You Become What You Practice — So What Do You Practice?

(Stillness in the Storm Editor) The world is filled with challenges that make life difficult. As one who studies the human condition, the struggle for happiness, fulfillment, and the avoidance of unnecessary suffering is something everyone has to contend with. Psychologically, every choice we make becomes the basis of a habit. This means, if we’re unconscious about the way we think and what we do, we might create more problems for ourselves. Let’s look at this from the perspective of practice.

What you practice you become good at.

It seems like a reasonable proposition.

But we have to expand the definition of practice for the mind-expanding power of what’s presented below to take effect.

Practice isn’t just something you’re consciously trying to become better at doing—it’s something you do all the time.

Every action entrenches the neural circuits used to bring about that action—this is what psychology continues to confirm.

Dr. Joe Dispensa, writer of Breaking The Habit of Being Yourself properly describes this as:

The way you think becomes the basis of how you act, which becomes the basis of how you feel. 

This means, your brain is constantly trying to automate everything you do, including your thinking.

The punchline is that, due to the fact we’re not taught about the connection between how we think and how we feel, most of us are becoming experts at feeling unfulfilled, stressed, and unhappy—because this is what we practice!

Readers of Stillness will know that we spend a lot of time talking about psychology and the mind,

Trance states, which are used in hypnosis, are an inescapable part of life.

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Anytime you focus on something with your conscious mind, this tells your subconscious to automate everything else you might be doing.

Ever notice that when you start to focus on a song on the radio, or a podcast your listening to on your way home from work can sometimes cause you to lose focus on the road? Do you ever, accidentally miss your turn or a GPS direction?

This is because the part of your brain that you placed in charge of driving went on autopilot, placing that part of you in a trance. When you realize you missed your turn, the trance breaks, you readjust your focus, and you get back on track.

So what do you practice?

The below article asks a series of questions designed to make you aware of the fact there are things you’re doing that are at odds with your ideal life.

For instance, if you want to be fit, healthy, good looking, and feel attractive, you probably know this means you need to stay at an ideal weight and work out to stay toned up.

Do you work out? Do you eat healthily? Or are you, like most people in the modern world, spending most of your time being inactive, eating food that works against your goals?

What happens to the brain when you “practice” sitting on your butt every day for hours upon hours? It gets better at that.

Your reward systems start associating relaxation and pleasure with laziness. Your muscles and body tissues start to weaken because they aren’t being used, which makes you feel weak and causes chronic pain. Then your subconscious starts to tell you “Hey, just relax! You’re tired and in pain, you need to rest!”

And maybe that’s true to a certain extent, but research shows, what causes chronic illnesses and pain is often due to chronic inactivity—lack of exercise.

The subconscious mind is so good at automating your life, that if you’re not careful, your unconscious bad habits you obviously began when you weren’t thinking to clearly, become foundational aspects of your identity.

This is how the brain works.

Once you’ve done something consistently for about 90 days, your brain “hardwires” the behavior and the thought process into the cerebellum, where implicit or nondeclarative memories are stored. These are the circuits that “feel like you”—which means at a very deep level, something you’ve accidentally practiced for a while can become a brick in the house that makes up your identity.

And once there, it will feel unsettling and even weird breaking the habit.

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But not to worry. The reality is, who you are isn’t fixed.

Who we are is constantly changing. But the trouble is we often don’t consciously guide that process along.

Again, there’s hope.

No matter how unconsciously you’re living your life now, the bottom line is you can always turn things around.

But self-work and self-evolution isn’t a switch to be flipped its a skill to be gained. Ironically enough, it takes practice!

The process of self-work takes self-awareness, self-analysis, self-discipline, and self-gratitude.

Unlike the way we think in allopathic medicine, the parts of you that you don’t like can’t just be cut away with a surgeon’s scalpel. Your consciousness is more like a cooking pot of soup—once you put something in the pot, you can’t take it out, you can only add more things to adjust and improve what’s already there.

It’s the act of trying to be conscious about what you do and improving everything that goes with it, that is the main engine of personal change.

Check out Dr. Joe Dispenza’s book to get started.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFPTfHihzWM

 – Justin

 

Related Curious People Are Powerful People — Tap into Joy by Feeding Your Curiosities

Source – Stop Chasing Pain

by Staff Writer, January 28th, 2017

When people hear the word practice they often think about sports. Practicing endless free-throw shots for basketball, kicking balls for soccer, football plays, katas in martial arts, etc. You get the idea. We need to think bigger than that. Way bigger, but smaller. You’ll see what I mean.

Think everyday life.

What is it that you practice every single day? Think of practice as habits.

Are you brushing your teeth daily, showering, sleeping every day?

That’s practicing, but we don’t look at it that way. If you practice those and get better your life improves. If you don’t, then it won’t. What and how you choose to practice changes your life

When you wake up what do you practice for breakfast?

Is it a box of prepackaged food on the go or a wholesome meal? The more you practice that choice the better you get.

What do you practice for movement?

Do you exercise? Do you move? Or do you sit on your butt all day long?

What do you practice in relationships?

Are you working late every night and never seeing your family? Or do you put things down let them rest and be in the moment with your loved ones?

Do you practice reading or watching TV?

Do you practice encouraging someone and being kind or are you judgmental and negative?

Do you sit quietly enjoying the moment or glued to your phone?

Here’s the secret to success

Whenever you begin to practice anything you simply make small directed effort on a daily basis and then it doesn’t seem so overwhelming. It’s not an all or nothing approach.

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Let’s take some examples from above:

• You don’t have to completely change your breakfast on day one. How about just adding a piece of fruit and taking away the jelly on your toast? Instead of that extra coffee have water.
• You don’t have to go to the gym two hours every single day. How about going for a 5 to 10 minute walk at lunch?
• You don’t have to completely drop your work. How about leaving an hour earlier than usual?
• You don’t have to read War and Peace, just read 5 pages of positive stuff a day.
• You don’t have to be Mother Theresa, just say a kind word to someone having a rough day. Even someone you don’t know. Imagine that?
• You don’t have to be a monk, just step away from the phone for five minutes.

Here are Five simple rules that you can follow to help you practice

1. In order to begin it doesn’t have to be perfect. Just start.
2. Stop judging and berating yourself on the outcomes
3. Remember that you’re doing more than that 95% of the population.
4. Small becomes big with momentum in the game of practice
5. More is not better, better is better

Enjoy your practice.

Stillness in the Storm Editor: Why did we post this?

Psychology is the study of the nature of mind. Philosophy is the use of that mind in life. Both are critically important to gain an understanding of as they are aspects of the self. All you do and experience will pass through these gateways of being. The preceding information provides an overview of this self-knowledge, offering points to consider that people often don’t take the time to contemplate. With the choice to gain self-awareness, one can begin to see how their being works. With the wisdom of self-awareness, one has the tools to master their being and life in general, bringing order to chaos through navigating the challenges with the capacity for right action.

– Justin

Not sure how to make sense of this? Want to learn how to discern like a pro? Read this essential guide to discernment, analysis of claims, and understanding the truth in a world of deception: 4 Key Steps of Discernment – Advanced Truth-Seeking Tools.

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Stillness in the Storm Editor’s note: Did you find a spelling error or grammatical mistake? Send an email to [email protected], with the error and suggested correction, along with the headline and url. Do you think this article needs an update? Or do you just have some feedback? Send us an email at [email protected]. Thank you for reading.

Source:

https://www.stopchasingpain.com/you-become-what-you-practice/

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