So how do you slay the monster?
First you have to look the monster in the eye. You recognize it’s not a matter of “LUCK”. You say “I HAVE A PATTERN WHICH CREATES THESE PROBLEMS. But the pattern is not me!”
Then you build positive new patterns in your subconscious mind by using your imagination in the right way. Your mental picture is critical.
Before you do anything in your life, you must first imagine it. (You may not be aware of this!) Before you swing a golf club, you picture it in your imagination. To get out of your chair and walk across the room, you picture the action in your mind. You picture it, and your brain then has the pattern for you to get up and do it.
Researchers have discovered that when you imagine yourself performing any task, your brain cells undergo electrochemical changes as if you were actually doing it. That is why all the great athletes, golfers, actors and singers practise in their imagination. It is called “mental rehearsal”. What does this tell you? That anything you want to do in your life, you must picture in your mind. The more often you picture it, the stronger the patterning of your brain cells, and the easier it is to do it. You can do the same – at the bus stop, lying in bed, sitting on a train.
Let’s assume you have a “nervous pattern” where you can’t speak in public. Whenever you try to speak in front of the class, the monster takes over. You stand up but your mind sits down! You shake, you sweat and nothing comes out of your mouth.
What do you do to fix this? You begin to play movies in your mind of the confident new you. You begin to regularly picture yourself standing in front of the group with a smile on your face. You see yourself speaking effortlessly. You might imagine yourself as being relaxed like people you have seen on television, or confident like friends of yours who seem to handle any situation. In this movie you are happy, relaxed and in control. As you start to play these mental movies, the monster will fight you. It will be whispering, “This isn’t right. You should be wetting yourself!” But keep running the positive movies and you’ll see more and more of the new you. You’ll have doubts and scary moments. But keep playing those movies in your head. Each time you stand up to speak it will be easier and easier. Eventually you’ll become so confident, you’ll forget you ever had a problem.
The mental picture you have of yourself made you who you are today. When you change that mental picture of yourself
EXAMPLE: Let’s say you are always short of money – and owing other people money. You decide, “Now for the first time in my life I am going to have spare cash!” You start to play mental movies of yourself with spare cash. You see yourself depositing savings at the bank.
Now you can bet that the very week you decide to take control of your finances, there will be big sales downtown. There will be half-price deals at the music store. There will be unrepeatable bargains on roller blades and trendy gear at the sports stores. And the monster will be telling you, “Quick, buy now and beat the rush!” It always happens. You can count on it. But stick with your movies and you will become like your mental picture. EXAMPLE: To become a good student, you must first see it in your creative imagination. So you might play a mental movie of yourself completing your homework every night. (The monster will argue!) See yourself enjoying your study and proud of your progress. Replay those pictures in your mind and over time, you will become that student in your mental movie. One more thing... when you play these movies, feel the emotion. Feel the excitement. Why? Strong emotions make the strongest imprint on your brain cells. That’s why you remember the happiest and saddest experiences of your life. So you make your mental movies work best by feeling excited. When you are lying in bed, playing your movie, feel how happy you are about having spare money, improving your school grades or your new speaking abilities. The picture will burn itself into your subconscious. Too easy? This is not a “once or twice” thing. It takes daily persistence. That is, every day for weeks! But you can do it!
You don’t achieve great things by looking at what you are. You achieve great things by looking at what you want to be –
and then playing those movies in your mind.
The bonus in playing these movies in your mind is that you can play perfect movies, without mistakes. So you program your subconscious toward perfect performance.
In a nutshell
Whatever patterns you have, you can change. From now on you never have to think, “That’s just the way I am.” You can think, “That’s the way my pattern is – and I am about to change it.”