Ditch the Addiction to Your Old Habits
By Karen
St.Clair, AAMET EFT Practitioner re you addicted to one of these?
A
• worrying • social media • shopping • cell phone • heart break • alcohol • criticizing
• sweets
• perfectionism • smoking • being right • potato chips • procrastination
• not being good enough
Most of us don’t know we’re addicted to everyday toxins. We simply think of them as our daily routine. Have you heard yourself say these words in the last six months? “It’s just the way I am.” “That’s just me.” “It’s fine.” “It’s not a big deal.” "I've been this way my whole life." "I’m fine, don’t worry about it.”
Some habits are manageable but others seem like they have a death grip on us. They continually pull us in a direction that we can’t seem to resist. What’s at play here is the subconscious mind—which is in control of our actions, instead of the conscious mind—which is in control of decision making. The subconscious is that little voice or feeling that speaks to us when we attempt a new venture or try out a different way of thinking. Our subcon- scious mind has one job: to protect us from what it sees as harm- ful. It speaks to us constantly throughout the day; it's like an old friend, so let’s give it a name!
We’ll call our subconscious mind Flare because it sends up red flares to our conscious mind when it perceives impend-
ing danger. Unfortunately, in most cases, the subconscious mind is operating with old data from our childhood! Experiences that frightened us or were traumatic are stored in our minds like files in a file cabinet, just waiting for Flare to pull them out as evidence that this harmful event will happen again.
Now let’s call our conscious mind Conny, for short. Here’s
what the internal dialogue might sound like between Flare and Conny, after you finish watching a TV segment on how salsa danc- ing is proven to reduce stress and a great way to meet new people.
Conny: “Wow, I didn’t realize how beneficial salsa dancing is for stress reduction. I could get my ya-ya’s out on the dance floor and maybe meet some new people!”
12 Essential Living Maine ~ March/April 2017
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