Change

Have you ever made a solemn new year resolution determining to eradicate some unwanted habit or to establish a more healthier one? For the first two weeks , you are buzzing with excitement and almost all the world could read your mind of what you are about to do. Yes, it shows, loudly and clearly in the twinkling of your eyes. The enigmatic beginner's luck kicks in and you are invincible. Everything you do seem to resonate with your newly forming habit.

As the humdrum daily routine set in, strangely, in a mysterious and subtle way, you find yourself gradually become unable to keep up with the demand of forming the new habit. You start to slack off, to make excuses for yourself. At the same time, the newness wears off, the excitement loses its steam and before you realize what is happening, you are squarely back to your good old self.

I often contemplate of why it is so hard for us to change. Psychotherapist's research informed us that the majority of our mental programming is hard-wired in our psyche through many years repetitive reinforcement and they reside not in our conscious but in a deeper recess of the mind where sheer determination has not shown much effectiveness to alter its course.

Over the years, the self-development community has devised some effective techniques dealing with this invisible beast of ours. There are worthy techniques like hypnosis, affirmation through alpha state, subliminal programming or other new age methods. All of them might have some measure of success. I personally enjoy using affirmation through alpha state as a way of hopefully creating a lasting change without hypnotherapy's help or the need to acquire some expensive gadget. Whichever method we choose, there is a common thread of persistent and sustained effort that is required on all fronts to ensure the success of our endeavor.

The year 2008 has gotten underway, I have once again set sight just high enough for me to mull over lest I should fall into a state of ignorant contentment.