Why Affirmations Dont Always Work for Weight Loss

     Reasons Why Affirmations Don't Always Work?

We have all read books on the Power of Affirmations and Positive Thinking. We have written down our Affirmations on 3x5 cards and had them posted on the bathroom mirror and diligently repeated them over and over. So why doesn't it work, why can't we have the ideal relationship, the ideal body, and ideal job? There is a very important part to the puzzle that we weren't told. If we don't change our core beliefs about ourselves and if we don't feel the new goal as if it has already occurred we stay the same.

Let's use permanent weight loss as our example. We say our affirmation 30 times a day both morning and night. " I am my ideal weight". Off we go thinking our lives are about to change. Yet we are ravaged by temptation to eat the forbidden foods and we feel like a failure when don't stick to the plan. Part of the problem is that we don't accept at our core that we are at our ideal weight because in reality we are not. Our bodies have become programmed to give us what we believe we are. If our dominant thoughts are I am fat, I am a failure, and I don't deserve to be happy we aren't going to experience the desired result. With core beliefs such as those, the body, which is the servant of the mind say "okay lets keep this weight on".

The body in its infinite wisdom will contrive to create situations to make you stay the same. The body actually becomes the mind when a habit it formed. This means as crazy as it sounds our bodies will send feelings, cravings, stir up anxious thoughts, and a whole host of symptoms to keep us the same. Support of this amazing idea comes from many scientists.

One such person is Candance Pert, PHD, she is a neuroscientist who wrote a fascinating book called "The Molecules of Emotion" which discuses the science behind Mind and Body Medicine. Pert coined the phrase "Your Body is your Subconscious Mind". Pert in her research discovered an amazing intelligence of the body, down to the level of the individual cells. Her premise is that the body is vastly intelligent and can actually think apart from the mind using the molecules of emotion. Before her realization it was thought that all emotion came from the mind and trickled down to the body. With this new discovery it is now understood that the body at the level of the cells trigger emotions that then lead to the mind. It has changed how we think about the mind and body.

What does this all mean to our positive Affirmation, "I am my ideal weight"? When our behaviors are on autopilot, we perform many of our daily activities in an unconscious mode, When 90% of are thoughts are what we thought yesterday then our lives stay the same. When we attempt to change these ingrained habits we are now fighting a tremendously powerful force the Body. The body with its hormones, and vast neural system keeps us alive without our conscious control. The trouble is the body takes over and decides for us what we are going to think, how we are going to feel, and ultimately what we are going to eat.

Using affirmations is not enough to change this cascade of chemicals behind the scene. What is missing with Affirmations are feelings. Feelings are the language of the body, when we combine the Affirmation with a strong feeling the body understands. The most powerful feeling to make dramatic change is Gratitude. Using the feeling of gratitude linked with focus is a very powerful technique. The subconscious mind (body) does not know the difference between an imagined event and a real event. We use this to our advantage when we imagine how we are going to Feel "when I am my Ideal weight".

When the body understands and is no longer fighting the mind then true change can occur. Are you beginning to understand how this all works? Mind and body have to be in harmony for permanent change to occur. To become your ideal self then you have to first feel grateful for the change as if it has already occurred. Then the miracle can unfold.

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