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Quote of the Week

"When we create peace and harmony and balance in our minds, we will find it in our lives."

-Louise Hay (From her book: "You Can Heal Your Life") 🌼

A Little "Pre-Reading" Before This Week's Tip

Ever been curious to learn more about how your mind and brain work?

Well, there are a lot of different popular perspectives from traditional clinical psychology and neuroscience, but have you heard about Neuro Linguistic Programming ("NLP")?

Most people I ask this question to shake their head "no"...so, I thought I'd write about it since a lot of the transformational work I do with clients is based the principles or "pre-suppositions" of NLP.

Created in the 1970s by a computer science & psychology nerd + a linguistics & behavior specialist, NLP laid out a somewhat simple structure of human behavior.

In the book "NLP: The New Technology of Achievement" by Steve Andreas and Charles Faulkner, they noted that if they could summarize all the NLP Presuppositions into one phrase, it would be that "humans work perfectly."

To me, this basically means that our behaviors can be mapped out into a structure/system and are mostly predictable.

As a systems and processes nerd, this is pretty damn exciting as it creates a practical way for us to create inner change and expand our ideas of "what's possible" for us and others.

So....

✨ What if we didn't have to be stuck in suffering or struggle?

✨ What if we can do and learn things we previously thought were not possible for us?

✨ What if we don't have to rely solely on force and willpower to change or create new habits...without having to "try hard"?

✨ What if could expand our ideas about what it actually takes to change our minds, emotions, and behaviors (vs. subscribing to the societal narrative that it has to take a long time, isn't possible, requires struggle, etc.)?

If any of these questions interest you...you might really enjoy the next series of newsletters where I'll be sharing more about NLP principles!

If you haven't yet, check out Issues 61 & 62, where I talked about these pre-suppositions: "the map is not the territory", "every experience has a structure", and "if one person can do something, anyone can learn to do it".

Actually...you might really enjoy delving into this inner work for yourself if you haven't yet.

Without further ado, let's dive into today's "NLP Pre-Supposition".

This Week's "Subconscious Success" Tip

Neuro Linguistic Programming Pre-Supposition #4:

The mind and body are parts of the same system.

This means our thoughts can affect our breathing, heart rate, muscle tension, vision, and much more. Likewise, when we intentionally change our physiology, we can change our thoughts.

A lot of NLP exercises will have you not only imagine or think of things, they'll also usually have you moving or breathing in some way to change your physical state.

How to apply this tip

You've likely experienced this mind-body connection in the past even if you're not aware of it.

For example, think of the experience of eating one of your favorite foods or meals. See yourself doing this...hear what you hear...feel what you feel...smell and taste what you smell and taste when you do this. How was that experience for you? For me, I noticed I salivated a little and noticed my breathing slow down. You can notice changes in the body just through the power of thought.

Now, take a moment to bring to mind something mild or medium of intensity that stresses you out. Bump up the feeling a bit. Ok now set a timer for 1 minute, get up and shake out all of your limbs while taking some deep breaths. After the timer is up, think of that thing again. Has the level of intensity gone down? If not, do another minute. How about now? Usually, when we change our physical state, our mind can more easily relax.

As you can imagine, there are many ways to apply this tip.

You can keep a bank of resourceful thoughts, memories, or affirmations to bring up when you want to return your body to a more peaceful, grounded, or confident state.

Alternatively, it's almost always a sure bet that if you move your body, you'll automatically feel more mentally resourceful. Do some power poses, shake it off, take deep breaths, go for walks, and stretch!

Why this works (the short version):

By this point, there have been many scientific studies done that prove that thoughts are not just something that affects the mind and brain, but they actually affect the whole system.

We know that emotional stress can very much impact your physical health. There are so many mystery physical conditions that are just attributed to "stress".

There have been studies that showed people who were in physical pain were treated on an emotional level, and then the pain cleared up. Btw - check out this list of "emotional and mental causes of illnesses" by Louise Hay if you haven't seen it yet...fascinating stuff to chew on.

When a person is not physically well or has pain for a while, this usually creates a not very resourceful mental state. Sometimes people can get into fear, worry, or anger/frustration because of this. Alternatively, when we're not in pain and are healthy, it's easier to have more positive, resourceful thoughts like joy, pleasure, and happiness.

The connection is clear...and how exciting! Because it lets us know that we have much more power than we realize when it comes to self healing and transforming our mental and physical experience of life.

Ready to try it?

This week, play with noticing this connection for yourself. If you sense physical discomfort or pain, notice your emotional and mental state. What are you thinking and feeling?

Likewise, if you catch yourself in negative or un-resourceful thinking, notice the experience of that in the body. Like maybe there's a knot in your stomach or you feel tense.

Then, combine some movement with resourceful thinking. Shake it off, take a walk, take some deep breaths and say something kind and supportive to yourself.

Could also try some EFT tapping.

That's it! Have questions about this week's tip? Want to share something with me? Connect with me!

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Cheers to your success!

-Alina Nikishina

Transformational Coach & Mentor

P.S. Have you ever had the experience of a physical symptom being transformed just by your thoughts/emotions alone?

I'm currently in the process of healing some discomfort in my abdomen through a combo of nightly self-massage, visualization, and gratitude. Sometimes I picture placing "smiles" on that part of the body. It's been working really well.

I'd love to hear your experience with this too. Click here to connect with me and share!

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