BREAKING THE HABIT OF BEING YOURSELF Paperback

Very insightful book. It reminded me of why I believe in God and strengthened my faith. Great book to begin the year with 👏

Loved this book as all the others too - always so much to learn from all the words of wisdom.

Free your mind of being yourselfby Ron Immink on December 20, 2018 in Blog“The Greatest Habit You Can Ever Break Is the Habit of Being Yourself” is a great book about your mind, brain imaging, neuroplasticity, epigenetics, psychoneuroimmunology, quantum entanglement, neurochemicals, and meditationThe power of the mindYou need to embrace the concept that your (subjective) mind has an effect on your (objective) world. The latest research supports the notion that we have a natural ability to change the brain and body by thought alone. In fact, your thoughts have consequences so great that they create your reality.Quantum physicsThe most fundamental components of our so-called physical world are both waves (energy) and particles (physical matter), depending on the mind of the observer. What quantum physicists discovered was that the person observing (or measuring) the tiny particles that make up atoms affect the behaviour of energy and matter.Observer effectIn other words, a particle cannot manifest in reality—that is, ordinary space-time as we know it—until we observe it. Quantum physics calls this phenomenon “collapse of the wave function” or the “observer effect.” The subjective mind has an effect on the objective world. An observer can affect the subatomic world and influence a specific event, just by collapsing a single electron from a wave of energy into a particle.Quantum entanglementQuantum entanglement will tell us that once two particles can be initially linked in some way, they will always be bonded together beyond space and time. That means that since we too are made up of particles, we are all implicitly connected beyond space and time. What we do unto others, we do unto ourselves.Everything is everyThe atom is 99.99999 per cent energy and .00001 per cent matter. Think about this: everything physical in your life is not solid matter. Instead, it’s all fields of energy or frequency patterns of information.Mindful attentionAt the subatomic level, energy responds to your mindful attention and becomes matter. Energy is the very fabric of all things material and is responsive to mind. Everything in the physical universe is made up of subatomic particles such as electrons. By their very nature, these particles, when they exist as pure potential, are in their wave state while they are not being observed. They are potentially “every-thing” and “no-thing” until they are observed.Everything is potentialThus, everything in our physical reality exists as pure potential. If subatomic particles can exist in an infinite number of possible places simultaneously, we are potentially capable of collapsing into existence an infinite number of possible realities. In other words, if you can imagine a future event in your life based on any one of your desires, that reality already exists as a possibility in the quantum field, waiting to be observed by you. If your mind can influence the appearance of an electron, then theoretically it can influence the appearance of any possibility. That means that the quantum field contains a reality in which you are healthy, wealthy, and happy, and possess all of the qualities and capabilities of the idealised self that you hold in your thoughts.Hold a pictureWhen you hold clear, focused thoughts about your purpose, accompanied by your passionate emotional engagement, you broadcast a stronger electromagnetic signal that pulls you toward a potential reality that matches what you want.Mind and matterMind and matter are completely entangled. Your consciousness (mind) has effects on energy (matter) because your consciousness is energy and energy has consciousness. In the quantum model, the physical universe is an immaterial, interconnected, unified field of information, potentially everything but physically nothing.Infinite possibilitiesAll potential experiences exist in the quantum field as a sea of infinite possibilities. When you change your electromagnetic signature to match one that already exists in the field, your body will be drawn to that event, you will move into a new line of time, or the event will find you in your new reality.What are you thinkingHow we think and how we feel produces a state of being, which generates an electromagnetic signature that influences every atom in our world. Ask yourself. What am I broadcasting (consciously or unconsciously) on a daily basis? Y our brain does not distinguish between what is happening in the outer world of reality and what is happening in the inner world of your mind.You are your memoriesUnfortunately, we unconsciously live by a set of memorised behaviours, thoughts, and emotional reactions, all running like computer programs behind the scenes of our conscious awareness. Hence, all of our personal experiences with people and things at specific times and places are literally reflected within the networks of neurons (nerve cells) that make up our brains.You are living in the pastAnd since your feelings are a record of previous experiences, you’re thinking in the past. By quantum law, you create more of the past. Bottom line: Most of us live in the past and resist living in a new future. Why? The body is so habituated to memorising the chemical records of our past experiences that it grows attached to these emotions. In a very real sense, we become addicted to those familiar feelings.You are 95% on automatic pilotPsychologists tell us that by the time we’re in our mid-30s, our identity or personality will be completely formed. That means that for those of us over 35, we have memorised a select set of behaviours, attitudes, beliefs, emotional reactions, habits, skills, associative memories, conditioned responses, and perceptions that are now subconsciously programmed within us. About 95 per cent of who we are by midlife1 is a series of subconscious programs that have become automatic.You are neurochemically addictedThere is a principle in neuroscience called Hebb’s law. It states that “nerve cells that fire together, wire together.” It means that clusters of neurons have fired so many times in the same ways that they have organised themselves into specific patterns with long-lasting connections. Every time you have a thought, there is a biochemical reaction in the brain—you make a chemical. The brain and the rest of the body interact via powerful electrochemical signals. You’ll become neurochemically attached to the conditions in your life. You get addicted to past emotions and memories.NeurotransmittersNeurotransmitters, neuropeptides, and hormones are the cause-and-effect chemicals for brain activity and bodily functioning. These three different types of chemicals, called ligands (the word ligare means “to bind” in Latin), connect to, interact with, or influence the cell in a matter of milliseconds. Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers.Addiction to memoriesUnfortunately, your body’s cells aren’t feeling so good. Over the years, you’ve trained them to demand more molecules of emotion (mostly negative) in order to fulfil their chemical needs. Your body is trained to live as a memorised chemical continuity, and it becomes addicted to guilt or any emotion in the same way that it would get addicted to drugs. You are a drug addict. The body wants you to return to your memorised chemical self, so it influences you to think in familiar, routine waysYou are only 5% consciousSince the body becomes the subconscious mind, it’s easy to see that in situations when the body becomes the mind, the conscious mind no longer has much to do with our behaviour. The instant we have a thought, feeling, or reaction, the body, runs on automatic pilot. We go unconscious. Think about that: 5 per cent of the mind is conscious, struggling against the 95 per cent that is running subconscious automatic programs.Reliving your past over and overWhat most people don’t know is that when they think about a highly charged emotional experience, they make the brain fire in the exact sequences and patterns as before; We are capable of reliving a past event over and over, perhaps thousands of times in one lifetime.HardwiredThe relationships with people we’ve known, the variety of things we own and are familiar with, the places where we’ve visited and lived at different times in our lives, and the myriad experiences we’ve embraced throughout our years are all configured in the structures of the brain.Your past is your futureWhen you consider that your brain is a complete record of your past, and your mind is the product of your consciousness, in one sense you might always be thinking in the past. According to quantum law (which, by the way, is still working for you), your past is now becoming your future.Negative feedback loopIf you continually think about your problems (consciously or unconsciously), you will only create more of the same type of difficulties for yourself. As long as we use familiar feelings as a barometer, as feedback on our efforts to change, we’ll always talk ourselves out of greatness.Time to changeWhy are you secretly expecting something different to show up in your life, when you think the same thoughts, perform the same actions and experience the same emotions every single day? You can change your brains just by thinking differently, but when we are truly focused and single-minded, the brain does not know the difference between the internal world of the mind and what we experience in the external environment.NeuroplasticityWhen we can change our minds independent of the environment and then steadfastly embrace an ideal with sustained concentration, the brain will be ahead of the environment. You can change your brain’s hardware, its physical structures, its anatomy, its neurons. If you keep installing, reinforcing, and refining your neurological hardware, the end result of that repetition is a neural network—in effect, a new software program.What do you wantIf you entertain that idea even for a moment, you might start focusing on what you want instead of what you don’t want. When our behaviours match our intentions. When our actions are equal to our thoughts. When our minds and our bodies are working together when our words and our deeds are aligned. Then there is an immense power behind any individual.CoherenceOur thoughts are themselves energy, with a specific link between our emotional states and our heart rhythms. Positive emotions (love and joy, for instance) produce highly ordered, coherent patterns that HeartMath researchers refer to as heart coherence.Clean your mindIf you know that by staying present and severing or pruning your connections with the past, you can have access to all the possible outcomes in the quantum field, why would you choose to live in the past and keep creating the same future for yourself?MeditationWhich is why they invented meditation. In the Tibetan language, to meditate means “to become familiar with.” Meditation as a synonym for self-observation. Becoming conscious of your unconscious self.Close your eyes and be stillIf you eliminated stimuli from your external world by closing your eyes and becoming quiet (decreasing your sensory input), putting your body in a state of stillness, and no longer focusing on linear time, you could become aware solely of how you are thinking and feeling.Open the door to your mindMeditation opens the door between the conscious and subconscious minds. We meditate to enter the operating system of the subconscious, where all of those unwanted habits and behaviours reside, and change them to more productive modes to support us in our lives. The true purpose of meditation is to get beyond the analytical mind and enter into the subconscious mind so you can make real and permanent changes.ObserveGiven that your personality comprises how you think, act, and feel, you must pay attention to your unconscious thoughts, reflexive behaviours, and automatic emotional reactions—put them under observation to determine if they are true and whether you want to continue to endorse them with your energy. Meditation allows us to change our brains, bodies, and state of being. So if you truly want a new personal reality, start observing all aspects of your present personality. In a way, you were going into the operating system of the subconscious mind, where those programs exist, and you were the observer of those programs. When you can become aware of or notice who you are being, you are becomingRewrite your hardwareThrough meditation, we can install the necessary neurological hardware, just as those piano players and finger exercisers made changes through mental rehearsal. Those new states of being create a new personality and a new personality produces a new personal reality.Thought managementThe purpose of becoming self-aware is so that you manage your thoughts, actions and emotion. To change any aspect of your life (body, environment, or time), you must transcend it.It always starts with a thoughtAlmost all of what we demonstrate begins with a thought. But just because you have a thought doesn’t necessarily mean it is true. Most thoughts are just old circuits in your brain that have become hardwired by your repetitive volition.You are what you thinkChange all begins with thinking: we can immediately form new neurological connections and circuits that reflect our new thoughts. Take control. Rather than waiting for an occasion to cause you to feel a certain way, create the feeling ahead of any experience in the physical realm; convince your body emotionally that a “gratitude-generating” experience has already taken place.IntentionHold a clear intention of what you want, but leave the “how” details to the unpredictable quantum field. Let it orchestrate an event in your life in a way that is just right for you. If you’re going to expect anything, expect the unexpected. Surrender, trust, and let go of how a desired event will unfold. When you are in a state of gratitude, you transmit a signal into the field that an event has already occurred. Choose a potential reality that you want, live it in your thoughts and feelings, and give thanks ahead of the actual event.The secretThat will orchestrate an event, an energetic response, to match whatever the subjective mind puts out into the quantum field. When our will matches its will, when our minds match its mind, when our love for life matches its love for life, we are enacting this universal consciousness. We become the elevated power that transcends the past, heals the present, and opens doors to the future.Mastering your mindMastery is that your internal chemical state is greater than anything in our external world. You are a master when you’ve conditioned yourself with chosen thoughts and feelings, you’ve memorised desired emotional/chemical states, and nothing in your external life deters you from your aims. No person, nothing, and no experience at any time or place should disrupt your internal chemical coherence. You can think, act, and feel different whenever you choose.Control your destinyYou are a new neurochemical self, a quantum observer of a new future. Healing your body and freeing the mind.

