Don’t Worry, Be Happy!

The subconscious mind holds our “programming”. The culture, values, thoughts, and beliefs that we grew up with are coded into our subconscious mind and help us make split second decisions based on all the data in front of us.

The subconscious mind is very efficient, but it can also hold us back. Sometimes we are holding on negative beliefs and assumptions that are no longer relevant, and they get in the way of our happiness and contentment. Psychology reveals up to 70% of these “learned” behaviors, beliefs and programs are disempowering, self-sabotaging and limiting. Your subconscious mind causes you to feel emotionally and physically uncomfortable whenever you attempt to do anything new or different or to change any of your established patterns of behavior.

Below are 4 Techniques to help you in boosting your happiness through the subconscious mind:

1- Visualize Your Happiness

Happiness is a very personal concept. For some happiness stems from meaningful relationships, and for others it’s about achieving a specific goal in their career. Define what happiness means to you and then start visualizing what that may look like. You can use guided meditations or simply spend a few minutes daily to close your eyes and imagine yourself feeling happy and content. Imagine all the details: what you are wearing, who you are with, what you are feeling, saying, and doing.

2- The DELETE Button

The next time you have a repetitive negative thought that is robbing you of your joy, imagine pressing the DELETE button in your mind and seeing the thought disappear off a screen or a piece of paper with that thought being burned or thrown in the trash. Visualizing the destruction of the negative thought can be a powerful method for quickly banishing these from our subconscious minds.

After the thought has been deleted, replace it with a positive statement. For example, the next time you get cut off in traffic and think “People are so inconsiderate”. DELETE that thought and replaced it with “People are doing the best they can and they don’t intentionally intend to annoy me”.

3- Affirmations & Self-Talk

When speaking to yourself about your goals, put them in the present tense. Instead of saying “I will find a partner someday”, flip it to “All the conditions are right in my life to welcome my life partner” or “I am ready to meet my life partner”. Writing down these affirmations where you can see them daily can be powerful way to get your subconscious mind to accept these beliefs. When our beliefs change, our actions change. When we change our actions, we get different outcomes.

4- Start a Gratitude Journal

One of the best ways to re-program our minds to be a space of “having” rather than “wanting” is to practice gratitude. Gratitude has also shown to be an evidence-based method of boosting our happiness levels. Simply starting or ending your day with jotting down 3-5 things that you’re grateful for can shift your mindset towards contentment and abundance. You can even turn it into a family activity by going around the dinner table each night and sharing three things each person was grateful for that day.