You can autosuggest your way to better thoughts, attitudes, and habits!

Human brains have at least 53 cognitive biases that cause us to ignore current evidence and options, and default to our old ways of thinking and being. They also strongly impact the decisions we make every single day- from who we vote for, to what we do and don’t like, what tool to use for a specific job. And especially- our habits.

This blog post is a part of a free series on the psychology of habit building. Opt in here to have the series sent right to your inbox,  in snackable bites, in proper order! The avalanche of gifts inlcludes my mini-webinar, called “5 Common, Rarely Talked About Law of Attraction Blocks-
that keep sucking you back into old 3D patterns and mindsets.” You won’t want to miss it!

Okay.

It’s outside of the scope of this series, but it’s more than worth mentioning that these biases are one of the government, politicians’, and media’s main tools that gets the masses to act and think certain ways- like buying this year’s fashion, voting a certain way, and panicking about the weather, for example. This means you and everyone you ever knew!

More on that creepy shit another time. And oh, it’s deep. Suffice it to say it’s crucial in this day and age to learn as much about the way your own mind defaults and makes decisions as possible in order to truly take control of your own life and happiness. And you can use everything you learn about your mind to benefit your life, impact, and experience!

Many thought patterns, attitudes, and habits that were developed when you were a child or a teenager are still running  your life subconsciously today.

On top of that, human brains have at least 53 to 104 “cognitive biases” that cause us to ignore current evidence and options and default to our old ways of thinking and being, despite all rationality.

This is not an exaggeration. These biases strongly impact the decisions we make every single day. But most specifically for these purposes, they impact our important thoughts and habits!

For example, did you know that there are at least two cognitive biases that cause people to “not be able to quit” the habit of single-use plastic, and countless other habits AND thoughts and attitudes? One is called the “rule of the instrument.” On a subconscious level the brain literally just says, “no. It’s too risky to make that change.”

Between habitual thought and habit patterns, beliefs, and old conditioning and messaging, our thoughts are on autopilot without us thinking about what they’re doing. To put it in one sentence, usually they’re telling us stories that strongly, actively reinforce exactly the way things are right now.

Which is usually the way things were in childhood and adolescence to one degree or another. Many people live their whole lives with ancient thoughts, patterns, beliefs, and stories running the show- ones from the first 15 years or so of their life! And it shows up in the way they (and we) talk, their/our lifestyle, jobs, happiness level, and more.

But there is a technique called autosuggestion that can update your thoughts and beliefs once you realize you don’t want them anymore!

And this is gold. You can use autosuggestion to train your thoughts just like you would train yourself into any habit! To explain it in one sentence, you consider your thought a habit, and replace it with the new thought as your chosen “new habit.”

Yep! In most cases, you can consciously send the positive thoughts that you want to your subconscious mind… to override or cancel out negative thoughts and beliefs that are holding you back! This can completely change your life, happiness, and your positive impact in the best way, and it’s also the starting point for consciously using the law of attraction to get what you want.

And yes, there is a caveat. Read on. We’ll get there…

There are different ways to go about it, but affirmations are a good example of autosuggestion that most people are quite familiar with already. With affirmations, you’re actively deciding what you want to think and feel, then saying it out loud or thinking it repetitively- with the plans of it going subconscious and replacing a negative thought or enhancing your life in some other way.

Visualization is also a form of autosuggestion. With visualization, you’re mentally practicing something in your head, whether it be choosing healthy food, a math test, a dance routine, living a better life, being healthier, having a vacation, not smoking, or anything else.

Listening to inspirational speakers induces autosuggestion, as does surrounding yourself with people you wish to be like.

But watch out! Autosuggestion works both ways.

Over time, I accidentally started feeling bad and dumb because at first I *thought* I was joking when calling myself stupid for random things… and it went subconscious! Eventually I felt it getting stronger and caught it and stopped it but it was really obvious what had happened as soon as I looked at it. And I stopped feeling so dumb!

This means you would do well to evaluate the people you hang out with and how they treat you! And also how they talk in general. And how do you talk in general? Do you need to move away from negative speech patterns and thought patterns that seem benign but actually have a bite?

No pointing fingers or laying blame, but do you need to take a step it two back from some people who are feeding you negative thought, belief, or habit patterns? Autosuggestion is at work no matter where you are or what you’re doing. There are things called mirror neurons in your brain that love to imitate whatever’s around, so become conscious of it and steer it in the direction you want your life to go!

Start noticing repetitive thoughts and decide what thought you would want instead that would empower you! To see the affects in your life and attitude quickly, choose a thought connected to your future, your happiness, your daily mood and experience, your capabilities, your hopes for the planet, etc. Autosuggest the new thought by thinking or saying it as often as you can, and especially when you’re thinking the negative thought or feeling a way that you don’t want.

And sometimes autosuggestion isn’t enough!

You can ingrain negative thoughts and habits even deeper if your pattern is really stuck and loving it or it’s due to underlying trauma. The unspoken truth is that, while affirmations can be magical and life changing, you may actually be rubbing salt in the wound (reinforcing old patterns) by forcing positive thoughts all over yourself in certain circumstances like trauma, super stubborn habits and thoughts, and more.

There are a few ways of dealing with this, one being EFT tapping, and another being changing the subject. Changing the subject is only an in-the-moment fix though, when used by itself. You can’t ignore it forever. You have to heal it on a deeper level to truly free  yourself.

With tapping, you tap on a series of meridian points on your face and chest while thinking, feeling, or talking about the old or new thought/habit process that you want to switch. With changing the subject, you do just that. Stop trying for a while and come back to it later. Sometimes you actually have to just break the loop like that in order to make progress.

This is just the tip of the iceberg for autosuggestion! The entire course “Make or Break Any Habit or Belief You Want- While Loving and Healing Yourself” is riddled with deeper knowledge and powerful practices with everything we’ve talked about here and so much more.

The course comes in my 1-on-1 mentorship and e-course, called Inner Peace and Impact Activator. It also includes a 3 week program to clear out old blocks that are stuck on repeat in your nervous system and dictating your reality- to make all the changes you want to make SO much easier for you!

Within the course, I have a special bonus for you that explains in depth why and how to use tapping and several other extremely effective techniques to most effectively to create and break habits, beliefs, and thoughts. It even includes a bonus with detailed instructions on jolting yourself out of that loop and changing the subject, so you can get back to life and progress- in the moment!

If you’ve made it this far, you’re already on the path to great success! But transformation doesn’t happen overnight. It takes support, self knowledge, and planning. If you feel inspired to really commit to your better life and take it to the next level, check out the course description for “Make or Break Any Habit or Belief You Want- While Loving and Healing Yourself” HERE!

And if you’re ready to book a call to dive in and see if the mentorship and e-course package is a fit for you, Click HERE

Take your time. Soak it all in, and I’ll be right back… with another one to grow on!

See ya soon!
Xoxo,
Betsy D