Who are you in your dreams? This week I went to see The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty. It’s a great movie; like most good movies there were some great metaphors. We see the main character leading an ordinary, (some would say boring) life. He regularly escapes into a fantasy word where he daydreams the things he would like to happen; when he comes back into reality he is disappointed. He leaves behind his ideals and settles for less. I have said in many blogs how important it is to use your imagination as a tool for change, and that when you imagine something vividly it’s as real as any experience you have ever had. Remember my last blog with Harry Potter’s question; “Dumbledore, is this real or is it just in my head?” to which he got the reply “What makes you think just because it’s in your head it isn’t real?”. The difference between Harry’s imagination and Walter Mitty’s, is that Harry acted on what he experienced, and those actions changed things. They made a difference to his life. OK it’s just a movie – but you get the point. So here’s my question, as we are into the first week of New Years resolutions, whether it’s to lose weight, stop smoking, get a new job/house/partner or whatever you want to achieve, are you making your daydreams count? Or are you just letting them drift away? Are you creating a real vision of what you want and stepping into that vision to see how it would feel to actually achieve your goal? Or is it wistful and without any real attention? Daydreaming can be really powerful, as long as you take action and truly believe in what you see and have faith that you can make it happen. Once you believe you can and will achieve it, the next step is to find a strategy or the skills you need to achieve it. Not everything you try will work, but whatever you want to achieve, someone out there has already done it and you can find out how, and model it. Adapt other peoples strategies to suit you, and don’t give up. I have noticed over the many years I have been helping people change how they think and feel, physically and emotionally, that there is a pattern to success that goes like this.
Step 1; Create an undeniable desire to achieve your goal. Step 2; Passionately believe you will achieve it, even if you don’t yet know how. Step 3; Create a strategy or learn a skill that you know has worked for someone else and personalise it. Step 4; Be persistent, expect highs as well as lows and never ever give up. Learning what doesn’t work is an important part of progress as long as you let it go and move onto something that does.
In my work I have the pleasure of teaching people a range of skills to help them with a range of things; weight loss, overcoming anxiety or trauma, or working with individuals as a coach to help them discover what they really want, and how to get it.
If you would like to to lose weight or change your relationship with food and stop emotional eating, let me guide you through the processes that make weight loss natural and pain free. Come along to Champneys for one of my 2 night or 4 night weight loss retreats or you can take yourself through the programme with my unique Think More Eat Less programme which is a book with audio hypnotic downloads.
