The Basic Self

He told me his Dr. said he had to see a nutritionist, exercise more, eat three healthy high-protein meals a day with snacks in between, and to stop eating at 6 PM. He needed to stop drinking coffee and juices. He needed to lose weight and start pricking his finger throughout the day to keep track of his blood sugar levels and, ultimately, avoid having to take medication, or worse, give himself insulin shots. He needed to "take better care of himself" or he would surely become a full-blown diabetic.

He told me he HATED the reality of his situation; "Its too many things to deal with, and I don't like the idea of pricking my fingers every day to draw blood - it makes me want to faint! I want my pork, dammit!"

  I completely understood and shared my own recent "bad habit" of eating an enormous bowl of homemade kettle corn popcorn pretty much every night in spite of it causing me to gain weight. It was my latest "comfort food," and as innocent as it was, it was nevertheless detrimental to my health. I knew it, I liked it too much to stop.

          I talked to him about different levels of consciousness, one of them being the basic self, which deals with habits and patterns, and how, if one can understand the psychology behind the basic self and approach making behavioral changes from being kind, there is a much better possibility of success.  I talked about how it's easier to do what is familiar and identify with it as "normal" even while being miserable, or knowing it really isn't the right thing for one reason or another.

          When we attempt to change any pattern/habit from a place of fear (ESPECIALLY when the medical profession says to), or are judging ourselves as wrong and think that we "should", the behavioral change might last for a while, but not long. Making changes from a loving and accepting place is a world of difference and has a far greater chance of success.

The basic self's job is to MAINTAIN THE PHYSICAL BODY AT ALL COSTS; it is about survival! It wants to know when it is going to be fed, when it is going to sleep, and where.  It is like a baby - no more than four years old in self awareness. It needs to be tended to… all ... the ... time. Just like a baby feels secure with routines, so does the basic self.

The basic self lives in the belly and houses the emotions, (Most of us are familiar with that butterfly nervousness we feel in our belly before doing something that scares us.)  It does not like it when we evolve spiritually because it thinks its survival is being threatened.  It will do anything to sabotage spiritual progression. (I.e.: Have you ever been meditating and had the urge to stop and go have ice cream?)

The part of you that is reading this is (ideally) the conscious self… A.k.a. "the adult."  Our job as a conscious self is to educate the basic self. Typically, when we decide to (or are told we need to) make a change in some behavior, and especially if done from a place of "I should do this," the basic self rebels BIG TIME. Remember, the basic self is like a little child. It sincerely believes that the behavior (s) it has been doing are what it is supposed to do and needs to do to survive. If you make it feel wrong for doing what you as a conscious self taught it to do in the first place, it doesn't cooperate. Understanding this is paramount.

The High Self is where our inspiration comes from… the lofty ideals. It is the voice that guides us to "apply for that job now." "Don't go to the family reunion after all." There is no logic to the high self; it is a non-invasive influence that, when listened to, can guide our lives in a gentle and positive direction.

It is the conscious self that teaches the basic self to do patterns in the first place. Therefore, if you think about it, it is the responsibility of the conscious self to lovingly reeducate the basic self about why changing any unwanted behavior to something more beneficial would be enticing and healthier in the long run.

          Regardless of how long a habit has been intact… the basic self literally has it wired that were it to change the behavior, it would die. Whether the habit/pattern has been "good" for us or not, fact of the matter is, the basic self has done a great job at doing whatever the pattern is. The basic self wants (and deserves) to understand why the pattern of behavior you are wanting to change doesn't work anymore, and be "shown" (so to speak) why this new goal/affirmation is a great idea! When we talk to our little child with respect, it treats us with respect.

 Fact: The basic self hears the ends of sentences, so when we say things like, "I just can't lose this weight. It's impossible." "I shouldn't be fat,"… the basic self hears, "can't lose this weight.  It's impossible."  "Be fat." It acts accordingly.  The basic self, being (maybe) four years old, seldom cooperates under the circumstances.  Which is why our attempts to change a behavior often get sabotaged. Our little child throws a cog in the wheel when we approach it with an attitude of reprimanding it for something we taught it to do in the first place.

AFFIRMATIONS

An effective tool to give the basic self permission to express itself is working with affirmations.  They give the basic self a voice… Often a very LOUD one that, in time, once it "gets" that is being listened to at the same time that it "gets" the goal, starts to cooperate and have less to say. Here's how it works:

1) Make a column down the middle of a page of paper. Title the left half “basic self” and the right half “response.”

 2) Think of an affirmation that you want to set for yourself ... something that you don't have yet, but to which you aspire.  The affirmation must be stated in the present tense, in a positive voice, and in action... stated as if you already have it.

          One that I worked with was, "I, Deb, am enjoying my lithe, powerful and magnificent body." (I weighed 265 pounds, was on eight drugs and could barely transfer at the time) Other examples might be, "I, Tom, am patient with the process of being disciplined, eating great food, exercising and feeling healthy."  "I, Joy, feel nourished by food, safe with my sexuality and power as I lose weight."

NOTE: Habits and patterns are definitely not limited to food… A few other examples are: drug addiction, alcoholism, hoarding, being physically or emotionally abusive, cutting, etc.

3) Once you come up with an affirmation, it should disturb you a little bit, if not a lot. That response to the affirmation is your basic self's voice.  That response is what you write down in the response column.  The idea is to allow the basic self to have a voice.

4) I suggest writing the affirmation a minimum of 20 times every day for 30 days, which is about the time it takes to break a habit/pattern. Do NOT worry about editing your basic self's responses. Let yourself swear, get it ALL out of your system, and in time, you'll notice that the basic self's voice dissipates and the affirmation becomes the new behavior/pattern!

         

          By writing down the affirmation on the left side, then letting the basic self express itself, the basic self feels heard. When it feels heard, it feels that you, the conscious self, "the adult", cares.  It will be much more apt to cooperate. When you write the affirmations, in the beginning, the scale, by nature, will be tipped in that the basic self will have a LOT to say.  Go ahead and let it say what it has to say!  After all, it's your little child.  Given a chance to scream and throw a tantrum while you're acknowledging it and loving it, it will relax.  You just keep writing the affirmation and hold that vision.

Here is an example:
AFFIRMATION                         RESPONSE

I, Deb, am enjoying my lithe,             "What are you nuts? You’re full 

powerful, and magnificent body.           of shit! Look at me!"


I, Deb, am enjoying my lithe,             "You're not even close.  What
powerful, and magnificent body.           are you talking about?"

I, Deb, am enjoying my lithe, .          "What channel are you on?”

powerful and magnificent body

Get it?

Make a point to do it every day, and don't go back and read it; that just puts it in again. The idea is to let it go and move on.  Eventually, the basic self starts running out of things to say.  You might even find your behavior changing sooner than later!  It really is about loving ourselves, and this is one way to embrace the resistance and make the changes necessary to feel good, healthy, and be the best we can in the world!