Several studies have been done on when and how we make decisions. One study had 14 volunteers operate two different buttons, one for each hand. Then the volunteer decided which button to push, they immediately pushed that button. Imaging showed that the brain decided which button to push, up to 7 seconds before the conscious decision was made.
So, what does that mean? Well, it explains why willpower doesn’t work.
Have you ever done something automatically, and then ask yourself, “Why did I do that?”
Let’s say that you always get a giant pretzel when you go to the mall. For whatever reason, you decide that you don’t want to do that, and you are going to the mall but not eating the giant pretzel. The, you find yourself eating the pretzel…. or later realizing that you ate the pretzel and get mad at yourself for doing that. You might not ever realize that you ate something that you didn’t want to eat, until later.
That is automatic response, which is a habit stored in the subconscious mind. That decision was made by the subconscious before you even decided whether to eat it or not.
So, how do you change that?
You change the programming in the subconscious.
That can be done with affirmations, mental rehearsal, lots of self-talk, or hypnosis.
Hypnosis, whether it is self-hypnosis or done with a hypnotist, is a relatively fast and effective way to reprogram the subconscious mind. When the mind is in a trance, it is experiencing focused attention and increased suggestibility. It is a great time to reprogram the subconscious.
So, you can reprogram you mind to go to the mall, walk by the giant pretzels and not even notice them. And, have that new behavior be easy and normal.