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Just think back to 2006. Did you achieve your New Year Resolutions? According to some commentators, 96% of us fail to stick to our resolutions and therefore fail to make the changes we want in our lives. Yet every year, the cycle repeats itself and often ends in frustration, like not losing weight or not being able to stop smoking…
It is very easy to make a commitment to yourself about quitting an addiction like “I’m definitely going to stop smoking” or to change your life direction with something like: |
“I hate my job so this year I’m going to find another or start my own business” or “I am determined to lose weight, join the Gym and get fit – I know I can do it!” etc… Does any of that sound familiar? If so, have you thought about WHY your resolutions don’t often happen? For example, the first few days of the diet going pear shaped or going back to the cigarettes after a night out and saying “OK it’s only one – I’ll be back on track tommorrow” and then finding that tommorrow never comes. There is a very simple reason why this happens but most people don’t know it. Let me explain.
If you think about it, there is always a desire followed by a sequence of actions for something to actually happen. For example, imagine that you are really, really hungry after a long day at work and want to eat your favourite food, perhaps that succulent and delicious 100% Irish steak with onions, chips and vegetables on the plate at the table in front of you. In order to do that, you have to sit down, take in the wonderful aroma, cut off a piece with your knife and fork, mix it up with the lovely smelling onions and perhaps gravy, a chip and some peas, then put it in your mouth, probably whilst saying “mmmmm”. Wouldn’t that be just great? Go on, try and imagine it, but if you are a vegetarian, please accept my sincere apologies and think of a plate of tasty and nourishing Chick Peas, vegetables and Hummus instead! Now imagine that instead of the steak, there was a plate of dog poo in front of you. How would you feel? Wouldn’t your stomach turn and your hunger turn to revulsion? Well, what is my point you might be asking? Listen carefully to what I have to say because it is the key to success. The true reason why you wanted to eat the steak is that your brain is programmed to know it tastes good. Certain chemicals are activated the moment you saw it and your senses picked up that lovely aroma. Your mouth may have watered too, all part of the chemical and electrical reactions taking place.
Your body also has a pre-programmed craving for that steak, or whatever your favourite food is. All quite normal you might think. The opposite happened with the alternative disgusting plate described above because unlike your favourite food, the mind is programmed to know that dog poo is disgusting and unedible. Imagine now that if you are a smoker, the analogy here is that the steak is your cigarette but has become addictive because your brain is telling your body that it needs that chemical it gives you, namely Nicotene. But if you investigate the process of addiction, you will see that it is essentially a feeling that you have, similar to feeling hungry for food, caused by nerves in the body feeding back information to your brain telling it you have an uncontrollable urge. Can you understand that it is not the body that is in control here. The body is merely acting as a sensory and action mechanism controlled by the brain. It is an easy cop-out for smokers to blame the addictive chemicals in cigarettes, which indeed do cause cravings, but not so that they are somehow unstoppable by our own intentions and desires. Neuro scientists have proven this fact and shown that it is the mind that controls the body, not the other way around, so if you programme it to think that the cigarette is like dog poo, then properly executed, this “programming” will cure you of that addiction. Think about this. Would you smoke dog poo? Well would you?
The proof of this thinking is that certain types of hypnotism can cure addictive behaviour like smoking and alcholism and hypnosis is a short-cut to mind-programming. What I have tried to describe here is known as NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) that some people pay hundreds of Euro to be taught but it really works. The basic ideas of NLP were developed around 1973 by Richard Bandler, a student, and John Grinder, a professor of linguistics, in association with the social scientist Gregory Bateson. More recently, writers like Anthony Robbins have been highly successful in helping millions of people cure their addictions and live fantastic lives. So if you really want to stick to your resolutions, make a plan that is achievable and take the baby-steps. For example, if you want to lose weight, plan your diet to include a healthy balance but don’t go on one of those useless diets with replacement powders and shakes. They are bad for you! Simply reduce fatty foods like cakes and crisps and eat more heatly foods, but do it slowly. Programme your mind to think of fatty foods full of dangerous Hydrogenated fats (which mostly they are) that are like poisons, which mostly they are. In the first month, reduce your intake of these foods by 25%, the next month 50%, the next 75% and then stick to this 75% reduction for 6 months. Eat more fruit and vegetables. Go for a walk whenever you can and leave the car behind to go to the local shops. Make a point to do 20 minutes of aerobic exercise once a week, then twice, then three times. You don’t need to join a gym. It is all about changing your behaviour. Get a book on NLP and read it. After all, what have you got to lose?
Jas Kalsi is a Management Consultant and past President of the Ennis Chamber of Commerce |
