By
Phillip Starr
Yeah, I
know...this all sounds like so much new-age claptrap. But it
isn't. I know because I've used these principles in the past
and they work.
Your "mind"
is really comprised of two parts; a conscious, thinking mind (which
you are aware of), and a subconscious (so-named because you're not
necessarily aware or conscious of it). The conscious mind is
constantly analyzing data. Thinking. And that's what it's
supposed to do. The subconscious part of the mind catalogues
information and never forgets anything. For instance, it
remembers how many steps it took you to walk up the steps to school
on Oct. 15th of 1988. It never forgets anything and is capable
of storing an untold amount of information.
It
also does everything it's told to do by the conscious mind.
Without questioning anything. If you look at something and say,
"I can't do that," it will do whatever it must to ensure
that you cannot do it. The saying about being careful what you
wish for is very appropriate here.
On
the other hand, if you insist that you CAN do something, the
subconscious will do whatever it takes to make sure that you are
capable of doing it. And that's the trick. Re-read that
statement - IT WILL DO WHATEVER IT MUST TO ENSURE THAT YOU ARE
CAPABLE OF DOING IT. That means that you will be CAPABLE of
doing whatever...not that you WILL do it.
"The
world is full of failures. Do not seek to add to their number."
Line
from "The Octagon"
Yeah, I can see
the guy in the back raising his hand and saying, "Oh yeah?
What if I want to fly? Can I jump off the roof of my house?"
Go ahead. You'll probably break something important, too.
The subconscious is very much aware of what you can and cannot do as
a human and the person you are. So that eliminates flying by
flapping your arms, standing in front of a cruising cement mixer in
the hopes of stopping it, and doing other such "superman"
type things.
But
you are capable of doing lots of things that you've probably never
considered. You COULD become a brain surgeon...but you'd have
to go to school first. You COULD be an NFL star running back,
but you'd probably have to work on it for awhile first.
Also, the
subconscious doesn't work too much with commands (like your
brain), but rather with images. If you visualize yourself doing
something, it will accept that information and work to bring it into
reality. But first you have to have the IDEA; the IMAGE of
doing something.
"The
indispensable first step to getting things is this...
Decide
what it is you want."
Ben
Stein
First you have to
decide what it is that you want. Oddly enough, lots of us have
never really considered that. You want something, but you've
never really considered EXACTLY what it is that you want. You
have to take time to sit down and think about it. Once that's
been decided, you can start to work.
Remember that
even once you've decided what it is that you want, you're going to
have to work for it. If you're not willing to do that, your
desire is nothing more than a wish. It'll never become a
reality. You want to become a black belt? OK, but it's going to
require some work. It isn't going to just "happen"
miraculously.
"If
you keep believing what you've been believing,
you'll
keep achieving what you've been achieving."
Author
Unknown
Once you've
decided what you want, you have to get very specific. You want
to lose weight? And you're willing to do whatever it takes
including giving up those candy bars? Fine. The
subconscious mind accepts that information. And you might even
lose an ounce or two. Not enough, you say? Well, then
you've got to be SPECIFIC. You didn't tell the subconscious HOW
MUCH weight you wanted to lose. And by when (the time has to be
realistic, remember). You REALLY want to lose 20 lbs. by Jan.
15th of next year? Okay. It'll start to work on it.
"I
never hit a shot, not even in practice,
without
having a very sharp,"in focus"
picture
of it in my head."
Jack
Nicklaus (world renowned golf champion)
You
have to be careful about using negative statements. Saying
things like, "Everything I eat goes straight to my butt"
will ensure that that's precisely where it goes. Remember, the
subconscious doesn't care whether something is necessarily good for
you or not. It simply believes what you tell it and does what
it's told to do.
The
visualizations and wording you use with the subconscious are very
important. They have to be SPECIFIC. If you say, "I
want to lose weight," that's not specific enough. So you
say, "I want to lose 20 lbs by Jan. 15th of next year."
Fine. What's wrong with that statement? You said YOU WANT
to lose weight. The subconscious acknowledge what you WANT,
which isn't what you GET or ARE. It simply acknowledges the
fact that you have made a wish. Like Jiminy Cricket wishing on
a star. Big deal. You have to word things the right way.
It's like working with a super-computer. You have to know the
right commands to get it to work for you. So you say, "I
WILL lose 20 lbs. by Jan. 15th of next year." That's
better. You've just given a command and the subconscious goes
to work.
"Take
the first step in faith.
You
don't have to see the whole staircase.
Just
take the first step."
Martin
Luther King, Jr.
The
subconscious works best with images. So you take some time each
day, sit back, and visualize yourself weighing 20 lbs less than you
do now, and DOING the things you'd be doing at that weight. You
have to BELIEVE that you're really losing weight and do what it takes
to achieve it. You can BELIEVE it all you want but if you eat a
steady diet of Snickers and chocolate malts, it isn't likely to
happen. You COULD tell yourself that you really don't like the
taste of excessively fatty foods. And that will work. In
a short time, you honestly won't like the taste of Snickers.
And tell yourself that you really LIKE foods which are low in fat and
that you actually prefer them to fatty foods. And that's what
will happen. Soon, you'll be losing weight. And with
exercise, it'll happen faster. And the weight will stay off.
"Nothing
happens unless first a dream."
Carl
Sandburg
Think about it.
There are millions of people who achieved their dreams this way.
You probably know some. Ask them if you like. I remember
a student of mine who owned a couple of fast-food chicken
restaurants. Times were tough. But he and his family had
a dream and wouldn't let go. Now their company owns
over 80 fast-food restaurants. Pretty good for a youngster who
started off with no more than a dream.
And
there are SO MANY others. Wilma Rudolph (the fastest female runner in
the world) who was crippled as a child, Martin Luther King, Jr. who
was an unknown black preacher, the riverboat bum named Sam Clemens
(aka. Mark Twain), the deaf, dumb, and blind girl whose family
decided she was hopeless (Helen Keller)...millions of them! And
martial arts are full of such people as I mentioned in the first
lecture...the internal boxing master who started off trying to commit
suicide because he was so horribly poor and he even failed at taking
his own life (Sun Lutang), the enlisted sailor who decided he wanted
to make martial arts his living (Robert Trias), the dirt-poor Texas
kid who joined the Air Force to escape poverty (Chuck Norris), and
many, many others. Each one had a dream and decided to make it
a reality. They set to work and wouldn't give up. Hard
times and setbacks are inevitable; the subconscious isn't a magic
wand. But with its help, you can achieve anything.

"We
cannot rise higher than our thoughts of ourselves."
Orison
Swett Marden
And
that's what much of martial arts training is about. Helping you
learn to live and overcome obstacles. Helping you know yourself
better. Achieving your dreams.
"Age
is something that doesn't matter
unless
you are a cheese."
Billie
Burke