esther &Jerry, (2008), ‘Money and the Law of attraction’, Hay House Inc, California, USA.
Holmes, Ernest, (1987), ‘Creative Mind’, Sun Publishing, New Mexico, USA
Murphy, Joseph (Revised by McMahan, I.), (1997), ‘The Power of Your Subconscious Mind’, Simon and Schuster UK Ltd, London, England.
Sivananda, Swami, (2004), ‘Thought Power’, Divine Life Society, India.

Use creative visualization if you need to bring more money into your life! Use it if you would like to generate new income? Or do you just want to have some extra dollars at the end of the month.

Here is a short term exercise which I have used many times myself when I‘ve needed a boost to my mental attitude about all things ‘money.’ Oh, and it’s great for bringing heaps of cash too!

Practise this creative visualization if you want an extra amount of money in your life!

Ideally, twice or several times a day spend 20-30 minutes with this. As with most relaxation/imagery techniques follow these fundamental steps first:

• Find a comfortable space
• Make sure you won’t be disturbed; turn off your cell phone off, pc etc. The thought of being disturbed will keep a slight tension in our mind which we can do without.
• Relax yourself physically in all parts of your body and your mind will follow
• Breathe deeply and calmly to gradually let go of the ‘mind chatter’, thoughts about the day’s events, tonight’s dinner and so on.
• Focus on your breathing…slowly, in and out.

When you are calm and fully relaxed proceed to the creative visualization:

1. Imagine yourself in a familiar setting – your bedroom, lounge or someplace where you already spend a lot of time. We are not creating a new space; we are attracting wealth to where we are right now!
2. See a warm, golden light pervading all space – it is a light of abundance and plenty.
3. See the money you desire in all its forms, gold coins, cheques made payable to you, only the highest bank notes in your currency.
4. The money is infinite, never ending. It doesn’t stop appearing and falling around you. Move around in your imagination and see that wherever you go there is an abundance of riches on the ground, in the sky and so on.
5. See everyone else around you benefiting from this abundance too. See them filling bags of the stuff, happy as can be.
6. Enjoy the feeling of having more than enough and of knowing that you can access this abundance at any time as easily as breathing.
7. Continue in the visualization for 15-20 minutes.

As with all visualisations, the pictures get us to a place emotionally where we can feel and know the truth of what we are seeing. After indulging in these mental images you should begin to feel the reality of the situation! Your level of concentration will generate corresponding positive emotion which you will find uplifting, powerful and freeing. The images of the abundance of riches will start to reprogram your subconscious to accept the idea of massive wealth in your life.

I always recommend around twenty minutes for an exercise like this but sometimes the feelings inside you can be so strong and exciting that it is easy to continue to remain in a relaxed state and revel in the pure feelings of ‘knowing’ abundance. By all means do this but only if it is not a strain mentally. Do it only if it remains comfortable. Powerful visualisation and imagery techniques can induce headaches and tension if you over do it or push too hard.

“If you wish to bring about the realization of any desire, form a mental picture of success in your mind, by consciously visualizing your desire; in this way you will be compelling success, you will be externalizing it in your life by scientific methods.” Charles F. Haanel.

Remember these points when working with attitudes about wealth

• For our purposes, we can think of the universe as infinite and abundant.
• We are taking nothing away from anyone else as there is enough for all.
• We are not limited to poverty or lack.
• We never run out of opportunities for advancement and improvement. There is nothing that can act to take that away from us.

Read more on creative visualization.

Quote from:

Haanel, C.F. (1987) The Master Key, R&W Heap Publishing, England.

Have you heard of Creative Visualization? Did you know that it is a power with which you can draw into your life pretty much anything you can imagine. A power that can help turn your life around 180 degrees: from poverty to wealth, from failure to success, from loneliness to love and friendship and from disease to harmony, peace and wellness. Everybody has access to it and everyone can use it.

Creative Visualisation is one of the primary tools we can use for attaining our life’s ambitions. It can be the key for motivating our inner drives and firing up our energies in order to focus our mind to achieve those deeply held desires.  Creative Visualisation works powerfully because the subconscious mind easily understands pictures. It gets ‘it’ quickly and definitely. The life we can create for ourselves is limited only by our imagination.