Joe Dispenza really challenges the way you think, how you think and what you think. And he does it in a way that is so accessible and informative. I love this book, it has had such a impact on all aspects of my life. If you aren’t interested in spirituality and manifestation this book is still worth a read as it will help you to face parts of yourself you didn’t realise were holding you back. All your opinions and beliefs that you hold so close to you and let them define you - the good and the bad - he helps you recognise and work through whatever holds you back from stepping into your true power of fully accepting and being yourself. So many of us don’t stop to question or identify patterns of behaviour that stunt our growth. He encourages you to become more of an empathetic person too, which is what we need in a society where narcissism is so prevalent. If you don’t grasp it straight away take it slow and read it again, for you will truly benefit from identifying your triggers and building healthier mental habits.

I enjoyed the first 2 parts of the book. A very informative and pleasant reading, a mixture of science and spirituality.What I didn't like is the fact that Dispenza claims that by following his guided meditations, we could rewire our brains (breaking the habit of being ourselves) and make measurable changes in any area of our lives.Well, I personally think that every human being is unique, and "one size fits all" doesn't work in this case.Although meditation undeniably helps any human to be more conscious of themselves and their mind patterns and thoughts, everyone of us needs to find their own unique way of doing so.My rating would have been 3.5 stars, but because Amazon does not give you that option I decided to give him 4, just because I watched quite a few of his videos and i find them very inspiring.Perhaps the fact that he's a doctor makes him want to give people the best "cure" or solution to certain problems, but when it comes to the mind, the best doctor will always be inside us.

It took a while for me to read mainly because it was such an in depth comprehensive read and I do and have recommended it as a must read

great book

If you liked "What the bleep do we know" you will love this one. But in this one you get to be practical: the how and why of meditation (how to connect more efficiently to the quantum field!). Well structured he takes you from understanding the why to the how of getting the most out of life and getting your external and internal world in synch. This was a real page turner for me because it doesn't happen every day that someone is able to explain in simple terms why some aspects of religion and spirituality have a measurable scientific basis; but this is not a book about religion, it is about hard science and how/why meditation works. In cognitive psychology terms it is about how to move from having an external locus of control (the "bad one" - why do bad things always happen to me?-mentality) to an internal locus of control (the "good one" - how do I cause negative things to happen to me?). But the book is also packed with all kinds of surprises like: the quantum field is waiting for you to ask for help; why being grateful is a good state of mind; how meditation puts you into contact with the quantum field where all the magic happens; and my favourite - how to give up being trapped in the past or living for the future by being in the moment: now. A liberating book