What Are We Missing?
Why do diets work for some people and not others? Why do so many diets not work long term? Is it the diet plan or is it the person using the diet? If it is the person using the diet, what is the problem and what can we do about it? The answer to this is that we are the products of our civilization and as a result of this fact we live in a shallow superficial world where critical thinking skills, self discipline and personal power are rarely even heard of much less developed. But there are tools out there designed to help us develop personal strength and power and some people will take advantage of one or two of them but not all of them. Why? Why not use them all? Do we not deserve complete success?
If all those diets out there are basically sound, why then do so many people fail to achieve success at losing weight? We are an instant gratification society and we have come to expect quick and easy satisfaction of our desires and goals. The truth is that many of our problems are the result of behavior patterns that are the result of beliefs that are created by our perceptions of ourselves and our world. Is it reasonable to put all our hopes on a diet plan and expect it to work without any personal investment on our part? No! We need to bring some things to the table such as genuine desire, will, determination and commitment, all of which are fundamental elements of personal power. But these alone are not enough, we need to take advantage of all the powerful tools that have been developed to help us change our thinking and behavior patterns.
The Tools Of Change
So, our diet is telling us to eat the right foods, at the right time, in the right amounts and we will lose weight. This is actually so simple it is embarrassing if we are not able to carry this out. Yet so many of us fail to do so. The problem isn't the diet of course, something is at work here that we may not be consciously aware of. For example; though we say we want to lose weight, we may not really want to for some reason that we are unaware of. Our condition of overweight may be part of our strategy for emotional protection, making ourselves undesirable so we don't have to deal with rejection issues or relationship difficulties. All of our behaviors and the conditions based on those behaviors have some motive underlying them.
So, we need to explore and identify and then adjust or change some of our basic perceptions and the beliefs that are built from those perceptions and thus change the thinking and behaviors based on those beliefs. Yes! It is easier said than done, but there are some very effective tools out there to help us achieve these kinds of goals but we need to use them all or we are just making token gestures at achievement. The tools designed to help us change or modify our habitual behavior patterns are meditation, creative visualization, affirmations, self talk, goal setting, self hypnosis and organization skills. Don't make the mistake of only taking advantage of just one or two, put them all in your toolbox.
Think about it! Meditation is a very powerful tool for self exploration and self awareness, but it takes awhile to develop this skill, so while you are doing this you may want to use a quicker strategy for getting results like self hypnosis such as the recent NLP variation of this that uses some of the other tools to bring it all together in very effective ways, although I don't recommend this for long term establishment and maintenance.
The Added Advantages
In case you haven't realized it yet, the implications of this approach go far beyond the simple objective of weight loss, this is about developing the personal power to accomplish any goal you set yourself whether personal or professional. This is about realizing and developing the unlimited creative power that is natural to the human species, but it is also the very thing we fear because with power comes the responsibility for the use of that power and all the consequences of power as well. So, we must also have the strength to accept the responsibility of our power. All these things we do have unless we choose to deny them, and why would we want to do that? The answer to that last question will set you free and change your life forever.
Robert Darby is a self change and personal development specialist who writes for many organizations including The Agenda Of Life Foundation He focuses on developing personal power since that is usually the cause of all Human problems. Largely due to his fearless exploration of the true nature of our inner reality, R.E. Darby is emerging as an important writer of our time.
There is a great e-book that explores weight loss tools here.