As you remember from my last post, I started sharing my thoughts on the book Psycho-Cybernetics. I promised to cover self-image, and how we have the power to change it.
But, first, you're probably wanting to comment, what the heck is Psycho-Cybernetics?! Glad you asked! Cybernetics comes from a Greek word which means literally, “the steersman.” Think of sailing ships. And psycho deals with the mind. I like Maltz' distinction between servo-mechanisms that are constructed (think of a torpedo) and automatically "steer" their way to a goal, target, or "answer" and the human brain. He calls what God created in us the Creative Mechanism. And even though we are created to achieve, he makes it very clear that we are not machines, but that we have a machine within us in which we use.
Think of it this way: machines, or animals for that matter, cannot select their own goals….man can! We create our own success. And if we learn how to "steer" our "steersman", we'll get there even faster! But it's going to take some work.
We've all heard the term "Garbage in. Garbage out." That can be applied to your Creative Mechanism. If, a traumatic event, or person feeds us bad information that is not the truth, then that negative input will skew the path to our target. I remember being teased in grade school for wearing glasses and being underdeveloped in a certain area of my body. Those lies had an effect on me and shaped my self-image making me feel inferior, unloved, undeserving...basically unworthy. Over the years I've struggled to peal away those lies, like shedding unwanted yet familiar layers, and replace them with the truth, knowing that I have been “designed for success” by my Creator. Now I know that the old picture of myself as
unworthy is wrong and does not come from God but the Enemy.
I've learned from so many great people that failure is a requirement of success, not an either/or option. Just because I failed at something, that did not make me a failure. It is our perspective on what happens that matters more than the event itself. Orrin Woodward says that the event only happened once, but what we tell ourselves about it happens many times.
Maxwell Maltz, M.D. was a plastic surgeon, who searched to answer these questions about self-image in his book: "How does the self-image exert its influence, how <does> it create a new personality, what happens inside the human nervous system when the self-image is changed". He later said that the key to human behavior is the self-image. "Change the self-image and you change the personality and the behavior." (For more details you've got to read the book.)
Ok, but how can we change our self-image?!
With pictures.
Don't like the current picture of some part of yourself. Change the picture. Not with plastic surgery, but with mental pictures and exercises he gives in the book. Mental pictures, often called visualization, give us the chance to “practice” new
traits and attitudes, that we couldn't normally do. Maltz said, "If we picture ourselves performing in a
certain manner, it is nearly the same as the actual performance. Mental practice helps to make perfect."
There's a great story of a championship weight-lifter who was told by a hypnotist that he could not lift a pencil from a desk. Even though he could normally lift a 400 lb weight over his head, when he tried he could not lift up the pencil! Wow!
Key Point: even though the power to do something is within us, we have limiting beliefs that prevent us from achieving that thing because we don't know the ability is there.
So should we all run to our local hypnotist? Not necessarily. Is there a way we can hypnotize ourselves? Actually, Maltz said we should "dehypnotize" ourselves.
Here's how he said to do that..."within you, whoever you may be, regardless of how big a failure you may think yourself to be, is the ability and the power to do whatever you need to do to be happy and successful. Within you right now is the power to do things you never dreamed possible. This power becomes available to you just as soon as you can change your beliefs. Just as quickly as you can dehypnotize yourself from the ideas of "I can't," "I'm not worthy," "I don't deserve it" and other self-limiting ideas."
That's why I continue to put life-changing information into my Creative Mechanism. I think everyone who's interested in living the life they're meant to live rather than living the life I can barely afford should. But that's for another time to discuss. ^_^
Repeat after me out loud:
I am not "inferior."
I am not "superior."
I am simply "Me."
I am "worthy".
I "deserve" it.
I "can.................................."
Enjoy the video and I hope you Resolve
to change!
P.S. Here's another great resource for
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