Change Your Mind, Change Your Health by Marie Ludovici Ann

Author:Marie Ludovici Ann
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Career Press
Published: 2015-03-16T04:00:00+00:00

Examples of Modified Core Beliefs

Original Core Belief: “I am incompetent when it comes to improving my health habits.”

New or Modified Core Belief: “I have had both good days and bad when it comes to improving my health habits.”

Original Core Belief: “I don’t have the willpower to stop smoking.”

New or Modified Core Belief: “I do have control and power over many things in my life. Or, “I do have the willpower to stop smoking for my children.”

Emphasize the Positive

“Be self-kind vs. self-critical.”

—AMLC

As I am writing this chapter during a much-needed getaway cruise, I am spending time taking care of my well-being and focusing on my thoughts and experiences about changing my health as inspiration for this book. I am also spending precious time with my son, Kyle. Kyle and I love rock and roll music and, as a result, chose this cruise that featured several rock and roll bands. After one of the performances a band offered an open question-and-answer session with the audience. One band member, Jason, was asked by one of the fans in the audience, “What stresses you out?” Jason shared that even after years of doing live-performance shows, he still stresses about his performance after each show. He openly shared that he replays his mistakes, missed notes, and imperfect timing and dance movements. He humbly stated that although he always performed to the best of his ability, he never felt his performance were adequate enough. Surprisingly, Jason is one of the lead members of a very successful and internationally known band. Jason has thousands of loyal followers who love and appreciate his performances and outstanding talents! It saddened me to hear Jason focus on the “negative” aspects of his performances while his audiences did not. Jason discounted the evidence of his abilities by not recognizing the growing number of his fans, along with their positive emotional responses to his performances. This evidence and truth demonstrate that indeed Jason possesses remarkable abilities and is a talented musician!

Of course, it is natural to sometimes focus our thoughts on what we have done wrong, or our mistakes, as opposed to our successes or accomplishments. We sometimes don’t see or acknowledge the real truth. This is particularly common among high-achieving individuals (like Jason). When one attains a high level of success in life, he or she may often have very high self-expectations. High self-expectations may fuel one’s determination for lifelong, continual self-improvement. As with everything in life, this is not such a bad thing in moderation. However, high-achieving individuals must also be mindful of excessively focusing on the negative aspects of their actions or accomplishments and ignoring the positive. This type of thinking is an example of “disqualifying or discounting the positive.” This type of thinking error may negatively affect our Core Beliefs over time.

Any one of us is at risk for not believing in our true selves or in our true abilities if we continuously focus on negative versus positive self-feedback. Over time, emphasis on the negative as opposed to the positive lowers self-efficacy and impedes positive behavior change.

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