When Would Now Be A Good Time To change

Posted on October 30, 2011 by Brittney Kara, One of Thousands of Health and Fitness Coaches on Noomii.

Have you ever asked yourself if you are a person that embraces change or not? For most of us this can be a difficult question because our reaction maybe based on, if the change is good or bad. Consider for a moment that all change is inevitably good in the end. You may be thinking that sounds ridiculous, because bad things do happen that at the time seem awful, unfair, sad, and depressing. But what if everything that has ever happened to you in life was perfect and on purpose? What if every change you have ever gone through has led you perfectly to this moment you are in now? Well, what if your life is not that great right now? What then? Was everything still perfect? And was the change all good?

I would argue yes. Yes, everything is always perfect, and yes all change is good. You see as human beings we often look at change as a negative thing. Our subconscious minds get fixed on our daily routines and change seems foreign to us, therefore, it becomes something to fear. Often with addictions this is a main factor. Change can be scary to an addict because it means that new habits must take the place of the old ones. Daily scenarios will change, and our environments will change. When you get off drugs and alcohol some of the most profound changes will occur in your life. Your relationships will change, your outlook, mood, health, financial situation, living conditions, and countless other life occurrences will dramatically shift. This can feel scary and daunting for people as they decided or take their first steps into sobriety.

I remember when I finally made the decision to quite smoking cigarettes once and for all. I had already overcome my drug and alcohol addiction, and smoking was my last big vice. I was terrified to quit! There was that little voice inside my head saying, “What if you can’t do it? What if you are going to be a smoker for life?” I choose to ignore that voice and embrace the change, and it was one of the best decisions I have made in my life. From that one change so many things in my life changed. My health improved, my friendships changed, I attracted a new man who later became my husband, I had more money since I wasn’t spending it on my vice anymore, I didn’t smell like an ashtray. There were so many other wonderful things that happened from that one change.

We all live in a world that is constantly changing faster than any of us can keep up with. Technology is changing daily, medicine, politics, science, and even the earth is constantly changing. It seems as though change should be something we are used to and fully accept. Why then does change seems so hard sometimes, and why is there fear attached to change?

When I started to study the human mind in more depth I was so intrigued by this idea of change in the body and why we resist it. When I finally got down to the actual science of it, I was so amazed. Our brains actually have a mechanism that protects us from change. In the back of our brains we have a little mechanism called the RAS (Reticular Activating System), the RAS is responsible for notifying the brain of change, and is designed to keep us safe. It is essentially the filtering system between our conscious and unconscious mind. When we start to feel or do something new our RAS actually fires off a chemical reaction in our body. If we are not used to doing this certain thing then we may feel that sense of what we call “fear” creeping into our bodies. Most people feel this feeling and stop whatever it is they were going to change or do. This chemical reaction is only temporary and if we continue to do whatever it is we are doing again and again, the RAS will stop notifying the body and accept it as the new norm. Now, this can work for our benefit or demise. Think about the first time you did drugs or drank. Were you nervous? Was your heart beating and did you have knots in your stomach? Most likely you had some sort of physical change before you actually took the drug or drank. That was your RAS firing off its signal telling the body and the brain that something new was coming its way. As you began to do drugs or drink regularly, this feeling started to disappear, because the brain started to recognize this new change as the norm, and thus you formed a new habit. It is so simple, yet so complex at the same time.

The problem is the RAS doesn’t’ really know if something is bad or good, it just recognizes change as something to be notified. That is why it is up to us to decipher in our conscious minds, if something is beneficial for us or not.

Because the RAS is so powerful, it is definitely worth our while to know about it. Now that you know what it is you can be consciously aware of when it fires off in your body. You can make the choice to accept your RAS’s signal or you can begin to reprogram it for different habits or changes that you would like to make. For instance if you are currently looking to improve your health but are a little nervous to take the first step, just remind yourself that your RAS will fire off its chemicals only for a short time before it will accept and embrace the new behavior.

I fully believe that we fear change because we don’t understand it. Change is really just a new or different sensation. That is all! Once we understand what our brains and bodies are trying to tell us, it makes it so much easier to make the appropriate change. As you start to release your addictions now, and move into a new life, remember that your RAS is there to protect you. It is designed to signal the body of change that could be harmful or dangerous to us. We must then use our conscious thinking to realize if the change we are making is positive or negative. That is the beautiful thing about being human, we get to decide, and we get to choose what we do everyday. No one controls us, and no one can make us do things we don’t want to do. Our RAS is there to protect us. But, if we don’t control it, it can also hurt us if we aren’t aware of the unconscious power of it.

Now that you are aware of your RAS, start to make positive changes and see how easy it is now. Embrace change as just a new sensation that your body is experiencing, because that is all it is, literally. Use it to guide you into new healthy habits, and just know that you are in control of it. There is lots of information out there about the RAS and how to reprogram it. You can search on YouTube or Google to find more scientific information out. I personally like to thank my RAS for protecting me when I am making a new change. Then I move forward into that new positive behavior with confidence and ease. We want to control our RAS, not the other way around, and we absolutely can! My question for you today is, when would now be a good time to change for the better?

For more information on change visit www.myaddictionrelease.com