How do you know what is real and what is not? Last night I watched the last Harry Potter Movie. In case you didn’t see it, Harry has to make the decision to allow Voldermort to kill him. When he does Harry is whisked away to a heavenly version of a train station, where he realises he has the choice to go back and finish what he started, or get on a train to whatever comes after life on earth. He asks the ghostly vision of Dumbledore “is this real or is this just in my mind?” to which Dumbledore replies “what makes you think that because it’s just in your mind it isn’t real?” Such a simple sentence and yet it conveys so much about how we think what we think and do what we do.
Your imagination IS reality. Your mind cannot tell the difference and will respond to imagined situations in exactly the same way as when they “really” happen. This is why you can watch a scary movie and be terrified, even though you know logicaly it isn’t real, you experience genuine physiological terror. Some people have to leave the cinema their response to an imaginary scenario is so strong, .
Your brain learns by experience and records everything that happens and your response to it. In this way pathways are created in your mind; when you are next in the same situation your brain thinks “I already have a programme for this” so instead of evaluating it and creating a new response, it goes with what it knows. When it comes to changing behaviour we can use the process of vividly imagining the reaction we would like to have, to literally reprogram our minds. In medical terms this is called neuroplasticity and allows you to literally reprogram your mind to change and create new behaviours.
At this time of year with new years resolutions uppermost in many peoples mind, the most common goal is weight loss. If you have been overweight for a long time you know that to lose weight for good, you have to change your behaviours permanently, not just for a few weeks whilst on the “diet”. The process can be surprisingly simple. That doesn’t mean it’s easy, but it is simple. Using self hypnosis and some other change-work techniques you could create for yourself a set of new behaviours that will give you the body you want and deserve. To get you started do this exercise: Find a quiet place to relax and spend a couple of minutes just focusing on your breathing and allowing your mind to notice everything that happens to your body as you are breathing. When you are relaxed imagine you were watching a movie of a “you” living in a parallel universe, except this “you” has a healthy slim body. Watch the movie as it guides you through a week in the life of the “other you”. Notice what they eat, how much and when. Notice how active they are. You know that they will be eating and moving differently to you after all that’s why they have a different version of your body, so look at how they got slim. Spend 5 minutes doing this everyday and get really used to seeing this image. When you can vividly imagine it, slide into the image and watch the same movie but as if you are inside this other you. Feel how they feel doing what they do. Spend a few minutes everyday in this “avatar” of you. After a week or so, maybe less, your unconscious will not be able to tell which is which and you can then choose to keep the new behaviours. Do this for a few weeks and you will notice your body becoming more and more like the “other you” until, you are the same.
If you would like me to guide you through this and many other 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.