{"id":885,"date":"2009-05-27T08:57:15","date_gmt":"2009-05-27T16:57:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/real-key-to-happiness\/"},"modified":"2013-09-26T10:11:01","modified_gmt":"2013-09-26T18:11:01","slug":"real-key-to-happiness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/real-key-to-happiness\/","title":{"rendered":"The real key to a healthy life"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>


\n\u2018If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six sharpening my axe.\u2019 <\/em>
\nAbraham Lincoln<\/p>\n

Have you watched TV programs like Downsize Me<\/a>? I really enjoy watching this! People who lead unhealthy lifestyles are given a \u2018lifestyle makeover.\u2019 They usually end up losing weight and finding more happiness by the end of the show. Obviously they do make great strides over the two months they are being followed by the cameras, but I often wonder how many of these people go back to their old unhealthy ways once the TV cameras have left. The trouble is that these kind of programmes focus on external things \u2013 diet, exercise, giving up smoking \u2013 but they don\u2019t address the inner world of the individuals they are seeking to treat. Of course, there\u2019s nothing wrong with eating better, giving up smoking, drinking less and doing more exercise, but there\u2019s something deeper here.<\/p>\n

The mind-body connection<\/strong><\/p>\n

The connection between mind and body is becoming more accepted in mainstream medicine. If you think about it, this connection is pretty obvious. When you get excited or nervous or panicky, that feeling starts in your mind but has an immediate effect on your body. When you fall in love, you can feel it in your body. When you watch a sad movie, you might start to cry. When you find out you\u2019ve won the lottery or got an \u2018A\u2019 grade on an exam, your heart will start to beat faster and you\u2019ll feel all sorts of other physical effects.<\/p>\n

R. Veenhoven carried out a scientific study of the effects of happiness on health and concluded that happy people are less likely to get sick and that they live longer. The difference between happy and unhappy people was comparable to the difference between smokers and non-smokers in terms of life span. Veenhoven\u2019s findings can be found in The Journal of Happiness Studies (yes there really is a scholarly journal about happiness!)<\/p>\n

Our autopilot<\/strong><\/p>\n

We all run on subconscious programmes. It\u2019s how we manage to survive in the world. If we had to think about everything we did, we wouldn\u2019t be able to function \u2013 there would simply be too much to think about! Our subconscious takes control of much of our life so that, in essence, we are running on autopilot. Examples of these habitual patterns are being untidy, being late and being poor. All these things come from the subconscious mind. Being sick is also a subconscious habit. I\u2019m not suggesting that all sickness has its origin in the mind (though it might, and many people believe this), but we all know people who constantly get sick, and if they were ever healthy for more than a few months, their subconscious mind would find a way of getting back on track by bringing along an illness of some kind.<\/p>\n

Our subconscious scripts often come from our childhood and they were developed because they gave us an advantage. The benefits of being sick, as a child, are that (for example) people will pay more attention to you, you might get a day off school, you might get some special treats or you\u2019ll get treated better than your siblings. I\u2019m sure we all remember the sheer joy of days off school as a child because of some minor ailment. When we grow up, these scripts stay with us. Sometimes they can still confer an advantage on us \u2013 maybe we still get attention from our family or a day off work \u2013 but they may also be problematic and destructive to our lives.<\/p>\n

The strange thing is that many of us (most of us, in fact) don\u2019t realize this is what\u2019s happening. We are not even aware of the autopilot and think that things are happening to us, and not that we are controlling the way things turn out. But the reality is that we are in control and we do have a choice.<\/p>\n

How to re-script your subconscious<\/strong><\/p>\n

Viktor Frankl wrote that \u2018between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.\u2019<\/p>\n

In that space, we can create ourselves anew. We need the right kind of self-talk. We talk to ourselves all day long, so we need to make sure we are saying the right things. We also see ourselves in certain scenarios in our mind\u2019s eye. We need to make sure these visualizations are of what we want to achieve, how we want to feel and what sort of person we want to be. Ultimately, we are trying to construct a good self image. When we have clear image of the person we intend to be in our mind, then our subconscious will start to run that script and the image will become reality. A change in our mind will work its way out.<\/p>\n

We need to take responsibility for our lives. Forcing ourselves to endure exercise and eat salad whilst all the time telling ourselves that we are unhealthy and unable to really change will get us nowhere. We need to do it the other way round \u2013 start off with the belief that we are fit and healthy, and this will become part of our reality. Spending a lot of time on our mental preparation makes all the difference to our success or failure. Sharpening the axe will make it a lot easier to cut down the tree.<\/p>\n

Michael Miles writes at effortlessabundance.com<\/a>. You can download his new book, Thirty Days to Change Your Life<\/a>, at the site.<\/p>\n

Related Articles:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Happiness Without The Hype <\/a><\/p>\n

Achieve Happiness by Creating a Life Lie <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you watched TV programs like Downsize Me? I really enjoy watching this! People who lead unhealthy lifestyles are given a \u2018lifestyle makeover.\u2019 They usually end up losing weight and finding more happiness by the end of the show. Obviously they do make great strides over the two months they are being followed by the cameras, but I often wonder how many of these people go back to their old unhealthy ways once the TV cameras have left. The trouble is that these kind of programmes focus on external things \u2013 diet, exercise, giving up smoking \u2013 but they don\u2019t address the inner world of the individuals they are seeking to treat. Of course, there\u2019s nothing wrong with eating better, giving up smoking, drinking less and doing more exercise, but there\u2019s something deeper here. 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