Align your life: Taming Your Subconscious Mind

I meet clients all the time who complain that they are finding it difficult to accomplish their goals. The most common complaint is that in spite of being focused; they tend to lose their focus somewhere along the way. No amount of will power helps in getting back on track. So what exactly is going wrong? Why are people not able to achieve what they set out to achieve? The answer is simple.

When you want to accomplish a goal, it is best to work with your subconscious mind. It is the hardware of your brain. This is where all major decisions are taken and changes are accomplished. So if your goal is to lose weight or quit smoking or simply lead a stress-free life, you need to focus on working with your subconscious mind. Easier said than done, right?

There are many basic techniques that can help the subconscious mind to stay on the right path and help you to achieve your goals. The trick is to stay focused and continue what you are doing.

Write down positive affirmations about yourself. They have to be written in present tense and must be relevant to your goal. Keep a diary by your bedside and write them down daily. The best time to write affirmations is in the morning and at night before sleeping. This is the time when your subconscious mind is very alert. Writing these affirmations keep reminding your subconscious mind of what you want to achieve.

Secondly, if you have any obstacles in your path that are holding you back then they can be dealt with an NLP technique called Swish pattern. Let’s take the example of Mariam, who wanted to lose weight but ended up eating sweets all the time. During our session together, I first requested Mariam to close her eyes and visualise herself eating sweets. Then in the right bottom corner of this image I asked her to visualise how she wanted to look when she lost the weight, see herself eating healthy and staying fit. Then slowly blow up the small positive image from the right corner and bring it right in front of your eyes. Make it bigger and brighter. Simultaneously push the image with Mariam eating sweets on the side. While blowing up the positive image make a swoosh sound to alert your subconscious mind of the change. This was done daily a couple of times for the first few weeks and results were quick to follow. Mariam started eating healthy and her cravings for sugary food went down.

No matter what you want to achieve, as long you can tame your subconscious mind you will always find success.

Shivani Adalja is a Dubai-based well-being expert. She runs the Alignment Insitute which offers effective solutions that focus on stress management and overall wellbeing. Email align@shivaniadalja.com.