FLP eBook 20 - Change Your Life In 21 Days - An Overview
Ask Yourself. Am I Present? Awaken the Observer and Come Present to Now.
With great gratitude, appreciation and praise we welcome you to the creation space of self love, courage, inspiration and the peace of mind that comes from gently balancing and lowering your brainwaves.
Listening to this THETA wave will assist you in creating a transformative meditative state, that will quiet your mind, relieve tension in your body, soothe your spirit, and help you remember how good it feels to be fully present in this beautiful moment of now.
Listen to this THETA brainwave as you study the following lesson.
Change Your Habits, Transform Your Life
Do you believe you can change your life for the better in 21 days? Well you can. It's a well-known fact we can change a habit in only 21 days.
We are all creatures of habit and habits determine what we think and feel and what we do and have. It is this simple. Some habits are deeply implanted in our subconscious and when we seek to change our lives old habits pull us back into the same situations, and conditions, repeating the same old experiences. Because of this, many give up believing it is not possible to be, do, or have what they desire.
Success is a habit and so is failure. Happiness and misery is a habit. Enthusiasm, dejection, negativity are all habits. Wealth is a habit and so is poverty. Science tells us it takes only 21 days to change from being a smoker to a non-smoker or to change any addiction and bad habit. Why only 21 days? Who knows why but it works. It just takes that long before the subconscious mind firmly accepts a new idea and way of being. Knowing this, we can work with it and use this phenomenon for our benefit.
The Man Who Started it All
Maxwell Maltz (1899 – April 7, 19755 was an Americann cosmetic surgeon and author who developed Psycho-Cybernetics, a system of ideas through which, he claimed, one could improve his self-imagee and, in turn, lead a more successful and fulfilling life. He wrote several books, among which Psycho-Cybernetics (1960) was a long-time bestseller that influenced many subsequent self-help teachers.
Maltz graduated with a doctorate in medicinee from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1923.
Psycho-Cybernetics: A New Way to Get More Living out of Life was first published in 1960 by Prentice-Hall and first appeared in a pocket book edition in 1969.
The book introduced Maltz's view that a person must have an accurate and positive view of one's self before setting goals, otherwise he or she will get stuck in a continuing pattern of limiting beliefs. His ideas focus on visualizing one's goals: a simple idea which some cognitive-science research in the area of priming has validated under certain conditions. He believed that self-image is the cornerstone of all the changes that take place in a person. If one's self-image is unhealthy, or faulty, all of his or her efforts will end in failure.
A LIFE CHANGING 21-DAY EXPERIMENT
Many years ago a laboratory experiment was set up to test the transforming power of 21 days.
The objective was to know what people could accomplish by living in a positive, supportive, healthy, spiritual, and life-affirming environment for 21 days. A brochure inviting people to come for 21 days and participate in what I called the 21-day experiment.
Twelve people responded. Everything was set up for the participants to become fully alive and enlightened in every way, physically, mentally, and spiritually. They were to be enveloped in a loving environment in which they would be served the most wholesome vegetarian food, attend classes, meditate, exercise, do crafts, express their creative talents, take nature walks, share and communicate, dance, do yoga, fire walk, pray, swim, sing and engage in various life affirming activities meant to bring forth their true vital divine selves.
Each participant was leaving behind an old world and people they knew to enter into a new world with new people for the purpose of attaining their goals. The day arrived and the van from the airport drove up the long driveway to the back porch of the lodge. Out they climbed each looking worn out from the struggles of life.
One woman, who brought her aged mother, had given up on life and was deeply depressed besides suffering from emphysema. She could barely walk from the car to the lodge, a distance of only a few yards.
One man just lost his life's partner to a disease. Even though highly talented he had lost his will to work and perform and suffered greatly from loneliness and depression.
Another man was addicted to antihistamines.
A retired university professor sought to find her life's purpose. She didn't have a clue as to what she was going to do for the rest of her life.
There was a man who had been a very successful spiritual counselor and teacher, but because of some set-backs and the loss of his wife, who had left him for another man, he was totally dejected having lost any remnant of self-esteem.
Another woman came with her two small children, as she had just run away from an abusive husband. She had no idea of how she was going to support herself and her children, but was certain that in this 21 days she would get a new lease on life and discover her life's work.
There were a few more and each was at the end of their rope and at the bottom of the pit of despair. In truth each was a victim of their habits of thinking, feeling, speaking, believing, and behaving.
