Self image is the underlying decision maker and creator in your life. If you want to change things in your life you must change your self image. Your self image is not the image reflected back to you in the mirror but how you see yourself in your mind. How do others treat you and how do you treat yourself? What do you expect from yourself and from your life? The answers to these questions will give you an idea of who (you think) you are. But really you are more than that, because self image can change. If you have been attempting to achieve something in your life but are being continually held back, there is a strong chance that it is your self image which is sabotaging your results and keeping you in the place where you always seem to be. Take a look at this video of Bob Proctors which explains the role self image plays in many areas of your life:
So how can we change our self image?
Affirmations
One way to start the shift of your self perception is through affirmations and mantras. Check out this article on the subject of affirmations, mantras and positive intention.
Associations
You will often base your ideas of yourself through those who are close to you and so if you want to change your self image it is a good idea to seek out people who exhibit the kind of characteristics you would like to embody. If you are trying to give up smoking for example, and your circle of friends are all smokers, they are unlikely to support you, even if they may do outwardly, they might in fact secretly hope you will fail just so they keep their smoking buddy! The same can be said of many areas including monetary problems and weight loss, to name just a couple of areas which you may want to change. Birds of a feather, flock together. If you want to change your life, you need to hang around with other people who also want, and are achievingchange your self image similar results.
Habits
Our self image gives us an idea about who we are and what we want. We create our habits according to what we believe and what we think we are capable of. If you believe you are something, you act accordingly. To make change you must change your actions. Building new habits is one way to begin to change your self image. It doesn’t happen overnight, but by slowly altering your daily habits, in the direction of your larger goal, you can alter your perception of yourself. When your habits become automatic, you generate momentum and then your self image begins to change accordingly. For example, if you consider yourself a lazy person, and pride yourself on being lazy, you probably won’t do regular exercise and therefore won’t consider yourself very physically fit. Once you start doing regular exercise, your attitude will change and you will consider yourself to be a more active and fit (and less lazy) person. Of course if your self image doesn’t change along with your habit, it will be harder to continue, and you will fall back into old, well trodden habits.
Goals
Setting goals gives us a reason to change. We often must change in order to reach our goals, or some old pattern of behavior will stop us from achieving it. Goals should be SMART: Specific, Measured, Achievable, Results-focused and time-bound. An example of a bad goal is : I will lose weight. An example of a SMART goal is: By October the 1st 2015 I will weigh 12 stone exactly. You must know when you have achieved it. The first goal is vague and ambiguous. How much weight? By when? SMART goals give you a time frame to work to and should be set whereby they can be achieved with work but are difficult enough to motivate you to want to achieve. They must be believable or else you won’t be motivated to achieve them.
The Cybernetic Transposition Method
In Bob Proctor’s video above he talks about cybernetics in relation to self image. Your self image is powerful and will keep you in a ‘bubble’ of consistent behavior in order to maintain its consistent view of itself. Stuart Lichtman is an expert at training people to change their self image through what he calls the cybernetic transposition method. Being as the self image is so powerful, in order to change any aspect of your life, this is the best place to start. It gets right to the heart of the matter and will make more permanent, lasting changes than by external means alone. Check out his book “How to get lots of money for anything fast“.
