How to Truly Transform Your Life
Table of Contents
Being stuck in a rut can seem suffocating, especially when the rut is stinky and unpleasant. If you are struggling to create a change in your life that’s both impactful and lasting, this post will guide you to turn that around. Here are some ways you can follow to transform your life and create a new destiny ~ Ed.
If you have a tiny bit of interest in the matters of personal growth and self-development, you must be familiar with the impact your thoughts can have on your life. Let’s get something straight. You do not send out your thoughts into thin air. Every single thought in your head has a chemical reaction associated with it.
Let’s say, you have a boardroom presentation, the next day and you find yourself thinking of a fearful thought about it. In a split second, an entire network of neurons gets switched on in your brain, and suddenly a myriad of not-so-pretty pictures start popping in your head. And the next thing you know an uneasy current of anxiety runs through your body.
What did you just do? You made your imaginary thoughts so real in your mind that your body begins preparing for an actual experience (ahead of the event). That’s how powerful is the connection between your mind and body.
Now, why is this connection important for us to understand? Simply because the way you think and feel on a daily basis creates your state of being. A state of being is a familiar mental-emotional state, which becomes an important part of our identity.
Often, human beings spend years memorizing a state of being, by being coaxed into the same thinking-feeling loop, much like a hamster in a wheel. The worrying bit about creating a memorized state of being is that our feelings are no longer caused by our thoughts.
Why is it so hard to change your state of being
This inherently implies that years of unconscious habits and thought patterns have conditioned the body to a point that it doesn’t need any external stimuli to produce the chemicals it has been producing for years.
In short, our thoughts and feelings have become one. Now, if you would try to generate a different set of chemicals by, let’s say by adopting new habits or thinking new thoughts, it is most likely to turn into a rebellious teenager and go into a chemical chaos.
If you make a deal with yourself that you’re no longer going to pursue an unwanted habit, a day goes by and you feel really good. You think, ‘wow! this is actually working’. However, sadly, your body’s cells aren’t feeling so good. No wonder, so many of our efforts of losing weight, feeling confident, or quitting alcohol, turn to dust every single time.
Trying to change your thought and emotional patterns are like going through drug withdrawal. You need persistence.
The key lies in changing your “identity”
The good news is that you can unlearn these unhealthy thought patterns and create new desirable ones. How? By becoming SOMEONE else. This might go against the popularly held notion of ‘being yourself’. I know you must like some of your qualities; however, you’ve got to admit that sometimes you do wish you could do better in certain areas of your life.
You might excel in your profession, but you could be facing issues in building meaningful social connections. You might find yourself feeling envious of the popular guy, who seems to be getting along with everyone with immense ease and comfort.
Well, in that case, being yourself isn’t the best way to go about it. Is it? The idea is to become a much superior version of yourself so that you can master every area of your life.
6 Ways to Truly Transform Your Life
This guide is fabricated for creating a lasting transformation and an innate sense of empowerment in you. The strategies outlined here are simple, but I would not say that they are easy. However, once internalized, the process can transform you from the very core of your being.
Create Your Vision
In order to transform yourself into this awesome person you want to be, you need to have a clearer picture of them in your mind’s eye. List down in detail, the qualities that the person would have. Hold the vision of that individual in your mind. Look at how they think, feel, speak, and act every waking hour of their lives.
Let’s say, you want to be more confident within yourself. You must be having people around you, who seem to ooze confidence in everything they do. So, that particular person can act as a prototype for your ideal self and you can imagine yourself as them in your mind.
Meditate
Once you have a perfect vision of your ideal self, meditate upon it. Sit with your eyes closed for 10-15 minutes in a day and envision yourself as transforming into that person. This process can also be called as priming of the mind.
It might feel uncomfortable in the beginning because your body is not used to feeling happier, confident, empowered or whatever positive emotion you wish to instill in yourself. Therefore, focus and persistence is the key while doing this particular meditation. Make a deal with yourself that you would not get up from the meditation until you get into this whole new state of being.
Mental Rehearsal
It is not enough to be your ideal self during those few minutes of meditation. In order to create a real change, you need to continuously rehearse your ideal self throughout the day. This requires a great deal of self-awareness.
You need to make sure that you don’t let a single thought pass by your awareness, that doesn’t align with your ideal self. Every time a thought pops in your head, ask yourself, does this belong in my future, and do I need to carry it forward? If the answer is no, take a pause and mentally return to being your ideal self. Every time you accomplish this feat, you are going to break the hard-wired patterns in your brain and wire a new version of yourself.