You Cannot Change a Habit by Trying to Get Rid of It. But You Can Make a New One.
As explained each was being controlled by unconscious habits, and to have a new and more wonderful life they would need to change their habits. Changing our environment is one way we change our habits. Changing our associations is another way. The principle behind this whole 21-day experiment is you cannot get rid of a bad habit. God knows people try to get rid of what they do not want, but for the most part they are unsuccessful.
We all know people who keep losing the same twenty pounds over and over and yet can never keep them off. Perhaps you are stuck in a lonely place and desire to be married to Mr. or Mrs. Wonderful, but you have tried and all seems hopeless. There is hope, and the hope is in first knowing what you want, and second in building the consciousness and habits of thinking, speaking, relating, and behaving that will automatically attract to you the right person. One of the major secrets of life is the art of making new and life-affirming habits. As new habits take over and become dominant, old habits fade away and the person is liberated to live their dreams and achieve their topmost goals.
Twenty-one days later the group, one by one, began shedding the old consciousness of despair, dejection, poverty, sickness, and fear. They took on the mantel of enthusiasm, positivity, beauty, health and vitality, confidence, and prosperity. Every person, without exception, had remarkable positive changes in health, stamina, attitudes, use of talents, relationships, eating habits, weight loss, perceptions and general well being. On day twenty the woman who could barely walk on the first day took a five-mile nature walk with the group on Mt. Rainer.
Each person was clear about their life's work and purpose. The addict no longer had any taste for antihistamines and was free of this bad habit. A couple of the participants quit smoking. A number had lost weight and were well on their way to regaining their vibrant health. Each was radiant and brilliant as if an inner light was shining brightly, and it was. The man whose wife had left him fell in love with one of our visitors and he forgot all about the woman who had left him. Our professional singer was busy on the phone booking many upcoming singing engagements and was enthusiastic about the songs he had written during the retreat.
Yes, it took only 21 days for people to drop the old and take on the new. Not everyone can step out of their world for 21 days or can afford to attend this kind of a retreat, but they can change their lives for the better with my 21-Day plan.
HOT TIP - Observe your thoughts, for they become your words. Carefully select your words, for they become your actions. Direct your actions, for they become your habits. Examine your habits, for they will become your character. Improve your character, for it becomes your destiny.
Start right now! Over the next 21 days: make a commitment to yourself to identify one new habit that you can create successfully--and start doing it! Explore ways to integrate your goals for your new habit with your current obligations, and take those first steps into the New Year with renewed desire and commitment. You'll soon discover that a new habit can change your life.
Experts agree it takes 21 days to break a bad habit and form a new one.
Daily Activities To Help Change Habits
"I should change, but I've tried and failed." Does this sound familiar? Often, changing habits does seem insurmountable. Many of us simply don't have enough motivation to change our habits - all of our bad habits - in a way that would truly affect our health. We cling to them because we see them as rewards.
But your habits determine your health. Below is a strategy and focus on daily activities to help you change and eliminate bad habits.
It Takes 21 Days To Break A Bad Habit
To begin with, choose one unhealthy habit you wish to eliminate or change. Or, choose a healthy habit you want to adopt as part of your behavior. If it is a habit to eliminate, you may wish to go "cold turkey" or have a gradual tapering off. Caution: If it is a drug or chemical habit you are planning on eliminating, be sure to obtain an expert's opinion as to whether you need to taper off usage as opposed to quitting cold turkey.
Now that you have decided which unhealthy habit to eliminate, or new habit to adopt, decide on the date you will begin your behavior change. Give this date a good deal of thought and then write it down. For example, "On February 15, 2001, I will become a non-smoker."
In order to ensure behavior change, experts agree that it takes a minimum of 21 days to change a behavior. Again, look at the date you are planning on changing your habit. Count ahead 21 days and mark that date down. Now, make a commitment that you will follow your plan for 21 days.
Helpful Suggestions
Your target date has arrived. It is the first day of your 21-day cycle. Here are some helpful suggestions for habit change:
Write down your goal. There is magic in the written word when it applies to you. Experts recommend stating your goal in positive terms, such as "I want to be lean and physically fit," instead of "I've got to get this flabby body out there huffing and puffing." So, begin with writing down, as a positive goal, the habit you will change.
List your reasons for changing or eliminating your habit. Writing it down will force you to think out in specific terms what this habit represents in your life and the meaning you believe your life will hold for you upon changing the habit. This will also help with your commitment toward taking positive action.
