Moment 144 How To ACTUALLY Break Bad Habits Joe Dispenza

In a thought-provoking dialogue, Speaker A emphasizes the challenge of breaking habitual patterns to enact personal change, explaining that transformation requires altering one's thoughts, actions, and feelings. Speaker A, identified as Joe, discusses the neuroscience behind habits and the importance of becoming acutely conscious to reprogram the subconscious mind, particularly during the receptive states when waking up or before sleep. Joe advocates for daily meditation to rewire the brain and rehearse new behaviors and emotions, reinforcing the idea that consistent practice can lead to profound shifts in identity and reality. Speaker B engages with Joe on the practicalities of this process and the common myths that hinder people from embracing their role as creators of their lives rather than victims of circumstance.

• Change is difficult because it requires making different choices than before, leading to discomfort.
• Making a different choice from habitual behavior is necessary to initiate change.

"The hardest part about change is not making the same choice as you did the day before."

The quote emphasizes that the first step in the process of change is to consciously make different choices than those made habitually in the past.

• Listeners often have the intention to change based on advice but fail to act on it consistently.
• Despite having information and intention, a barrier exists that prevents regular implementation.

"There's something stood in the way of me doing something about that information on a regular basis."

This quote reflects the common struggle between knowing what is beneficial and actually taking consistent action to apply that knowledge.

• Habits are behaviors repeated so often they become subconscious.
• The body can perform habitual actions without conscious thought, making change difficult.
• Constant repetition of thoughts, choices, and emotions hardwires the biology.

"A habit is when you've done something so many times that your body now knows how to do it better than your conscious mind."

The quote explains how repetitive actions become habits, which are then executed more efficiently by the subconscious mind than the conscious mind.

• Neurons that fire together wire together, reinforcing habits.
• Changing requires altering thoughts, actions, and feelings.
• To change, one must become conscious enough to avoid slipping back into unconscious habits.

"If you keep thinking the same way, if you keep making the same choices, if you keep doing the same things, if you keep reproducing the same experiences and feeling the same emotions, your biology begins to become hardwired."

This quote describes the neurological basis for why habits form and how they become ingrained within our biology, necessitating a conscious effort to change.

• The door to the subconscious mind opens during the transition between sleep and wakefulness.
• Meditation can help bypass the analytical mind to access the subconscious.
• The conscious mind alone is insufficient for change; reprogramming occurs at the subconscious level.

"So then you got to learn how to change your brainwaves, slow them down, get beyond the analytical mind and enter the operating system where you can rewrite a program where you can make this changes."

The quote outlines the process of accessing the subconscious mind by altering brainwaves through practices such as meditation, which is crucial for enabling change.

• Conscious affirmations are ineffective if they do not penetrate the subconscious.
• The body often resists conscious affirmations, blocking change.
• Reprogramming requires a state of suggestibility achieved by slowing down brainwaves.

"You can't do it with your conscious mind. You can say, I'm healthy, I'm healthy. I'm wealthy, I'm wealthy. I'm unlimited, I'm unlimited. I'm happy. I'm happy. I'm whole unhole. And your body's saying, no, you're not, dude. You're miserable."

This quote highlights the disconnect between conscious affirmations and subconscious beliefs, illustrating why simply stating positive affirmations is not enough to effect change.

• The importance of starting the day intentionally, rather than on autopilot, is emphasized.
• The speaker suggests sitting down and taming the body's cravings and programmed behaviors before beginning the day.
• The concept of being "greater than" one's body, environment, and time is introduced.
• The speaker advises to contemplate the greatest expression of oneself and to consciously choose thoughts and emotions for the day.
• The process involves writing down thoughts and emotions to become aware of them and rehearsing desired changes in behavior.

"Before you start your day, instead of falling into that redundant habit, go on autopilot. Just say, okay, if the change is to be greater than my body, to be greater than my environment, be greater than time, and the environment's so seductive, and my body's craving certain emotions, and it's programmed to get up and do things."

This quote highlights the challenge of overcoming automatic behaviors and the seductive nature of one's environment, emphasizing the need to be proactive in shaping one's day.

• The speaker discusses the practice of visualizing and rehearsing the desired state of being.
• The idea is to frequently evoke and feel positive emotions such as kindness, care, love, gratitude, and appreciation.
• It's suggested to become so familiar with these emotions that one can easily access them throughout the day.
• The speaker claims that consistent practice can lead to biological changes and the realization of one's desired destiny.

"We discovered that if you keep doing that every day, somehow you'll arrive at that destiny and your biology will literally begin to change, to look like you're living in a different life."

The quote summarizes the potential transformative power of daily emotional and behavioral practice, suggesting that it can lead to significant changes in one's life and biology.

• The speaker encourages reflecting at the end of the day on how well one maintained their desired state of consciousness.
• The speaker notes that most people abandon their vision of the future because it requires them to think, act, and feel differently.
• The difficulty of change is attributed to the discomfort of making different choices and stepping into the unknown.
• The speaker suggests that some people prefer to cling to negative aspects of their identity rather than embrace change and the possibility of a new future.

"Most people then, they have that vision of the future, but they give up on that vision because in order for them to arrive at that vision, they have to do something. They have to think differently, they have to act differently. They have to feel differently."

This quote emphasizes the gap between having a vision for the future and the necessary actions required to achieve it, highlighting the challenge of changing one's habitual ways of thinking, acting, and feeling.

