Aileen Day reports.
Have you played that tape of doubting yourself in your head? Before long it’s on loop and then the self-limiting beliefs set in. To help bring you back on track, here’s three simply activities that will help.
#1 Breathing
I know, breathing whooped-dee-doo. But breathing with consciousness can lead to so many benefits. I especially became fond of what is known as box breathing, taught to me by highly skilled speaker curator for TEDxCasey, Robert Pattie-Williams. In times of stress, nervousness, or tension, I box breathe. All I need to is inhale for 6 seconds. Hold my breath for 6 seconds and slowly breathe out through my mouth (exhaling the BS) for 6 seconds. Repeat 3 times and your nervous system practically reboots. Your focus returns, your clarity returns, and you are now capable of responding to your environment rather than reacting.
#2 Talk to Yourself Out Aloud
I no longer play tapes quietly in my mind. No one challenges them when no one else can hear what you are saying. So, of course I still have tapes that play but now I have learned to become aware that I am doing it. Dr Joe Dispenza, a world-renowned scientist of neurology claims that as humans, we can become addicted to the emotions that come with these stories and that is why we can so easily fall back into the trap of playing them over and over again. However, when we do we continue to play small we continue to stay in our own way. So, what does he recommend? When you catch yourself playing the tapes, consciously tell yourself to STOP. Yell it out aloud if you must. Shock your brain into distraction. Tell yourself out aloud that you will not play that tape. I now personally take this one step further and if I do play the tape, I play it out aloud (yes, I may look crazy as I talk to myself) but one thing I have recently learned is that some of the tapes I used to play were so ridiculous when I heard myself say them out aloud, however, played on loop inside my mind, they felt so true. I very quickly realised that as I played these tapes out aloud for my ears to hear the words I was telling my mind, that I was truly the reason I wasn’t feeling abundance. The responsibility became mine to change all that, to take back my power. Those stories were not true and if you aren’t sure how true your stories are, simply ask yourself, “Is this true?”. You’ll be amazed at how often they’re not, but now you know and now you can change those circumstances you created to ensure you stop playing small.
#3 Put Your Value Driven Life Out to The Universe
Now before you say “Oh, you lost me with your hippy voodoo”, hear me out. There is a scientifically proven reason that this is a real thing. Very simply, it is called your RAS. Otherwise known as the Reticular Activating System (RAS). A few years ago, whilst reading The Answer by Allan and Barbara Pease, I learned about the RAS and how by putting your energies into articulating what you want in your life through visualisation, affirmations and setting clear and documented intentions, what feels like the universe going to work to give you what you want, is in fact your RAS going to work as one of the most complex parts of your brain does what it does best, and that is manifest reality based on what you tell it to search for. It works both ways, constantly play those tapes and it will fulfill those stories. Change the tapes to design a life driven by value, then that is what the RAS will deliver up. I now document every morning 5 things I am grateful for and 5 things that I would like to manifest to make my day valuable. The universe and my RAS work side by side to manifest those realities and more often than not, I am finding myself in the path of opportunities I never imagined. Writing this article for you is just one example of me putting it out to the universe and the universe returning my serve. As the great Napoleon Hill once said,
“Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the body can achieve.”
There are many other activities that with research and practice you can find to work for you. I am making it my new practice in life to constantly learn and find methods to change those tapes, to control what I can control and to let go of what I can’t. However, whatever I do, I know that the only person in my way to being the higher being that I know I am destined to be, is me, so if old me knows what’s good for her, she’ll know she needs to get out of the way. We’ve got ceilings to break. So… who’s coming with me?
Written by Aileen Day, CEO and Voice of Your Customer, Value Driven Brand / Meraki Business Solutions.