Impressing the image of our ‘desires’ upon our subconscious on a regular basis is like painting a target for a missile. Our mind will move us ever closer to our goals as long as we keep that target – our pictured desires – in clear focus through regular guidance via our visualisation sessions. Maxwell Maltz in his classic book ‘Psycho-Cybernetics’ says of the creative imagination that it “sets the goal picture which our automatic mechanism works on” (Maltz, 1960, p.28).

Unfortunately the thought of using our creative imagination can be off putting too many people who have convinced themselves that it is hard to do, a bit crazy or somehow beyond their capabilities! Of course, that isn’t true in most cases and it should be, like the best things, a very simple technique to put into practice in our lives.

What should I visualise? What are the benefits? Well here are some of them:

• Helps you clarify your intentions and clearly define your goals in life
• Supports and maintains your motivation and ambition
• Aids concentration and focus
• Affects your attitude and daily life in a positive, powerful way

So you can see it should be worth it! This is how we do it. We fill our minds with positive powerful, success images as often as we can and allow them to take root in the fertile soil of our subconscious. They will in turn appear as the events and circumstances of our lives in the most wonderful ways! The subconscious mind “works accurately to externalise the suggestion which is most greatly impressed upon it” (Bristol, 1969, p.85).

How do you visualize for success then? Try these six steps:

1. Decide on the desire or goal you want to achieve or whatever successful outcome you would like to see happen in your life.
2. Get yourself into a relaxed state of mind and body in order to more freely access your creative imagination.
3. Breathe deeply and evenly for a few moments as your breathing helps control your mental state and level of concentration. Focus on your ‘in’ and ‘out’ breaths.
4. Imagine or form a mental picture of the end result you desire and the complete attainment of your goal. For instance, if it is a new job that you’re after then see yourself in the position you want. Picture the office, the type of work it is, your colleagues or boss telling you how valuable you are!
5. As you visualize, feel the emotions that you would have with the goal achieved. This is very important and you should feel positive, excited, happy and so on. If you are not in this state when you are visualizing your goals but feel more neutral or negative then just relax and try at a different time. You might want to re-examine the goal to see if it is really what you want. Sometimes when we picture something we want or think we want, our minds often ‘spontaneously’ generate negative images and thoughts; this indicates the presence of resistance to the idea or resistance to change.
6. Continue in a relaxed state for about ten to fifteen minutes. Do not mentally strain during the process. If your mind wanders, just gently re-focus on your image and goal.

Shakti Gawain, in her book ‘Creative Visualization’ describes it as “using your imagination to create what you want in your life,” and that it is the “basic creative energy of the Universe” (Gawain, 1990, p.13).

Here are some more tips if you are just starting out with the technique:

• When you practice there may be a single image or you may have several which you move between, backwards and forwards and that’s fine.
• Make the image as detailed as possible with regards your actions. For instance if you want to be a writer, try and see the computer, the pen, the paper, your desk, the light coming in, finishing the last page of your book etc.
• Feel the emotion. The pictures are ways to get us to an emotional ‘place’ and then that emotion of excitement, joy, pleasure, anticipation etc fills the picture with power which impresses the subconscious mind more deeply.
• You can visualize a series of still pictures or a movie sequence, whatever works for you.
• If you can’t see clear pictures that’s ok too; many people see more symbolic or ‘impressionistic’ images. In this way, visualisation is like art, it’s subjective and many people interpret what they see in their own way. The effect is the same as long as the emotion is there.
• Practice several times a week or everyday if you can. Every skill improves with practice and visualization is no different.

You can visualize success, wealth, power, harmony, love, friendship; whatever you can imagine for yourself can be achieved. Take a look at this article, “creative-visualization-for-money“. Mastering visualization should be one of our priorities; the rewards are endless and it leads to a lifetime of personal power and satisfaction.

References:

Gawain, S. (1990) Creative Visualization, New World Library, San Rafael, California.

