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Weight Loss Exercise

How the Dickens Technique Can Change Your Life

There is a concept called the Dickens Technique, it is used extensively by Tony Robbins to change peoples lives and comes from NLP (neuro Linguistic programming) principles.

The Dickens technique gets its name and process from the character of Scrooge in Charles Dickens book A Christmas Carol. I am sure you remember the story where Scrooge was a miserable guy and he changed after he saw how his actions and way he thought now would absolutely create sadness and lack in the future. In seeing this he of course realized that there was no way to continue and that he had to change.

Well the Dickens technique does exactly this as well. You find a limiting belief, see what the future would be like, look at not having this limiting belief and see how the future would look instead, and then you will make that change.

The trouble often is that we know we should change a belief because it is a good thing to do, but good things to do will not create a very sustained emotional change in us. Instead we need to have a great emotional reason to change for the new belief to be permanent.

Using an example here is an idea of exactly how to use the Dickens Technique

How The Dickens Technique Works


How the Dickens Technique Can Change Your Life

Tony Robbins Uses the Dickens Technique a lot

1. You know that, or you have see information that says that you need to do weight based exercise every week. You don’t really like the idea of going to the trouble of joining a gym, ;earning about the exercises you need to do, and carving out the time from your busy schedule to workout.

2. First look at what would happen if you continued as you are without doing the weight workouts. You look 6 months out with out doing the weights and you are basically as strong as now, you aren’t too worried, you look out a year from now and see that you would have the same aches and pains as you do now, no big deal. You look out 10 years from now though and see that through degenerative issues you may have trouble walking up hills, your weak core leads to back problems, your lack of muscle mass leads to a hunched over posture and a sore neck, and finally you also see that you would be much less vibrant as a person.

3. That limiting belief doesn’t do you any good. Get rid of the thought of it and instead switch to a less limiting belief. You don’t have to commit to being a gym rat every day, that would be a difficult way to get started (here I am using my own limiting beliefs on you, not fair but anyway…).

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4. Now you look at what would be the effect if you just went to the gym once or twice a week. In 6 months you would be transformed. You would be stronger and more aware of how your body works and feels. In one year you have a better physique and are able to work better for longer at work with better concentration, very aware of the effect of food on your body, and also able to leap tall buildings in a single bound (well maybe not yet). Finally 10 years out you can see that instead of being weakened you are stronger than anyone your own age. You walk with confidence and strength thanks to a strong core. And whenever you want to go out and have fun there are no limits that you need to impose on your self, you physically do what you want when you want.

5. Now, critical point, make sure you can feel that way right now. Not that you are super strong right now but instead identify yourself as being at that starting place between the you now and that you in the future. You can use the future you to tell the present time you. Do the work! Make the changes necessary! Get started now because the future you is waiting 6 months, 1 year, and even 10 years out to do the work up front.

How Does the Dickens Technique Really Help?

This Dickens technique may seem a little bit like self-hypnosis, and in fact it is. You are reprogramming the way you feel about something to make sure that you know the consequences of your limiting belief.

Now that I have given you a very concrete example I think it is up to you. Journal your beliefs, I know that most people either free form their journaling to what they want or how the past went but you can also add this in. Ask yourself what irritates you. What you wish you could do. Even ask yourself what is really important that you have been holding back on because it is wrong or stupid.

Quite often we don’t recognise our limiting beliefs and they cause us lots of trouble. People stay poor, sad, jealous, guilty, and unfulfilled because what they have done in the past was to live small. If you get rid of some of those limiting beliefs that you have you can start to build your life up starting now.

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Weight Loss Exercise

How to Cope With Depression

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Are you wondering how to cope with depression? Depression affects several of our everyday activities including our work, studies and relationships with others. People with depression do not just get better overnight, especially those that suffer from major bouts of depression. It is equally important to know how to cope with depression as it is to get treated for it. If you are ready to start coping with your depression, here are a few tips.

How to Cope With Depression

Have a Support Group – It is very helpful to have friends or family you can reach out to at any given time to talk about your feelings. Having an outlet in this form makes it easier as you feel the love and support from others. Your support group can help you in how to cope with depression.

How to Cope With Depression

How to Cope With Depression

Stick to the Plan – Stick to the therapy sessions and medication your doctor has prescribed for you. While it may not seem to work at first, continuing with the prescribed treatment will eventually reap its benefits. In the meantime, resolving to go through with therapy can help you get strength on coping with depression.

Have an Outlet – Having a way to express frustration, sadness or extreme emotions is a way of how to cope with depression. Go into art or pick up a hobby. Occupying your time with these activities can take your mind off your depression. Make time for these hobbies so you can withdraw yourself from stressful situations regularly.

Start Changing your Lifestyle – Change your dietary habits. Eating a balanced meal can help you cope with depression. Natural food such as fruits and vegetables contain nutrients that our body needs for its chemical balance. This in turn helps our body cope better with stress.

