It never seems to last!

I received a question the other day from a friend that echoes the thoughts of many who are trying to improve their lives. She told me that she always feels inspired after reading this blog, for a while. The problem is, she explained, is that after some time has passed she returns to feeling depressed or frustrated or whatever. The good feeling just doesn’t last. “What can I do?”

This is a perfect example of how your mindset operates. In returning to feeling negative after getting inspired, your mind is actually doing what it should do. What!? Yes. The mind operates on two levels. There is the conscious thinking mind, and there is the subconscious feeling mind.

The conscious thinking mind is where all of your intellectual activity takes place. It is the part of your mind you are using to read and comprehend this blog. When you are focused on this blog, it is my intention to help you feel good. I hope I am doing a good job.

Your conscious mind is very powerful in that it can override the subconscious programming while it is focused on something that vibrates at a different level than where you habitually vibrate. Before I go any further, let me explain briefly what I mean by “vibrate.”



Energy vibrates



Your thoughts generate energy that combines with emotion (an elixir) that manifests as feelings in your body. Feelings are your conscious awareness of the frequency this energy is vibrating. When you feel good, this simply means that the energy you are generating in your body is of a higher frequency than when you are not feeling so good.



Now back to the two levels of mind



Your conscious mind is powerful enough to overcome the subconscious, but it does have one weakness. The conscious mind can only focus on one thing at a time. This is why we find it difficult to learn how to walk, ride a bike, or drive a car. When we are learning something new, we must do it consciously. This means we must focus on each and every little step to accomplish our objective.

What happens when we practice something long enough? Soon we find we are able to walk, ride a bike, or drive a car without even thinking about it. Literally, we don’t have to think about these things, because we have turned over the operation to the subconscious mind, which is capable of focusing on what may be an infinite number of tasks simultaneously. The subconscious mind does not think. The subconscious mind operates in the form we call habit. Another word for habit is paradigm.

While growing up, you influenced greatly by your surroundings. Imagine for a moment that most of the people around you spent a good deal of their time discussing all that is wrong with the world. There is too much corruption in politics, lousy weather, other people not being considerate, unfair policies, cheating spouses, kids that don’t listen, etc.

Now consider how much did you hear about what is right with the world? The politicians are doing a fine job! Hasn’t this weather been beautiful? I can’t believe how considerate everybody is! I just love all of these new policies they are putting in place in my workplace. I totally trust the opposite sex to be perfectly faithful. Isn’t it great how kids always listen and do what they are told?

Which of these two scenarios more closely describes the conversations you hear on a daily basis? Well now think about what I said about energy. Which of these two scenarios do you believe is cause for more positive energy (vibration)?

Chances are you have developed rather negative mental habits through repetitively hearing more negative influences than positive. In this case, the subconscious mind has become programmed see things in a more negative light.

So what happens when you are consciously focused on something more positive, you feel better. Then as soon as you go back to living your daily life, which is primarily lived through habit, your habitual thought patterns return to the surface. You feel bad.

Understanding this, you can see why the good feelings are short-lived. That is exactly why so many people buy into self-help programs and motivational books and genuinely enjoy them, but soon find that nothing has changed in their life.

What happens is they make a change on the conscious level, but don’t get to the root of the matter. You must reprogram the subconscious mind to make a lasting change in mindset. This takes determination and persistence. It is the same as learning to walk or ride a bike or drive a car.

Can you remember the effort you put forth in learning any new task? Watch a child learning to walk and you will see an expert who tirelessly tries again and again and again until he or she has learned the new task. Does the child fall down two or three or seventeen times and decide it’s not worth the effort? No!

You really can be happy predominantly, but it will require a concentrated effort on your part. When you fall down, don’t beat yourself up or think you have failed. Just get back up and continue on the path that you know is right for you.

I will focus more on this concept tomorrow, so please continue reading. Your sustained happiness depends on it. Until then, have a beautiful day and do something nice for yourself. You are a miracle!



Jeffrey B. Brandt
Author: Close Your Eyes to Find Your Way: A Guide to Discovering Your Higher Self.



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