Me Afterwards
Let me start with how my life and participation in it changed after I was introduced to a new way of viewing my own human experience:
- Thirteen hour drive in stop and go traffic (evacuating FL for hurricane Irma) and cool as a cucumber
- Best communication ever with my wife of over 40 years
- Noted a blood pressure drop of 15 points at my recent physical
- Looking forward to the future with high expectations
On top of that, I’m now also a recovering junkie of “Self-Help” programs.
Self-Help Programs Junkie
The last point on being a “Self-Help Programs Junkie” is a very interesting one for me. I’ve always been a lifelong learner and grower and have the books and programs to prove it. Perhaps like many of you, I was always looking for new material and insights to help me improve or find that magic bullet that would help to propel me to the next level. From Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich to the Tony Robbins programs and seminars, T. Harv Eker, Zig Ziglar and I don’t know how many others throughout the years, whether books, audios or seminars.
Although I certainly gained new insights and knowledge along the way, nothing ever reached or altered my core beliefs. It all sounded good on the surface but, did not really sync up with my belief system and herein lies the issue. Unless you believe something as a core value, you may achieve short term results but those will quickly fade. Those newly learned values don’t have staying power. There’s nothing to hold on to. Fake it till you make it does not work for me. The challenge for most of us, is getting to the core of our belief system and then being open to learning what created that belief system in the first place. I bet it was your own perception or interpretation of an event or moment in your life.
Back to the self-help programs. You may gain new knowledge but that in itself will not change your belief system. Only a new insight, an aha moment, has the potential of doing that. As a result, although you have that new knowledge, unless your belief system agrees with it, you’ll seek the next “guru” or in vogue program or advice. Perhaps that will give me that magic bullet.
The Fallacy With Most Self-Help Programs
The challenge with most of the Self-Help approaches, is that they rely on behavior modification. For instance, working on your weaknesses, thinking only positive thoughts, repeating mantras or following a formula. This last one is always popular because it comes across as credible and frequently these same experts will show proof of where it worked. The issue is that it’s a process or formula that may have worked for the originator and a few others but is not necessarily applicable across the board. We’re are all individuals. Additionally, when you talk behavior modification, it’s something you have to work on and keep up with else the newly gained skill begins to fade. Sounds like the losing weight resolutions made every New Years.
There Has To Be a Better Answer
In truth, the answer or insight we were seeking may have always been there and available to us but, we’ve not been attuned to it. That’s the insight I gained by exploring the Inside Out way of looking at my being.
At the foundation of the Inside Out Revolution, first forwarded by Syd Banks, are three principles that form our human experience. Principles meaning givens, the same as gravity but in this case, the way we as humans experience life. These principles are now widely accepted and practiced in the personal development and life coaching community.
Below are the three principles in brief. For further detail and more insights into the topic read “The Inside Out Revolution” and research the many YouTube videos on the topic, especially from Syd Banks and George Pranski.
- Mind: The Intelligence of all things. Why things grow, wounds heal, etc.
- Consciousness: How we experience and interpret things. It brings thoughts to life.
- Thought: How we perceive things. Or as Michael Neill puts it; “It’s the creator and substance of our beliefs and values. It’s the raw material of our hopes and dreams.”
Encapsulating The Idea Behind The Principles
We form our opinions and react to the world and everything around us, the context, through our thoughts. Because most of us are so busy in our heads, we seldom tap into the infinite resources available within us through the other two sources available to us; Consciousness and especially Mind. The real challenge comes in when we, through our consciousness, accept our “thought constructed world” as reality. Remember, it’s just a thought and we have the ability to change a thought at the snap of a finger. Try it, change a thought and the world or circumstances change right before your eyes.
How I’ve Been Impacted
Going back to the benefits I mentioned earlier and what had changed in me.
- The thirteen hour drive and “cool as a cucumber.” On this drive, I did not allow the external circumstances (the stop and go traffic) influence me negatively. Instead I went inside and decided to examine what was right in my life. I have a great wife, we’re heading to a safe and picturesque destination, the car is running fine and not overheating and so on. I could have very easily resorted to “man this stop and go traffic (external) really ticks me off.”
- Best communications with my wife of over 40 years. I had noticed that over the past several weeks, I was no longer getting irritated by some of my wife’s actions (external) or what she said. Most of the time these were petty little things that I allowed to irritate me. Again, not allowing external influences to drive my actions.
- Blood pressure drop. This was a biggie for me, as my blood pressure, although not exceedingly high, always bordered on the above normal side. The only thing I can figure is that I let go of always having to strive or fix something. I am allowing myself to go with the flow and not be influenced by external stimulus.
- Looking towards the future with high expectations. Being one that thought that I had control over an outcome, I came to realize how wrong I was about that. For instance, I have no control over the impact of severe weather, such as a hurricane Irma, the economy or other happenings could have on an expected outcome. All I have control over are the actions I take with what’s in front of me. That way of thinking freed me up to focus on what I did have control over, which is today and what’s in front of me, and allowed possibilities to come into play.
Anyways, these are my own personal observations and would not want to make claims for others. All I can say is that my experience of life and outward manifestation of my being has changed considerably to say the least. Do your own research, start with reading “The Inside Out Revolution.”
