Can We Find Our Personal Power and get the life we deserve in 30-days?
If you read a lot of self-help literature you may have heard the terms ‘self-actualisation’ or ‘personal power’, but what does it really mean?
Finding your personal power or self-actualisation could be interpreted in a number of ways, but for me it means living in our truth, according to a higher calling and being confident and capable enough to stand by this regardless.
Sounds great! Right? So…how do we get there?
A few power affirmations, some breathing exercises, state changes and we are good to go. Surely?
Sadly, nothing worth doing was ever that easy, but the good new is…If we want to make changes last then we can.
The trick is to reframe the brain and be on guard for the fear based ego thoughts as they arise.
Many of us, myself included, often fall back into old habits of powerlessness and fail to reach goals, because we haven’t discovered the simple answer to sustaining new habit formation.
Our brain’s are conditioned to bounce back into old habits with ease because of years of carving out habitual neural pathways. Each time we make a choice we take the same old brain pathway and we strengthen the old behaviours.
Think of these pathways as roads in the brain. The conditioned roads are covered in tarmac, have fancy lights and signs that make it easier for us to drive on. The new habits have not formed pathways in our brains yet and resemble a dirt track.
Although the new pathway is harder to take at first, one we start smoothing out the road, it becomes easier to take.
If we make the same new choices daily for 30 days, the science has shown that we can create new, lasting, postive habits. Consciously created by choice and conducive to the life we deserve.
In order to do reach these goals though, we must be mindful of a few things…
1- When we are stressed or tired we will want to cave, taking old, easy routes to prevent further stress but If we can stay ahead of the game we are more likely to make the right choices in these moments of weakness. In particular with diet plans, having a pre-prepared meal frozen and ready to go might just make the difference between your success or failure at reaching set goals.
2- Knowing we are socially conditioned and that this is not a defining factor in who we are. If you can recall your childhood for a moment…Where there any phrases you heard over and over that you still repeat today? Are there any belief systems, habits or thoughts that still today when you hear them trigger an emotional response and leave you feeling stuck? These are our socially conditioned neural pathways that are not consciously created but programmed by class, culture and gender identiy.
According to researchers, 95% of our lives are spent in these conditioned habits, on auto-pilot, playing a subconcious thought loop in our minds. This backing track to our lives typically serves to limit our development due to the negativity bias as our brains program negative thoughts, belifs and behaviours more easily than positive ones. Meaning that most of our lives are spent running on this subconscious, negative internal dialogue.
3- We have the power to change these habits by accessing the pre-frontal cortex, repeating new habits and by believing that change is possible.
I can assure you from first hand experince that it takes time, effort and practice, but change is possible if we want it!
Like anything, once we’ve paved the foundation for change, further steps in the right direction are easier to make and before we know it, we have created a new foundation of healthier living and this becomes our “new normal”.
One of my favourite sayings is…
“Nothing worth doing was ever easy”
Theodore Roosevelt
Neuroscience has shown that it takes between 30–90 days to forge these new habits, regardless of the type of brain, age, or health condition.
It also shows that we can make these changes ouselves but it takes time, practice and work and it always helps to have a cheerleader by your side.
I made these changes in my life by starting with one simple new habit each day and repeating it religiously. Now my brain automatically goes down a consciously chosen road with ease and I am creating the life I want.
So now that you know it’s possible, I guess my question to you is…
Are you ready to do the work?
