The
Law Of Attraction And Weight Loss: Can You Think Yourself
Thin?
By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
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Metaphysics & Brain science merge and prove that
positive thinking and
goal setting literally create your body and your entire
life experience
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On recently
broadcast special edition of CNN's Larry King Live, Mr.
King interviewed a panel of "mind experts" about
how the thoughts you think literally turn into the events
you experience, the material things you possess... AND
even the health of your body.
For years,
"positive thinking" and goal-setting were often
criticized as "pollyanna" and "the law
of attraction" was relegated into the category of
"new age" fluff.
On the recent
Larry King show, panel experts Bob Proctor, John Assaraf
and others who were featured in the movie 'The Secret'
explained that recent breakthroughs in neuroscience along
with understanding mental laws, reveal why goal setting,
the "law of attraction" and "positive thinking"
all work, regardless of whether you look at them from
a metaphysical or a scientific perspective.
Scientists
have even identified specific parts of the brain, such
as the reticular activating system (RAS), which works
with the visual parts of our brain to call our conscious
attention to things that are important to reaching our
goals and to filter out those things that are unimportant.
The RAS is
activated by "programming" goals into our sub-conscious
minds. Our sub concscious mind is the "power center"
and THIS is the mechanism that explains why goal setting
and positive thinking are now being accepted as scientific
methods for change.
We are discovering
that our brain is cybernetic in nature, which means that
it is literally like a computer, waiting for a program
to be installed.
Here's the
kicker - the subconcsious is completely neutral and impartial
- it will carry out any instructions you give it.
Unfortunately,
many of us are still running negative programs we picked
up from others as children when our non-conscious minds
were totally open and impressionable, or which we developed
over the years as a result of repetition of our own negative
thinking.
As it turns
out, our own thoughts, repeated daily, are one of the
primary ways that our "mental computer" is programmed
on a sub-conscious level, which is the level of beliefs,
habits and automatic behavior.
To change your
results, you must overwrite old negative programming and
install positive new programming into your subconscious.
This can be
achived through such techniques as written goal setting,
positive self-talk (affirmations), and mental imagery
(visualization).
In the 1970's,
the Soviets and East Germans were the first to formally
use structured mental rehearsal, and at that time, they
dominated in several olympic sports. This was reported
in great detail in Charles Garfield's landmark book, "Peak
Performance." Today, virtually all elite athletes
use visualization extensively, as we now know that the
brain cannot differentiate between real practice and practice
that is vividly imagined.
If you are
getting more of the same negative results in your life
- such as the same health problems, or the same body fat
continues to return even after you lose it, then you have
probably been un-consciously running old negative programs
and re-inforcing them with negative thought patterns.
You can begin
the positive mental reprogramming process by writing down
your goals, changing your internal dialogue and taking
a few minutes to relax, quiet your mind and perform a
session of visualization or mental rehearsal every day
(seeing yourself in your "mind's eye" not as
you currently are, but as you ideally would like to be).
These methods,
repeated often enough, will begin to program the non-
conscious portion of the mind, which is the same part
of the mind that controls your heart beat, digestion and
new cell production, all on "automatic pilot."
In the last
decade, neuroscientists discovered that you have the capacity
to create an almost infinite number of new neural connections
in your brain when you run new thought patterns.
The Old neural
pathways are like grooves in a record, and if you are
struggling with your health related behaviors or behaviors
in any other area of your life, you have been playing
the "old records" over and over again.
If you were
to carve a new groove into that record, it would never
play the same way again. the old pattern would weaken
and the new one would take over. Brand new, positive thoughts,
feelings and images begin to create new neural patterns.
Psychologists
estimate that it takes 21 to 30 days to establish a new
pattern in your brain. During this time, the focus on
sticking with your practice and repeating your new thought
patterns is critical.
Is this easy?
For most people, no it's not. In fact, controlling your
thinking and keeping it constructive may be one of the
most difficult challenges you have ever faced. Fortunately,
writing goals and reading affirmations can help get you
started.
You can take
some of the pressure off yourself by simply accepting
that negative thoughts and self criticisms will pop up
from time to time. Just observe them, without mulling
over them or adding to them, and change the polarity of
the thought by quickly repeating one of your positive
affirmations or by changing your mental pictures.
So is there
something to this whole "positive thinking"
thing?
The philosophers
and theologians have been saying yes for the entire span
of recorded history: "As you think, so shall you
be." Variations on this proverb can be found in every
spiritual and philosophical tradition.
But... if you
are the left-brained, "prove-it-to-me" type,
you dont have to go on faith anymore. Scientists are beginning
to prove more and more convincingly that thoughts are
powerful things. Even Larry King seemed impressed with
what his panel of "mind mentors" had to say.
So how soon
are you going to begin your mental training right alongside
your physical training? When are you going to learn how
to harness this power locked up inside your mind?
Guess what?
You're already using this force every day because you
cannot turn it off. Whatever you are thinking and picturing
in your mind repeatedly on a daily basis is already on
it's way to you, so it's simply a matter of HOW you are
using it, not IF you are using it.
What do you
say to yourself every day? Do you say, "I am becoming
leaner, healthier and more muscular every day?"...
or do you say "I am a fat person - Ive tried everything,
nothing ever works?"
The fact is
- you can think yourself thin and healthy or you can think
yourself obese and ill. Maybe not in the literal sense...but
most certainly as the critical part in the chain of causation...
You see, there's
a lot of talk these days in the personal improvement world
about law of attraction, manifesting, intention, visualization,
affirmations and of course, positive thinking.
Without understanding
that there is an orderly, scientific basis underneath
all of these things, many people will simply remain skeptics,
while on the opposite extreme, others may get the idea
that you can sit around meditating and visualizing, then
expect a mystical "law of attraction" to kick
in and then "poof!" a great body materializes
out of thin air... along with the perfect relationship,
a nice bank account and fantastic career success.
What really
happens is "Positive thinking" and related methods
quite literally re-program your brain, which in turn creates
new behaviors that move you physically toward whatever
you have been thinking about and focusing on.
So success
is achieved through positive thinking + positive doing....
attraction + action. There are two sides to the coin.
Without paying attention to both, you may continue to
struggle... often against nothing but yourself.
If you want
to transform your body or any other aspect of your life,
then you have to change on the inside (the mind) first
and then everything else will follow.
This process
of *scientific* goal setting and mental reconditioning
through emotionally charged mental imagery (visualization)
and internal mental dialogue (affirmations) is the very
first thing I have always taught my clients and the first
thing I wrote about in my book, Burn
the Fat, Feed The Muscle. You can learn all of
these techniques in detail in chapter 1. Learn more about
the psychology of body transormation inside the Burn The
Fat ebook.
About
the Author:
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Tom Venuto is a lifetime
natural bodybuilder, an NSCA-certified personal
trainer (CPT), certified strength & conditioning
specialist (CSCS), and author of the #1 best-selling
e-book, "Burn
the Fat, Feed The Muscle. Tom has
written hundreds of articles and has been featured
in print magazines such as IRONMAN, Australian IRONMAN,
Natural Bodybuilding, Muscular Development, Exercise
for Men and Mens Exercise, as well as on hundreds
of websites worldwide.
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