Having a regular exercise routine is also a good way to fight stress. Physical activity releases hormones and other substances that naturally make our body feel good. It also boosts immunity making us less prone to illnesses.

How to Cope With Depression Using Therapy

Coping with depression means preparing your mind and body to overcome depression. While you are on your therapy it is important to make sure that you are able to withstand the different sources of stress which can intensify depression.

Reach out and ask help from your physician and your friends and family. They’ll be able to guide you on how to cope with depression and help you on your way to recovery.

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General Weight Loss Tips

Feeling Funky

I’m in a funk. I’ve stopped myself from many times from going full on Debbie Downer here, and so far so good, but I can’t keep it in any longer. I can’t recall ever feeling like this, I feel like I’m not connecting, not fitting in, not understanding anything that’s coming my way. I feel like I’m trying to walk in very thick sand.

I’ve lost the twinkle of hope, that passion for making things happen. That spark to stretch myself and try something new. All I want to do is retreat. And this has been going on for months.

I’m hesitant to even put this out there because, really, does the world need more words about sadness? Loss of hope? And then I realized that I know it will come back and this too shall pass, but I feel an itch to share, regardless of how vulnerable it makes me feel.

And you want to know the weirdest part about this funk? It has nothing to do with weight loss. I’m losing, and lately due to loss of appetite, rather rapidly (13 pounds in one week.) Normally I would jump for joy to see these numbers on the scale, but lately, I’m indifferent.

I have a few ideas as to where these feelings are coming from. For starters, I’ve become scared to try something new.

In the past four years I’ve tried a little bit of everything…design, catering, jewelry, clothing design, blogging, e-book writing, and a few more other things that I’ve forgotten along the way. Each time I start out with this hope of what I could become. I fall in love with the potential of a new business, a new idea, a smaller version of myself. I have great desire to “do big things”, but sadly, I’ve come to realize that I was more in love with the result rather than the process.

And because I believe everything in life is connected and related, I know that deep down, what I do and how I make a living has a lot to do with how I feel and care about myself. And somewhere along the line I never figured out or changed my perspective enough on any given thing/business/idea/project to fall in love with the process (a line I’m stealing from The Biggest Loser.)

And I want to get there. To be in the love with the process of taking care of myself rather than the result of being thin, or doing things because I love the action and not because its a defined direction or path.

I find myself worrying so much about things I do and don’t have control over. My mom emailed a quote to me recently,

“Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself
to be made a victim.
Accept no one’s definition
of your life,
but define yourself.”   
– Harvey S. Firestone

The last line is the one that hit me the most “accept no one’s definition of your life, but define yourself”. I’ve come to realize that I haven’t defined who I am or who I want to be. I’ve been waiting on other people to tell me who I am, or who they want me to be or who I can be. That path can be very unsteady. I’ve realized, that I’ve been relying on my past experiences to define who I am.

These experiences from junior or high school where I never felt good enough…my clothes, hair, makeup, body, personality…always fell too short. In the days when opinion flowed out of mouths so freely, where everything on the outside was the measure of a worthwhile person, those days still linger too many years later.

I want to give myself permission to define who I am, who I want to be, and unapologetically become that person. I want to move forward even when fear starts screaming in my head. Fear that my efforts are lost, that they won’t get me anywhere, or that it’s pointless to  try.

Recently, I’ve had strong desires to start painting and illustrating again, a skill that I picked up in college and loved. I let it go because I didn’t let myself get good enough. I feared the work that was involved in getting good, I worried that I would spend all this time and never arrive. That I could never feed myself off of it. That it wouldn’t matter. That I’d never be good enough.

And the realization that I stopped doing something because I was both in love with and afraid of the result, rather than the process, knocks the wind out of me. And I understand deeply, where this trend pops up over and over again in my life.

Silly little things and the big stuff too. I’ve put so much weight in these imaginary outcomes, that I’ve stopped myself from ever starting or even being in the process.

What if I lose weight and I’m still ugly, or have a loose skin? What if people resent me? What if I get unwanted male attention? Why both lose weight?

What if I start painting, but never sell a print? What if I never wrap my own canvas? What if I’m never taken seriously? Why bother painting?

What if I never make a good living doing what I love? What if my businesses stop growing? What if I can’t keep up with the growth? What will I have to give up in order to make more income?

What if I start marketing my design…what if I fall short? or make a mistake? or ruin my reputation? What if I’m never credible? What if I fall short or miss a deadline? Why bother design?

And I do this with everything, cleaning, exercising, work, meeting new friends, staying in touch…on and on and on. I can play the “what if” game for so long that I wake up at 29 and realize that I stopped it all before it got good.

Update: This post is good timing for the Things I’m Afraid to Tell You series of blog entries that are making their way around the blogosphere.

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