Mega-Doses of Love

This is a continuation of Make Love Not War post from Mar 13...the idea being that we tend to fight and criticize ourselves...today we talk specifically how to change that so we can be our healthiest selves possible (and that includes achieving our weight loss goals!)

The way to combat negative thoughts is with mega-doses of love.

First, be aware of the negative thought and break the habit. Tony Robbins calls it pattern interrupt--do something to help reinforce a change. A rubber band around the wrist that you snap whenever you notice a negative thought can give a small uncomfortable sensation ("negative association") that will help remind you to not be negative.

Be sure to follow that up with a positive thought or affirmation and a gentle loving sensation ("positive reinforcement") which could be as simple as rubbing the same wrist gently.

In order for this to work you need to have at least one thing you can say positive about yourself--

My challenge for you today is to find one thing about yourself that you love (or at least like--more than one is great, but get at least one). Think of something you are grateful for that you do or quality you have. If you absolutely cannot think of anything you already are or do, then where is it that you want to go? And have your positive be about that...for example, "I am open to the possibility of attaining health". There are a lot of people who are not open to it--so that is a wonderful attribut.

Practice your pattern interrupt...it can be with the rubberband or just with words. T Harv Eker uses the rubberband technique but also suggest saying "cancel, cancel" whenever a negative thought comes into your head, and immediately replacing it with a positive one.

A good thing to keep in mind is that negative association works best when combined with positive reinforcement. In other words, don't just do the uncomfortable...reward yourself.

Think of when you trained a puppy or a child...did they learn best if you only scolded them? Or did they do better, more quickly if you had a brief NO followed by positive direction delivered with love? You too learn best when treated with love...and you deserve to be treated with love!