Controlling Stress: Using Habits Rather Than Habits Using YouCardioLogix.com

Controlling Stress: Using Habits Instead Of Habits Using You

When we find ourselves in a stressful situation, we basically have two choices. We can fall back on our past conditioned habits and deal with that situation from the perspective we learned in the past or we can transcend our past conditioning and develop new habits. For most people, falling back on past conditioning is not a conscious choice—it happens automatically. If you choose the conscious alternative, you will be forced to develop new habits that harmonize with your inner wisdom. If you do that, your struggle becomes a gift that forces you to grow. This article will teach you a habit to reduce stress in your everyday life.

The following example describes the power of habits:

There was a study in which a scientist taught a rat to climb some stairs and jump past a gap into one of two doors in order to eat. For months, the food was behind the left door. Then the scientist changed the doors, but the rat would only jump to the left. Next, the scientist opened the right door to make the food completely visible. Still, the rat would jump only left. The scientist then locked the left door while the food was visible on the opened right door. The rat now jumped into a closed door and fell to the bottom of the cage. While this may not constitute the most humane treatment of a rat, I see myself and others doing the same thing, which creates the stress we live with every day. The door can be open and the food right there, but we continue to choose our own conditioned habits which have been conditioned in the past, regardless of whether they serve us or not.

Imagine the power you have in the simple act of how you interpret your reality. The person with an externally directed focus only looks outside for the solutions to his problems. The person with an internally focused awareness tends to look within for the solutions of his problems. Both inner and outer focus have qualities for solutions and need to work together. We need experts’ advice in the area they specialize and we need our inner resources to consciously respond to their advice.

Inner and outer resources are similar to our breathing; they are perfectly harmonized. Think of our in-breath as the way we take in input and connect to inner wisdom. Then, in a split second our body processes that input, which activates our powerful inner resources to respond on our out-breath. It is not a matter of choice; our mind and body are already programmed to respond in a specific way.

Here is our biggest question: Can the conscious and subconscious mind and body be reconditioned to create new habits? The answer is complex with many variables; the main point is, if you really want it, you can have it. Most people don’t even consider that question unless their life or what they value is threatened. People with chronic illness or facing the threat of death desperately strive to change. When we face stressful situations, we have the same ability to recondition our mind.

The way we interpret our situation plays a significant part in how we deal with our stress; that is the easiest thing to change. You can change a negative interpretation simply by changing the habit of what part of you interprets. You can consciously condition habits that connect you to your deepest inner wisdom instead of stressful habits. That doesn’t change the problems you face; it just changes how you perceive and interpret your situation. Of course, you could be a victim to your past conditioning and simply respond as usual…but why?

Here is a way you can create a habit that changes your self-image…

Connecting to Your “Positive Self”

Answer these questions with candid first impressions. Your written answers will allow you to take a step back and create valuable tools for inner growth.

Step One: Think of a goal, one that you can really put your heart into. Let that goal slip into the background and this technique will show you what part of you has that goal– your Positive or your Negative Self.

Step Two: We will first connect to the negative part of you. This is the self-image created by your past conditioning. Think of the worst personal experience you can remember, for that experience helps you to connect to your Negative Self. Capture that negative experience in a word or a phrase and record it.

Step Three: Describe in two ways how you feel when you experience this negative feeling.

Step Four: Think of all of these words or phrases and put them together to give a creative nickname to your Negative Self. What would you call that character?

Now let us create your Positive Self, the part of you that was created from times when you were connected to and manifested your powerful inner resources.

Step One: Recall the best moment you have had and capture that experience in a word or a phrase.

Step Two: Think of two ways this experience makes you feel and express those feelings in a word or a phrase.

Step Three: Now give a creative nickname to your Positive Self; what would you call that character?

Step Four: State the name of your Positive Self in an “I Am” statement. I am _____________________ (use your Positive Self’s nickname)

Step Five: While saying the “I Am” statement, imagine your Positive Self. Then breathe into your Positive Self as if your breath gives it life and let images bubble up in your mind of times that you expressed Your Positive Self.

By consciously conditioning a new self-image, the part of you that interprets thoughts and perception, you see the world differently. Now this new self-image is not purely fantasy; it can be made from your past experience so that you can identify with it. Even though the self-image you want to change was strongly conditioned and may resist change, you can create new habits that make it feel like a special part of you. When that special part of you deals with your stress, you respond more consciously with a stronger quality of life.

How do we change?

Imagine a young child rushing home on his birthday. He is excited because birthdays were important in his family and this was a big one for him: He was going to be ten years old. After running home from school, he opens the front door expecting his family’s love, but what he finds is an empty room with the TV running and no body home. He goes into another room and finds nobody home. He is disappointed, thinking that they all forgot his special day. He sits down feeling rejected and then all of a sudden, the door to a room they never used opens and his entire family comes out singing Happy Birthday.

Instantly his rejected outlook changes and his heart filled with joy. His body receives different messages from his mind. He unknowingly just learned an important lesson about life: The thoughts in your mind create your body’s experience. So why can’t we use that principle to change depressing times in our life?

The only way we change is when we change what we identify with. So if we exclusively focus on the issues before us, we may miss the issues within us that determine if we change. Remember, stress is based on how you interpret the situation. If you identify with your positive self, your interpretation naturally reduces stress.

Marc Lerner is…

the President of Life Skills Institute and has been working since 1982 with people in a health struggle. He is the author of A Healthy Way to be Sick, which teaches patients how to consciously re-create themselves in the midst of a health challenge. Marc was also the host of the internet radio show, A Healthy Way to be Sick. Go to: http://lifeskillsinc.com to listen to all archived shows and read an overview of his work. You can see Marc’s full profile here!