HOW TO CREATE NEW BEHAVIORS.
Create new behaviors that will put you in the drivers seat of your life by changing your default thinking.
To change your behavior, you first need to change your default thinking. To change your default thinking, you must first identify what default mode is connected with the default behavior you want to change.
In short, by changing your default mode of behaviors your automated responses change.
As human beings experience the world, beliefs create defaults within the subconscious. Your default mode is directly related to your experiences. All humans are programmed to find ways to affirm what they agree with or believe and alternatively to deny what they do not agree with or disbelieve. People return to default mode because it is automated. Even if a person dislikes their default behaviors, they will still go back to them because they are predictable, known, safe and comfortable.
Think of your default mode in terms of driving. When you get in the car and you already know the route of where you are going, it sometimes feels as if you do not recall how you got from point A to point B e.g. default mode. Now imagine you are driving a route you know and you see traffic building up ahead of you, you know if you use the GPS you may possibly save yourself thirty minutes in traffic. In most cases, people will sit in traffic instead of taking the alternate route, simply because the alternative is unknown or familiar. Human beings like known, familiar, certain and experienced. Thus, the reason change is so difficult to access- it is outside our norm and comfort zone.
The way you experience the world creates a set of truths within your mind that affirm or reject alternative ways of thinking. If you have experienced it, you are programmed to find it to be truth because technically it is known or familiar. What people expect to happen in the present directly reveals what they have experienced in the past. This is how models of expectation are created.
Our minds are extremely powerful. As the above explains, people hold onto experiences so deeply within their subconscious that they can actually dictate the way they process and make decisions, based on their models of expectation. There have been many scientific studies done on pain and its correlation to mindfulness. A study done by the pain center of Arizona says, “Endorphins have the ability to block nerve cells from releasing more pain signals to the brain and can act like morphine.” To put it simply, when we believe something will relieve pain, our body releases endorphins. When our mindset of what is possible changes, reality follows suit. Our body believes that this new belief is true, and based on the belief that good things will follow, our body releases endorphins which bring joy, peace, and excitement.
Possibility thinking is as simple as telling yourself, “Today is going to be a good day, filled with laughter, excitement, and bliss. Nothing that crosses my path today is going to be harder than I can handle.” When this thought enters your mind you are shifting the focus onto possibility thinking, your body has a chemical reaction to possibility thinking which releases endorphins and puts your body in a state of joy. In that moment, you have chemically made yourself happy. What we believe, we receive. So whether your day goes the direction you hope, or there are challenges, your body has already predetermined that it is going to be good. You are not only telling yourself words, you are teaching your mind what to expect from situations that will come about in your day and how to perceive them. Therefore you are changing your default mode.
New beliefs dictate a new program of beliefs, which create new defaults and turn into new, automated patterns. By changing your mindset, you can rewrite your story. You have the ability to create future experiences by implanting new ideas, mindsets, beliefs, and behaviors.
If your default modes are healthy choices, then your automated responses are no longer controlling you because of your past experience, but instead are completely of your own making. You are now in the driver’s seat of your life.
Everyone has default mode, it is impossible to think any human being can be ‘on’ all the time. If you rewrite your story and create new beliefs, then your default is not based only on past experiences and trauma, but now based on choices you have directed. This, in turn, will lead you actively towards your goals. Wellness is a mindset, and to be well, you must start with mindset.
x Amanda
P.S There will be an exercise on changing default behaviors and pushing past your barriers coming soon
