To believe, think, or feel that you can keep doing the same things and get different results is delusional. Perhaps a better word may be stubborn. What is stubbornness but arrogance in your conviction that your way is the best. Unfortunately, if it was the best you would not be struggling to change it now.

We Have Been Changing Since Birth

Let’s be honest, the reason so many people struggle with giving up their way of doing something is the unwillingness to let go and embrace change. Funny thing is when we were younger, we were eager for change, we wanted to be older before our time. We looked forward eagerly to becoming old enough to do certain things and declare our independence.

What’s Beneath The Unwillingness To Change

When you have been doing something for so long it becomes automatic, without your conscious awareness; therefore, it becomes difficult to change. Add to that the emotional and neurochemical bonds that have been created and you begin to understand why changing unhealthy habits require work. You persist in your unhealthy habits and unhealthy responses to your emotional states, because you persist in your unhealthy ways of thinking. There may also be subconscious or conscious limiting beliefs about self, others, the world. Finally, you create feelings of fear, which keeps you paralyzed and stuck.

Reframe Your Thoughts To Get Healthy

Let’s take weight loss as an example. Many people want to lose weight. They now reframe their thoughts and think “I will lose the weight.” There are two things wrong with this reframe:

1. Lose the weight. The word lose generates a ton of negative feelings in most people. The idea of losing something, even if it is the excess weight that has been weighing them down literally and figuratively. Why? The excess weight for some people serves a purpose. It meets a need in their life. Some people feel a sense of security or safety with excess weight. Thus, their need for security outweighs their need to get healthy in their body. Another issue with weight loss is the idea of losing the pleasure they gain from eating. No matter how transient and no matter that it has now become a cause of dis-ease in mind, body, and soul.
2. Their attention is on their weight and guess what happens? They focus all their energy on losing weight, which ends up stressing them out and raising their cortisol level. This then leads to more eating, increased weight, increased body fat due to visceral fat deposit, frustration, and giving up.

How To Think More Effectively

I can and I will get healthy. Add a powerful “why” to this and elevate your emotional state. Now the focus is on gaining health in mind, body, and soul. However, you must also believe that you are capable of changing. Now it becomes less stressful because the positive energy associated with gaining health inspires you to keep going. Once you have reframed your thoughts, you now need to regain control of your body. Unfortunately, your body got accustomed to telling you when and what to eat. Now you will tell your body when you eat and what you eat. When you tell your body ‘NO’ enough times, it will begin to respect your decisions once again. Be mindful though that there will be times when you are vulnerable to your body manipulating you to revert back to unhealthy patterns of eating. Remember, that you create your emotional response, based on what you believe and think.

Be Mindful Of The States That Leave You Vulnerable

It stands to reason that these states are either spiritual, psychological, or physical.

1. When you are spiritually weakened or doubting.
2. When you are mentally drained or thinking poorly.
3. When you are emotionally drained, upset, or needy.
4. When you are physically unwell or exhausted.

They all have one thing in common, you THINK in unhealthy ways or revert back to your unhealthy thought patterns, because you fall back to believing the untruths about yourself [not enough, can’t cope, not lovable, and not deserving] which triggers the negative feelings and the negative or unhealthy actions. Interestingly enough, when there is financial stress, it can take a toll spiritually, psychologically, or physically; hence, the importance of getting financially healthy. I also use the H.A.T.E. acronym [we are all most vulnerable when we are full of hate and empty of LOVE].