We are often challenged when we face something to do that we have not been prepared for. When most of us prepare for a challenge, we think of what we can do. I want to propose a way to prepare for challenges that involves developing oneself on a subconscious level. If we could prepare to develop life skills, like a positive self-image, self-trust and a way of connecting to inner resources, every challenge we face would naturally be easier to deal with.
The conscious conditioning a child from a healthy family receives helps them meet challenges dysfunctional conditioning tends to sabotage. Conditioned habits create the collage that represents who we are. Simple interactions with parents and other significant people define how we look at ourselves and interact with the world around us. If those people related to you in a negative context, you would learn to relate to yourself in the same way. In our developing years, the slightest interactions significantly contributing to create the person we are.
Unfortunately, most people accept their past conditioning and the identity that stems from that as the reality they live in. Just like when you want to shift a manual shift in your car, you have to put the clutch in to disengage the gears; when dealing with past conditioning, you have to shift habits in your brain. We tend to hold onto conditioned habits as who we think we are, but the simple truth is we are far more than who we have been taught to be. In this article, I want to share with you the “clutch “ in your brain, so that you can consciously create the reality you live in. For people going through a health crisis or a challenge they cannot easily control, changing the subtlest conditioned habit can change how you approach every challenge.
We tend to breathe into our thoughts and past conditioning, which gives life to the character we were conditioned to be. If we could consciously develop the habit of breathing into silence, we would automatically activate the Wisdom of the Body. This does not mean that we ignore the thoughts in our mind; our focus would just goes beyond them. Let me explain two concepts I have used above. First, the idea of breathing into silence is having your breath give life to more than your thinking mind. When you breathe in, it is easy to stop your breath on thoughts and worries. In fact, the word worry comes from the Latin word for choke. That is like breathing into worried thoughts and having a shallow breath or being choked. With a simple shallow breath, we limit ourselves from manifesting to our full potential.
My idea of The Wisdom of the Body is that it happens when we give life to the reality beyond our thoughts. This is where our actions are in harmony with a higher consciousness. In sports, this is referred to as “the zone” and it refers to doing actions independent of limiting thoughts. In problem-solving or creative writing, this is a space where real creativity bubbles up. In healing, this is where we give life to powerful inner resources to actively be involved in the healing process.
I propose that the best way we can prepare for the challenges in life is to consciously condition habits that develop the subconscious level of our character. Imagine having a positive self-image or self-trust and how that would affect you when you faced a challenge. It does not matter what the challenge is; you are just responsible for how you relate to it. Consciously create habits that automatically draw from our deepest wisdom. © 2010 Marc Lerner and Life Skills
Marc Lerner is the President of Life Skills Institute and has been working with people in a health crisis since 1982. Learning to discover oneself in difficult times is the theme of A Healthy Way to be Sick, the e-book Marc Lerner wrote. Go to http://ahealthyway.org to read a mini-version. Learn this same technique to deal with any difficult time with the e-book, A Light Shines Brighter in Darkness, at the same website. Marc Lerner is available for public speaking and tele-seminars. When you learn to master inner resources and avoid negative thinking, you automatically tap powerful inner resources to become an active partner with medical professionals. Patient participation can influence the results of the doctor’s treatment. The doctor’s relationship with the patient can also influence how the patient participates in healing. Marc’s work is dedicated to establishing this partnership.