We tell stories about ourselves each time we speak!
I listened to an interesting sermon the other day by a Unity minister. She reminded her congregation of the incredible power of words and how, when a person tells a story, the story changes the listener AND the storyteller.
She wasn’t talking about Little Red Riding Hood type stories, but the stories we tell others about ourselves every time we say things like, “Oh, I’m the type of person who gains weight just looking at food” or “I’m so unlucky in love; I always pick the wrong person.”
Our subconscious mind is many times more powerful than our conscious mind. It HAS to be! Can you imagine having to consciously keep your heart beating regularly, digest your food, heal a cut, or do any of the other millions of things our bodies do without conscious thought?
If there’s a disagreement over what we consciously want and what our subconscious believes we can or should have, guess which one will win out? Our actions will be guided by our subconscious beliefs whether we’re aware of them of not.
For instance:
| We say and consciously think: | But down deep, we really believe: |
| I want to lose weight | I’ll never be able to get down to my ideal weight |
| I want to be in a great relationship | I’m not good enough to attract a really great partner |
| I want to be successful and rich | Money is the root of all evil and only bad people get rich |
| I want to enjoy perfect health | I’ve always been a sickly person and have inherited disease |
People never achieve their goals if they simply “want” to do something. They have to truly believe in their heart of hearts (which to me is another way of saying their subconscious!) that they CAN achieve them. Otherwise, they’ll either struggle against the current to force themselves to overcome their internal programming or, more likely, they’ll sabotage themselves and fail.
For a long time, I made all kinds of “fat jokes” when talking to others. You know the kind. The barista at Starbucks asks if I want whipped cream in my hot chocolate and I tell her, “Of course! Do I look like the type of person who would say ‘no’ to whipped cream????” Or, a friend says he’s joined a gym and I laughingly tell him that the walk from my car to the pizza parlor is all the exercise I want to do. I thought this sort of self-deprecating humor was “part of my charm” and I did get a lot of laughs.
But those jokes are part of the “story” I tell about myself, and that story — told often enough — becomes part of my identity, part of the inner beliefs I hold about myself. So, it’s natural that dieting is a struggle. I’m combating my own internal programming.
My NEW story about myself is that I’m the type of person who doesn’t care to nibble a lot, one who gets full just sniffing food, who loses weight no matter what she eats, loves being fit and trim, and who’s reaching her weight goals easily.
Next, I’m going to have to tackle those “old lady” stories. But I think I’ll take things one step at a time!