If you commit to thinking greater than your body, your body will gradually be forced to follow the footsteps of your mind.
Do Uncomfortable Things
A great way to pull your mind out of your body is to do something uncomfortable (but helpful) on a daily basis. We all have that long list of goals, shoved somewhere in the corner of a cabinet. The action you need to take to achieve those goals might feel uncomfortable because your body is accustomed to a certain set of behaviours.
Let’s say you want to land your dream job and you know in your heart that you are perfectly capable of it. However, if there is no urgency and you are habituated into being a procrastinator, you might push it back for a long time. If you find yourself in this position, ask yourself, will your ideal-self postpone something of such immense importance?
Remember, thinking and feeling like your ideal self only bears fruit if you ‘act’ like them on a moment by moment basis. Therefore, it is important to get out of your head and take action, no matter how uncomfortable that might feel at the moment.
Think Greater Than You Feel
As I said earlier, any change is uncomfortable in the beginning. Your body will do everything in its power to keep you anchored to the past. In your weakest moment, do not talk yourself out of greatness.
The key is to think greater than you feel. At times, you might feel, ‘Well, this doesn’t feel right, or this is too hard’. In such a scenario, it feels easy to give up and go back to your old self. In these moments, remember that it is your body which is ‘feeling’ that way.
To break the old patterns of unwanted habits, your mind needs to think greater than your body is feeling.
Be Kind to Yourself
No matter how little progress you think you are making; it is very important that you are generous and loving towards yourself. Every significant change requires time and patience. A seed doesn’t grow into a giant tree in one day.
Look back and introspect how far have you come in this journey. Most of the time, we fail to see the progress we have made, probably because it becomes such an integrated part of ourselves. So, make sure to reward yourself on every ‘tiny progress’ you make in your journey.
Wrapping it up
So many people aspire to create a new destiny but find themselves unable to overcome the defeating thought patterns they get identified with so intimately. If you crave unknown adventures and dream of new possibilities, you need to overcome your body and stop paying visits to your past.
It might take a great deal of courage, will power and awareness, because of years and years of piled-up conditioning patterns in your body and mind. But if you can, it would all be worth the effort. It is a pity to live an ever-evolving life, thinking exactly the same thoughts, feeling exactly the same way, and doing exactly the same things over and over again.
How can you change anything outside of you, if you don’t change anything inside of you?
Over to you
If you truly come to terms with the idea that your thoughts have something to do with your destiny, would you let any unwanted thought slip past your awareness? Wouldn’t it feel great to know that you are creating your destiny every second of your life?
Disclaimer: Though the views expressed are of the author’s own, this article has been checked for its authenticity of information and resource links provided for a better and deeper understanding of the subject matter. However, you're suggested to make your diligent research and consult subject experts to decide what is best for you. If you spot any factual errors, spelling, or grammatical mistakes in the article, please report at [email protected]. Thanks.
Hi Shifali,
Nice article. I agree with your points. Meditation part i think we need to do for more time to get the real effects. 10 to 15 min is like warming up. Thanks for the wonderful article.
Hello Shifali,
You have shared wonderful insights on this crucial topic. I certainly agree for transforming life one need to change his/her Identity as we are taught to think and act in a certain way and that needs to be changed.
A well written and insightful article to read. Keep writing and sharing your mind with us.
Bless you!
Romil Rambhad
I am really glad to hear that! More power to you!
Hello Shifali,
Awesome post. Thanks Shifali for sharing this awesome post with us.
Completely agree with you, to transform your life you need to change your state of being although not easy but not impossible too. A must read post.
All the various ways you shared to transform your life are awesome especially the meditation, be kind with yourself and creating your vision.
I really liked and appreciate the way you have put up these things inspiring many of those who really needed this. Keep writing and sharing your valuable words.
Thanks!
-Rijhu.
Thanks Rijhu for your kind words! I am beyond glad if this article helped you in any way!
Thank you for your post. All the practices you mentioned are very helpful, especially the “Think greater than you feel”. Thinking about your ideal self takes a lot of mental power. But when you’re able to overcome negative self-talk and live in that ideal self all the time, it feels amazing.
Yes, I agree. It is one of the most difficult and rewarding things at the same time.
I can’t start counting the lot of good this has done to me. This article really changed my life