Your mind is a computer, and every computer system can be “hacked” to accept & eliminate programming. This is how you do it.
Many of us are at the whims of our cravings and desires. Many of those desires are detrimental and destructive. You want to make a change, but the mountain that you need to climb seems so insurmountable that many say to themselves, “why try.”
I know…I’ve been there.
From my horrific spending habits, to unhealthy eating habits, constant arguments in my marriage, and overall bad outlook, I was a ship being tossed about on the waves of my own mind — a mind that was, at the time, quite self destructive.
It wasn’t until I began to understand where I needed to change, that REAL change occurred. I had to change my “truth” about many aspects of my life, and this is how I did it.
Preaching it won’t make it so
Throughout my life, many people who have loved and cared for me, have tried to tell me how to get back on track with various aspects of my life. “You’ve got to start saving money”, was a good little nugget of advice. “Just take a deep breath to cool off”, were the words I’d hear as well.
To be sure, most, if not all of the things I heard were good bits of information, but the “preaching” didn’t do any good.
All of the advice given to me were “external” solutions to my problems. It’s like putting duct tape on a car to hold a part in place, instead of fixing the part. The advice was the duct tape, but I was still broken.
The “ah-ha” moment
Throughout my life, I’ve had several “ah-ha” moments where real change seemed to occur, but I let them pass without really examining them. It wasn’t until I started working at Nestlé that I finally understood how to hack my mind to accept new instructions and how to keep them.
When you’re on a new job, you have to be trained to work within the systems and processes of your new employer. No matter the job, the situation is still the same.
In teaching, the student goes through 4 sections of learning. They are:
- Unconscious incompetence
- Conscious incompetence
- Conscious competence
- Unconscious competence
This is the process that happens in learning anything, no matter the age.
What I noticed is that my mind – in learning a new machine – came to a point of an “ah-ha” moment where I “got it.”
You know what I mean. Everyone does.
At the beginning, you don’t know a single thing (conscious incompetence). Then, for a time, you have to THINK about each step you take when doing something (conscious competence). Then, after enough successful attempts, you mind has the “ah-ha” moment (unconscious competence). From there, you don’t have to think anymore — your mind has accepted it’s new programming, and can run automatically.
For most of us wanting to make a change in our lives, we are at the stage of unconscious incompetence, but that can be changed.
Your mind is a machine and can accept new programming. To make a real and long lasting change, you have to accept new input, but to accept that, so that you can run automatically, you have to change your truth
The self-image
How do you see yourself? It’s a common question, which has been thrown about for decades, but it’s a legitimate one. How you see yourself is what creates your self-image.
In your mind, do you always see yourself as a screwup?
Do you see yourself as always being poor?
Do you see yourself as constantly battling your weight and food cravings?
This is where the change MUST occur first — you must change your self-image, because without that change, any solutions you try, whether they be a weight loss program, financial solutions, or anything else to improve, will ultimately fail. You must adopt new programming – a new self-image – BUT that new programming MUST be seen as your new truth (that ah-ha moment) for it to truly work. This is the first battle, but it’s a battle you can win.
Hacking your mind
While the brain is a wonderful thing, it is ultimately a machine. You – the part of you that says “I am” – meaning your mind, can control this machine.
Don’t believe me..well let me ask you this; if you are in a bad state, whether it be with money, addiction(s), being overweight, a bad marriage, or anything else…how did you get there? You didn’t start FROM there…you ended up there because you created a truth about yourself – a new self-image (I’m fat, addict, poor…you get the picture) – which accepted new input, because the new information didn’t go against the new truth.
Creating a new self-image – a healthier one – works the same way. You must “convince” yourself that the state that you are in goes against a new truth that you want to adopt. That new truth MUST come from a source of authority that you trust and accept, otherwise it won’t work.
For me, it came when I read Galatians 5:19-23. It was the whole “self-control” thing that kicked it all off.
When I looked in the mirror, the image I saw did not line up with the truth that I intellectually accepted (the Galatians passage). When I pondered that, I realized that I was living a lie, accepted the NEW TRUTH (new self-image) I found in the Bible, had my “ah-ha”moment, and from there, I effortlessly accepted new programming and actions, which lead me to an outer change of my circumstances.
YOU MUST CHANGE YOUR TRUTH – YOUR SELF IMAGE – FIRST!
See yourself doing it
I know it seems a little Buddha-on-the-mountaintop advice, but it’s the truth. To convince yourself of your new truth – your new self-image – you must “see” yourself being the new person you want to be.
Trust me, you do it anyway when you think garbage thoughts. You see yourself having a bad day, and other destructive actions. Now, it’s time to put that to work for you.
Once you see your new self-image, take time throughout the day and visualize yourself living out that truth. Your mind is quite powerful when put to good use, and there have been multiple studies on how visualization affects not only your mental outlook, but your physical being.
But hey, don’t take my word for it, God Himself told us to meditate on His Word (Bible) in Romans 12:2.
When you center your new self-image on what God says — about who you now are, through Jesus Christ, and meditate (see yourself fulfilling those words) on your new truth, YOU WILL CHANGE!
Final thoughts
The mountain may seem insurmountable, but it can not only be climbed, it can be leaped over. I’m nobody special, and if I can do it, you can. You’ll have to fight for the first part of the process. Your mind won’t take the new self-image – your new truth – at first, but it’s a machine and under your control. When you accept Jesus as your Savior and Lord, you are given the tools to mold yourself and conform to the image of Jesus Christ.