Find substitute routines. For example, if you are changing eating habits and you have identified a particularly difficult time of the day when eating habits are poor, create an activity, a new routine for that time.
Talk to yourself. Tell yourself you're making progress. Remind yourself that you are moving closer to your goal.. Talk to yourself throughout the day about how you are going to avoid triggers that can get you off track and make healthy substitutes.
Recruit helpers for support. Explain to them why you are making this change. Ask for their support. Their support may be needed encouragement.
Be prepared for people who may sabotage your change. Be assertive and tell them what they are doing.
Sustaining Motivation
The following are some suggestions to follow each day in order to sustain motivation and determination:
Review your list of reasons for quitting or changing.
Create mental pictures of yourself as having already succeeded with your habit change.
Make affirmations, positive self-statements about your habit change. For example, "I am filled with so much health and vitality now that I exercise four times a week."
Reward yourself. Make up a list of self-rewards. Reward yourself verbally.
Remember to take one day at a time. If you do backslide, don't label yourself as having failed. Get out your list or reasons for quitting or changing and begin again.
Fatigue, boredom, depression, stress can all make it difficult to stick with your program. But having a relapse isn't as important as how you deal with the relapse. If you are so devastated by failure that you call your good intentions into question that will make habit change harder for you. But, if you allow for an occasional relapse and treat it as nothing more than a slight misstep that teaches you something, then you're on the right track.
Follow the suggestions in this article, adopt the more helpful attitude of evaluating your progress and accepting relapses, and you will find yourself reaching many of your goals. You will have achieved true behavior change.
Behavioral change experts generally agree on several tips for habit-changers from 18 to 100.
Figure out why you want to change. An internal motivation is preferable to an external one (my doctor told me to lose weight). But to start with, even cosmetic goals will do.
Use your life experience to your advantage. Catalog the attempts
you’ve made at change and why they’ve failed. Then apply what you’ve learned. Don’t plan to work out at six each morning if you haven’t risen before eight for the last five decades.Substitute a new behavior for the old one. Exercise is a great replacement for smoking or eating. And even a less-than-virtuous substitute is better than a plainly bad habit.
Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. If the prospect of trying to lose 20 pounds paralyzes you, start small. Walking for 20 minutes a day and consuming just 100 fewer calories daily—that’s one tablespoon of mayonnaise—adds up to a 20-pound weight loss over the course of a year for an average-size person.
Get support. Having friends and family on board is critical for most
successful behavior change. Let those close to you know what you’re planning to do and how it might affect your behavior. Conversely, stay away from people (including spouses!) who have an interest in undermining your efforts.Anticipate obstacles. Develop a plan for what you’re going to do when the bread- basket arrives at the restaurant table. Take a walk, order a veggie plate, or ask the waiter to take it away once others have been served.
Don’t quit trying. Most people don’t succeed in changing on their first try, says Wilkins of Cedars-Sinai. “You never want to give up because you don’t know if it’s the third time, the fourth time, or the fifth time where you will succeed.”
How Change Happens:
Self-examination, then Pre-cognition. When you begin to look at the pattern differently, you have the opportunity to recognize more positive ways to interact. In time, you also begin to recognize what you’re thinking about right before you step into the pattern again. Here you can see where your thinking is incorrect, and seek to correct it with more positive beliefs.
Cessation, then more Self-realization. Next time, you recognize the thoughts that precede the pattern, and you begin to stop just before you repeat your pattern. When you’re stopped, you have the opportunity to truly choose differently. You recognize more positive ways think about the problem and better ways to interact. At this stage, you attempt to do it better, though it’s often clumsy at first.
New Patterning and Practice. As you find the beliefs and actions that work much better for you, you establish a new pattern by practicing it every time the situation presents itself.
More Practice, then True Change. By practicing your positive response over and over again, you transform yourself from within.
Being mindful of making real changes
Here are more suggestions for changing your habits:
Making important changes in your life is not to be undertaken lightly. Once you make the decision, commit yourself to it.
Find a partner in change to help you through the tough spots.
The research that you do before starting is important and needs to be thorough.
Expect it to be difficult, and prepare rewards for yourself when you make real progress.
Do not be afraid to ask for help! There are excellent resources in the social community,
Yet Another Motivation To Change/Break Your Main Habits - It Takes 21 Days
Daily Activities To Help Change Habits
"I should change, but I've tried and failed." Does this sound familiar? Often, changing habits does seem insurmountable. Many of us simply don't have enough motivation to change our habits - all of our bad habits - in a way that would truly affect our health. We cling to them because we see them as rewards.