• The speaker is asked about common myths that unconsciously hold people back from changing their behavior and personality.
• The question implies that there are misconceptions about the nature of change that prevent people from taking action.

"What are some of the biggest myths relating to behavior change and I guess, character and personality change that hold people back unconsciously?"

This quote sets up the topic of exploring common myths and misunderstandings about behavior and personality change that hinder people's progress unconsciously.

• The speaker begins to address the myths of behavior change by suggesting that people often wait for external circumstances to change before they believe they can change internally.
• This idea implies a misconception that change must be initiated from the outside rather than from within oneself.

"We're always waiting for something out there in our life to change so that we can change"

The quote captures the misconception that external changes are a prerequisite for personal change, hinting at the need for an internal shift to initiate transformation.

• Personal transformation begins within and is reflected externally.
• Moving from victimhood to becoming a creator of one's life changes the approach from obligation to desire.
• Investing in oneself is equated to investing in one's future.
• There is a widespread disbelief in being creators of our own lives, which is challenged when taking responsibility for our own experiences.

"I think when you start changing inside of you, and you start seeing the changes happening outside of you. You go from being a victim in your life to being a creator of your life."

This quote emphasizes the idea that personal change starts from within and that this internal change can lead to a shift in how one perceives and interacts with the world, moving from a passive to an active role in life.

• The concept of personal responsibility can be uncomfortable as it requires accepting accountability for both positive and negative life events.
• Acknowledging oneself as the creator of their life involves recognizing the role one plays in both successes and misfortunes.

"Shift in consciousness that makes people feel uncomfortable. This idea of personal responsibility, it's almost become quite a controversial idea."

The speaker is highlighting the discomfort that comes with the shift towards accepting personal responsibility for one's life, as it challenges individuals to confront their role in their own experiences.

• Creating involves being intentional with thoughts, actions, and feelings.
• To create a new personal reality, one must change their personality.
• Being conscious of one's default programming and choosing to think and act differently is essential.
• Repeatedly practicing new thoughts and behaviors can install new mental "software."

"If you woke up every morning and you truly made time to think like this, okay, if my personality creates my personal reality and my personality is made of how I think, how I act, and how I feel, if I want to create a new personal reality, a new life, I'm going to have to change my personality."

This quote describes the process of creating a new personal reality by changing one's personality, which is composed of thoughts, actions, and feelings. It implies that intentional change in these areas is necessary to transform one's life.

• Mental rehearsal is a powerful tool used by various professionals to prepare for performance.
• Practicing mental rehearsal can build neural circuits in the brain, which in turn influences behavior and thought patterns.
• This process can help individuals prepare for how they want to act in future situations, contributing to personal change and growth.

"Mental rehearsal is one of these great ideas in neuroscience where you can actually install circuits in your brain, right? So everybody has done this. Musicians do it. They're playing a song in their mind all the time. Athletes do it. They're always going over their moves."

This quote explains the concept of mental rehearsal and its ability to create neural pathways in the brain. It provides examples of professionals who use this technique to enhance their performance, suggesting its applicability to personal development.

• The brain can be primed and physically changed through thought alone.
• Mental rehearsal can lead to physiological changes similar to those achieved through physical practice.
• The process of learning new skills like playing the piano can be facilitated by mental practice.

"They actually prime their brain. They actually can change their brain and change their body just by thought alone."

This quote emphasizes the power of thought in initiating changes within the brain and body, suggesting that mental activities can have tangible physical effects.

• A study divided people into two groups to learn piano, with one physically practicing and the other using mental rehearsal.
• Both groups showed similar growth in brain circuits after five days, despite one group not physically touching a piano.
• Mental rehearsal made the brain behave as if the person had actual experience playing the piano.

"You take those people, the other group, and you ask them to close their eyes without lifting a finger, have them mentally rehearse those scales and chords. And at the end of five days, they grow the same amount of circuits in their brain as the people who actually physically demonstrated the act."

This quote describes an experiment illustrating that mental rehearsal can produce the same neurological development as physical practice, highlighting the brain's inability to distinguish between real and imagined experiences.

• Mental rehearsal can be applied to various roles and learning scenarios.
• Repeated mental practice aligns behaviors with intentions, creating automatic responses.
• Installing the 'mind' for a behavior is essential for change; without it, people revert to past behaviors.

"So then, if you're going to prime your brain for a new behavior, whether you're the CEO of a company, whether you're a parent, whether you're learning something. The more you rehearse it mentally, the more you prime your brain and body for the act."

This quote discusses the broad applicability of mental rehearsal, indicating that consistent mental practice primes the brain for new behaviors, making them more natural and automatic.

• Mental rehearsal can be used to change decision-making processes and emotional responses.
• Practicing different scenarios in the mind can help in making better decisions in real life.
• Emotions like guilt can be reconditioned through mental practice by teaching the body to feel desired emotions such as worth, self-love, or joy.

"So I play through that scenario of making the decision differently."

The speaker suggests using mental rehearsal to explore alternative decision-making outcomes, which can lead to actual behavioral change.

• Meditation is the practice of familiarizing oneself with an old self to become conscious of unconscious behaviors.
• It involves teaching the body to emotionally understand a future feeling before it happens.
• Repetition in meditation makes new emotional states more familiar and easier to achieve.

"That's exactly what meditation is. To become familiar with an old self, to know thyself, to become so conscious of that unconscious self that you don't go unconscious to that self."

The quote links the concept of mental rehearsal to meditation, explaining that meditation is about becoming aware of automatic behaviors and emotions to facilitate change.