Bristol, C. (1969) The Magic of Believing, Simon & Schuster, New York.

Maltz, M. (1960) Psycho-Cybernetics, Prentice-Hall, New York.

The deliberate and regular practise of a few simple relaxation techniques enables us to exercise a greater control over our ‘autonomic’ nervous system and, consequently, the parasympathetic nervous system which governs our fight or flight response. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to manage our emotional reactions in a whole host of situations that we presently find stressful or hard to deal with and react the way we want? This a primary benefit of relaxation. The secondary benefits of practising relaxation are often increasing peace of mind and greater calmness and confidence throughout all aspects of our lives.

“The soul that moves in the world of the senses and yet keeps the senses in harmony…finds rest in quietness” – The Bhagavad Gita.

Our state of mind can be directly controlled our internal attitudes and choices rather than being at the whim of external unpredictable conditions and circumstances! Relaxation is the foundation for this control and learning it is one of the key skills we need to master in order to bring about greater degree of personal success.

Often we don’t realise just how stressed out we are with tension building in different parts of the body. For some that could be in the shoulders, others the stomach, the neck and so on. Before you know it you have an ulcer, a bad back, a stiff neck or a host of other niggling ailments. Relaxation is an incredibly effective tool for allowing us to spot this tension before it accumulates and therefore neutralise some of the harmful effects on our bodies.

One of the simplest ways to begin to practice deliberate ‘relaxation’ is the following muscle tensing/contraction technique which involves:

• Slowing your breathing
• Starting with the lower body – the feet and begin to contract your muscle groups
• Maintaining your breathing evenly and calmly

Initially, you should be lying down as this way the body is supported evenly but eventually you will be able to practise this technique wherever you are.

Beginning with the toes and feet and working your way up the main muscles groups and limbs of the body start to contract the muscles holding the contraction for 3-5 seconds. Then let go of the contraction and the muscles will relax naturally.

As you become more familiar with the exercise and the sensations in your body you can alter the amount of pressure you use i.e. how hard you contract the muscle but don’t strain too much in the beginning.

You will want to pay attention to how your body feels as you go through the routine. Becoming body conscious will in the future help us recognise when we are feeling stress and in what area of our bodies.

Go through all the parts of your body, squeeze and hold then release:

1. Feet and legs: One at a time, lift each foot off the floor by about an inch and tense.
2. Buttocks: Squeeze your buttocks together as you raise your hips slightly off the floor.
3. Chest: Lift the chest of the floor as you tense the muscles keeping the head and hips on the floor.
4. Shoulders: Raise them up against your neck tightly and release.
5. Head: Roll you head gently from side to side.
6. Face: Squeeze all the muscles in your face, really scrunch it up and then open your face up wide.
7. Hands and arms: As with the feet lift each hand from the floor, make a fist and squeeze then release.

After a round of this routine your body should feel a great deal looser than when you started. You can do as many rounds as you wish. Decide before hand how long you practice; ten to twenty minutes is a good amount of time. Allow at least five minutes after the contractions to use a little auto-suggestion such as:

• I am relaxing more and more
• I am relaxing more and more every day
• My body feels better and better
• It is easy for me to relax
• I am getting better and better

These help to prepare the mind for further sessions making it easier and easier every time. Alternatively use whatever affirmation you are currently working with.

Relaxation when practised regularly can be very effective at countering the stress in our lives, reducing anxiety and helping us focus on our goals. If you haven’t yet, try it for a few day and see!

This is quite a common problem in the beginning when we start making goals and using new affirmations or ‘goal statements’ for the things we’ve never attempted before. It is quite easy to feel like nothing is happening in the first few days if you have never tried this type of self-help technique. You can quickly lose the energy generated by the initial excitement of your new goal and the possibility of its attainment. And when you lose the excitement for what you are telling yourself, it starts to lose its effectiveness.

Our new affirmations are often new thoughts and new concepts for the brain and consequently there are no established ‘pathways ‘for these new thoughts to travel along; they have to be created.