But your habits determine your health. Below is a strategy and focus on daily activities to help you change and eliminate bad habits.
It Takes 21 Days To Break A Bad Habit
To begin with, choose one unhealthy habit you wish to eliminate or change. Or, choose a healthy habit you want to adopt as part of your behavior. If it is a habit to eliminate, you may wish to go "cold turkey" or have a gradual tapering off. Caution: If it is a drug or chemical habit you are planning on eliminating, be sure to obtain an expert's opinion as to whether you need to taper off usage as opposed to quitting cold turkey.
Now that you have decided which unhealthy habit to eliminate, or new habit to adopt, decide on the date you will begin your behavior change. Give this date a good deal of thought and then write it down. For example, "On December 15, 2019, I will become a non-smoker."
In order to ensure behavior change, experts agree that it takes a minimum of 21 days to change a behavior. Again, look at the date you are planning on changing your habit. Count ahead 21 days and mark that date down. Now, make a commitment that you will follow your plan for 21 days.
Helpful Suggestions
Your target date has arrived. It is the first day of your 21-day cycle. Here are some helpful suggestions for habit change:
Write down your goal. There is magic in the written word when it applies to you. Experts recommend stating your goal in positive terms, such as "I want to be lean and physically fit," instead of "I've got to get this flabby body out there huffing and puffing." So, begin with writing down, as a positive goal, the habit you will change.
List your reasons for changing or eliminating your habit. Writing it down will force you to think out in specific terms what this habit represents in your life and the meaning you believe your life will hold for you upon changing the habit. This will also help with your commitment toward taking positive action.
Find substitute routines. For example, if you are changing eating habits and you have identified a particularly difficult time of the day when eating habits are poor, create an activity, a new routine for that time.
Talk to yourself. Tell yourself you're making progress. Remind yourself that you are moving closer to your goal. Talk to yourself throughout the day about how you are going to avoid triggers that can get you off track and make healthy substitutes.
Recruit helpers for support. Explain to them why you are making this change. Ask for their support. Their support may be needed encouragement.
Be prepared for people who may sabotage your change. Be assertive and tell them what they are doing.
Sustaining Motivation
The following are some suggestions to follow each day in order to sustain motivation and determination:
Re-review your list of reasons for quitting or changing. Create mental pictures of yourself as having already succeeded with your habit change.
Make affirmations, positive self-statements about your habit change. For example, "I am filled with so much health and vitality now that I exercise four times a week."
Reward yourself. Make up a list of self-rewards. Reward yourself verbally.
Remember to take one day at a time. If you do backslide, don't label yourself as having failed. Get out your list or reasons for quitting or changing and begin again.
Fatigue, boredom, depression, stress can all make it difficult to stick with your program. But having a relapse isn't as important as how you deal with the relapse. If you are so devastated by failure that you call your good intentions into question that will make habit change harder for you.
But, if you allow for an occasional relapse and treat it as nothing more than a slight misstep that teaches you something, then you're on the right track.
Follow the suggestions, adopt the more helpful attitude of evaluating your progress and accepting relapses, and you will find yourself reaching many of your goals. You will have achieved true behavior change.
Do you have a BAD HABIT that's causing you pain... ruining your health... hurting your loved ones... damaging your career... costing you money... or just plain old wasting your time?
Then keep reading!
How to quickly and painlessly overcome even the worst habits like:
* Overeating or stress eating
* Being a pushover
* Neglecting yourself
* Spending too much money
* Stressing out
* Being a workaholic
* Procrastinating
* Being chronically late
* Being a "yes" person
* Negative thinking
* Losing your temper
* Neglecting your health
* Neglecting your family
* Blaming others for your problems
* Smoking
* Nail biting
* Watching too much TV
* Computer additions
* Compulsive shopping
* Lying
Using a proven SYSTEM that 'real people' -- just like you -- have used to break the cycle of deeply entrenched, lifelong habits -- forever.
Keep reading to learn the secret.
Think for a moment... What have your bad habits cost you -- in money, health, career advancement, and relationships?
You know the habits I'm talking about...
Smoking
Stress eating
Wasting your time
Mismanaging your money
Watching too much TV
Working too hard
Not taking care of your body
PLUS MANY MORE
Bad habits chip away at the life you COULD be living, right now.
