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In the last couple of episodes, I went into a little detail on why people usually fail to lose weight on diets.
One main reason was how your body adapts and...gets used to the new diet and then tries to maintain your former weight...and then some.
Another reason was that using conscious willpower seldom works because the subconscious is so much larger and powerful than the conscious, and you are forcing your willpower, your Captain, to do the work of your subconscious, your Crew.
Today, I want to dig in to reason number three: and that is that your subconscious mind might have a very good reason to want you over-weight.
When you are younger than, say, nine years old, and your mind has no adult...critical filter, gateway, judgment on what comes into it, you take in a lot from, say, your parents and TV, ...and even yourself, that is said in an off-hand or meant-to-funny way. Your young “impressionable”, and quite literal, mind takes it as Gospel truth.
As applied to an excessive over-weight condition, you might have heard your parents say, “Eat everything on your plate!” or “Don't you want to grow up to be big?”
Your unconscious mind, which only thinks in present tense, still, to this day, applies the order to “Eat everything” and wanting to be BIG, especially if your parents said it several times and with some emotion.
“Oh he eats so much, he's eating us out of house and home!” And that only re-enforces the command and puts a lot of guilt firmly in place. It's not their fault, your parents. That's just how we are.
Some other situations are more insidious, like the child that is sexually abused and maintains a lot of extra pounds as an adult because in the pretzel logic of the subconscious, being over-weight makes the child, now an adult, unattractive and repels anyone else that might possibly abuse the adult/child, and the weight stays on no matter what the adult wishes, consciously.
Not your fault. Our cat is primarily an outdoor cat and in the winter, she gains weight and loses it in the spring to be skinny in the summer. But we also notice that she'll put on a few extra pounds when a new cat challenges her territory, beefing up to defend her territory, or if it is a much bigger cat, she'll slim down so she can run and get away faster. I don't think she does this consciously, and neither do most people stay over-weight on purpose when they know they would be healthier and happier without the extra poundage.
Milton Ericson, the famous hypnotherapist of the 20th century maintained that the subconscious always protects the conscious. That's why traumatic events and attacks are sometimes squelched down in the subconscious memory and the person does not really remember them or is quite detached from them emotionally.
But these events, these mental, spiritual, and emotional scars, breaks, trauma, ...also show up, or manifest in the physical, quite often in a sort of clear logic, if you frame it from the right perspective. In the case of being over-weight, it can quite literally be called pretzel logic....if your main uncontrollable Jones happens to be Pretzels...I love pretzels, extra salty!! OK....DELETE...I maintain my diet and honor my body, and will eat a carrot or apple instead.
So, where was I, oh yeah....the over-weight person that comes to us does not have to know what traumatic event started the eating behavior, and neither does the hypnotist. We believe that every resource to “fix” the mind, to heal the emotional, mental, spiritual or physical trauma associated with the issue or behavior that the client wants to change, is all in the client's individual subconscious. The subconscious can therefore be directed to heal itself...to identify the past trauma and come to terms with it.
The hypnotist really does not have to know much about the trauma, and neither does the client...or the client can agree to have their subconscious reveal the details at a later time when they feel they are able to handle the details.
Once the triggering or original traumatic event is dealt with and resolved, and all parts of the mind are in harmony, in agreement, as to the best way to protect the conscious person, it becomes a lot easier for the client to follow their new eating plan and target and hit the mark, the desired perfect weight.
This, of course works with putting down tobacco, or any substance, for that matter, changing any fear response like fear of heights, driving, flying, or elevators, or increasing motivation for success in business, athletics, academics, or....sex and relationships.