In This Episode…
My journey to develop my productivity is taking me down all sorts of paths regarding personal development. Today I came across some information that I found quite remarkable, as well as quite scary. As it’s really relevant to developing productivity, I thought I’d share it with you.
Episode Show Notes…
Do We Think How We Feel Or Feel How We Think?
I am reading a great book at the moment by Dr Joe Dispenza called Breaking The Habit Of Being Yourself – How To Lose Your Mind And Create A New One.
It sounds like quite a heavy title and that’s probably because it is. I’ve been aware of Dr Joe for a few years now and have read all of his books and seen him live at a weekend event in London a few years ago. So I am a big fan.
I have picked up this book in my exploration of changing habits through changing your identity. Now if you are a new listener, then that might seem a little drastic. However in my quest to develop more productive habits I have realised that I am being held back by who I am.
It’s quite clear to me from my personal experience of myself that it is me who is holding me back. I’m not the only one to think that. There is a lot of psychological noise about the principle of behaving consistent with who we believe ourselves to be.
Heroes will be heroes… and lazy slobs will be lazy slobs.
So Dr Joe’s second book (I think) seemed a great place to go and find out what is holding me back and whether I can change it.
Well it confirmed that I was holding me back but that it can be changed.
This afternoon I read a chapter that got my mind reeling with possibilities and questions and almost shock at the implications.
In it Dr Joe talked about how when we think we trigger chemistry in our brain that triggers corresponding chemistry in our body. Our thoughts affect how we feel.
But interestingly, he also says that the reverse is true. Once the brain picks up on how the body is feeling, it will start to think thoughts consistent with those feelings. And so a loop between thoughts and feelings and feelings and thoughts is created.
He says after years of thinking in a certain way and having our body respond to those thoughts in the same way, the body becomes conditioned to that way of feeling when we think those thoughts…which of course will drive our thoughts that way even more.
The quote that startled me actually began with the word “warning” and it was this:
“When feelings become the means of thinking, or if we cannot think greater than how we feel, we can never change. To change is to think greater than how we feel. To change is an act greater than the feeling of the memorised self”
So you know when you get that feeling that you just don’t want to do something…
Well if you allow those feelings to dominate, you’ll think that way, thus reinforcing those feelings and this loop will just reinforce the procrastination cycle. Breaking that cycle is more than just “responding to the thought “get on with it”
I’m only part way through the book at the moment, and he is hinting there is a way forward…but I’m guessing it’s not going to be easy.