They stifle your potential to make the money you deserve. They hold you back from enjoying rewarding personal relationships. And they prevent you from looking and feeling GREAT!
Can you even put a PRICE on the opportunities and potential your bad habits are holding you back from -- right now? Of course not! Because your goals and dreams are priceless!
Life is NOT a dress rehearsal -- it's a live show! You owe it to yourself to put in your best possible performance. And to do this, you need to lose the bad habits. Period.
Boot them... bust them... banish them forever!
The common MYTH that's holding you back from success!
The idea that you can control your bad habits is a myth.
Bad habits are impulses... so instead of controlling them, you often end up repeating them.
Even though you recognize the stress they cause in your life... and even though you make promises to change your ways... again and again, you repeat the same tired patterns!
That's because a habit, by definition, is an acquired pattern of behavior that has become almost involuntary as a result of frequent repetition.
For those of you who prefer a more visual definition, read this story:
A teacher takes a bit of lightweight thread and wraps it one time around a student's wrists. He tells the class, "This string represents the power of doing something one time. Can you break the string?"
The student easily breaks the thread with a small flick of his wrists. The teacher then wraps the string around the student's wrists many times and repeats the challenge to break it. Despite repeated efforts, the lightweight thread is too strong to break.
His teacher says, "Now you see the power of repeated actions… habits. It takes more than mere willpower and personal strength to break them. It takes a change in the way you think about the problem."
BAD habits prevent you from reaching your potential. They are self-inflicted punishments that drain you of motivation, time, and money. And they hold you back from living the great life you know you can achieve.
Just think of all the times you've said something like...
"The diet starts Monday -- and I'll stick to it this time, I SWEAR!"
"Smoking is a nasty habit and is ruining my health. This will absolutely be my last cigarette pack."
"That does it! I'm cutting up the credit cards once and for all and not wasting any more money on things I really don't need."
Sound familiar? You're not alone.
The reality is most people try to break habits backwards; they try to physically change their behaviors before they've changed their mental ones.
The result? You get so stressed out when denied the habit that has given you comfort in the past, you cannot help but cling to it and repeat it in the present.
Losing bad habits requires you to change the way you think before you can change the way you act.
The good news is you can EASILY CHANGE your habits!
In just 21 days, you could develop and entirely new fitness habit.
How do we develop a new weight loss habit?
There are two main factors in developing new habits. The first is repetition. We just have to start doing something! We all have been very excited to set new fitness goals and dream about what that resulting goal is going to do for our fitness level, but just being excited about something is simply not enough to make our dreams a reality. We have to put those goals to action if we are going to see any results.
Weight loss habit is what is going to maintain that change in long-term behavior. Habits are formed through prioritizing and repetition. Rather than choosing if you are going to exercise, decide when you are going to exercise. Over time it will become a part of your day, a part of your routine, it will become habit.
Exercise is not just something that we do now and then, we have to make it part of our daily life. Make it a habit to do a weight training routine regularly. Make it a habit to do some kind of cardiovascular exercise regularly. Make it a habit to stretch daily. Make it a habit to eat proper proportions. Habitually steer away from empty calories especially high sugar foods.
So at first it might feel like a chore to get up off the couch pull on your running shoes and head out the door, but if you are consistent and persistent over time, you won’t see that it is a chore anymore but rather it becomes a part of who you are.
The second factor in developing a weight loss is habit is setting up a rewards system. Unfortunately your weight loss program doesn’t always yield immediate rewards. For me personally I have to work out pretty hard for one to two months before I notice any physical changes. The reason this happens is that we are used to our bodies, and we may be over critical of our bodies. Our bodies may be changing and we may just not see the actual changes as easily as others do.
As you begin developing new habits of successful weight loss and fitness you will notice changes in your energy levels and confidence because you are taking control and taking action to make a change that will improve your life! Since the physical rewards aren’t noticed right away feel free to set little rewards for yourself on short term goals that you set and meet. But make them rewards that are going to keep you motivated and moving toward your weight loss goals.
An example would be if I set the goal to be able to run three miles straight without stopping. Once I reached that goal I would go to a movie with a friend, or maybe buy a new outfit for that newly trimmed figure.
Whatever motivates you. Setting your rewards for your short-term goals is going to make your fitness journey more exciting.
Breaking Habits is really is about making a lifestyle change! Our current lifestyle and current level of beliefs are really a combination of whatever our current habits and actions are.