A good way to think about this and to help understand the resistance we encounter to the introduction of new ideas is with a water analogy. Imagine a stream of water running downhill for the first time. Without any outside direction it will try and take the path of least resistance. Over time the force of the water will carve new channels in the earth and rock to make its journey even easier. Eventually all the water flows down this same channel making it deeper allowing more and more energy to flow through it.

Our thought patterns can be imagined in the same way. Old thoughts take the path of least resistance; well trodden ‘back-roads’ in the brain. We think the same old thoughts day in and day out and it takes very little energy to maintain this status-quo and that’s the problem. New thoughts need to carve new channels in the physical matter of the brain and new neural paths, before they can flow freely. This is how habits of thought are set-up and it is why old habits are so hard to break; the electrical impulses of thought naturally move down the well-established ‘grooves’.

Can you see how it might be difficult at first when trying to build new habits of behaviour and shift our thinking in a new direction? If we have maintained the same thoughts and attitudes over a lifetime then behaviours can seem very stubborn and unwilling to change. Unless we persist with our new habit we don’t give ourselves the time for the changed thinking to create a new route or road to travel along. When we feel resistance in the beginning of any new enterprise, it is because the new thought doesn’t have anywhere to go. It is a pioneer, if you like, travelling in an unknown country. If we don’t support it, it will scatter and dissipate like the stream of water having its supply cut off.

Its’ easy to say “well this isn’t working”, “that’s just the way I am” or “I’ll never change now”. Change is always possible. We can always shift to a more positive attitude from a negative one, from an attitude of failure to one of success. To do this we must indulge the thoughts, the attitudes and the pictures we want to see happen in our lives. We must persist in our affirmations and practice. It will get easier very quickly.

You don’t have to believe in your statements but they must contain a ‘seed’ of energy within them to give them power! That seed of energy comes from believing in our own power to create the circumstances we desire in our lives; by believing in the power of our own minds.

From the moment we open our eyes and before we reach full waking consciousness we have the opportunity to spend ten to twenty minutes taking advantage of our highly ‘suggestible’ frame of mind. ‘Suggestibility’, as explained by Christian H. Godefroy in his book “Mind Power” is “the capacity of the subconscious mind to receive suggestions from the conscious mind…” (Godefroy, 1993, p. 6)

At the point of waking from sleep we can practise this ‘self-suggestion’ or ‘auto-suggestion’ as some call it, which is simply a method to implant new, positive thoughts and ideas into our minds. With repetition these new ‘suggestions’ will have an influence on our behaviour and our state of mind. If we fill our minds with positive thoughts and images we can help build increasing positivity, confidence and success!

The reason why this technique is so powerful is that it takes advantage of the brains natural cycles and the difference between certain brainwave frequencies that we all experience. In deep sleep our brain wave pattern is classified as ‘Delta’ (if we are getting technical it’s about 0.5 to 3.5-4Hz). During alert and fully awake activity our brain operates in ‘Beta’ state which is marked by a strong focus on tasks, listening, good attention and so on. As we wake after sleep, we hover between these frequency ranges in a state classified as ‘Theta’. We then move up to Alpha (relaxed awareness). Theta is the place to be! When we are in the theta state we can experience deep relaxation, access to our creative imagination and ease of visualization.

This short period or window of opportunity is perfect for using our affirmations; by mentally repeating our desires or by speaking them out loud we will be reminding our mind to focus more upon the goals throughout our day. By picturing our goals in our mind’s eye we will draw the best of circumstances and opportunities into our lives. Lastly, by generating that ‘wealthy feeling’ we will attract our success and reinforce our motivation.

Each night set an intention to use this method. List your desires and prepare your affirmations. Most of us can set our alarm clocks a little earlier each day to make room for this practice. When you waken, go over your goals and positive intentions with strong feeling and certainty. Don’t worry if it feels false or untrue to start with, belief will come through repetition. Your goals will soon start to seem more achievable and real. A quarter of an hour is just about the right amount of time for this practice; any longer is unnecessary. The rewards are certainly worth it.

Reference:

Godefroy, C. (1993) Mind power: Use positive thinking to change your life, Piatkus, London