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 Men’s Exercise, as
well as on hundreds of websites worldwide. For information
on Tom's Fat Loss program, click
here.
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