Your paradigm is the operating system of your world.
It dictates how think, how you feel, and how you behave.
There can be large, overarching paradigms and smaller paradigms within larger ones.
But that’s not the problem.
The problem is that most people are not aware of their own paradigms, the operating system that is unconsciously controlling them.
What’s more, is that the majority of paradigms that are running our lives were not of our own choosing. They were imposed upon us by our family, our society, and the world over time.
Most people never stop to question the paradigms that control their lives, and that can be a huge problem.
Why?
Because the paradigms that we unconsciously accept can have huge negative consequences on our lives.
Imagine living your whole life believing that “all people are bad”, or that “you have to sell your soul to make money”. Or that “all women are this” and “all men are that”.
When we subscribe to old, unconscious worldviews (paradigms), we can severely limit ourselves and prevent ourselves from experiencing the life that we really want.
So what would happen if you could choose to see the world in a certain way? What if we could change our paradigm?
Well, you can.
It’s just that you’re conditioned to an old paradigm and it’s likely been operating for a long time so you may not even realize it’s there.
To pinpoint the operating system of your life, start looking at what problems you have.
Now, don’t dwell on this too much but by considering what’s wrong with your life, you can start to uncover where might have some unhelpful conditioning running in the background.
Ask yourself:
What’s holding me back in life?
Is it a lack of money? A lack of relationships? A lack of power? Is it your self-image that’s the problem?
All of these limitations are a product of your paradigm, your self, and your worldview.
So what is a paradigm?
A paradigm is simply a set of parameters defining how we see the world. They are our assumptions and beliefs about certain things that we hold to be fact and so we never question them.
They are like rules for a game.
So for example, if we see all people as untrustworthy and selfish, then that is our paradigm about people and that is how they will appear to us.
On the other hand, if you see people as generally trusting and good-natured, then that will be your reality.
People used to believe the earth was flat, then Copernicus proved them all wrong and the world had a huge paradigm shift.
So can you develop a new paradigm?
You sure can! But it requires a few ingredients.
First, you need to develop the awareness of where you are currently limiting yourself.
Like Neo seeing the Matrix, you must begin to notice your assumptions about certain things in your life.
Do you automatically assume that the girl isn’t attracted to you?
Do you automatically assume that the cashier didn’t like you?
(Or perhaps you’re the opposite and you think everyone’s attracted to you and likes you!)
Generally speaking, a lot of us will tend to fall into the former group.
So begin noticing what you want to change.
That is step one.
Next, you have to develop an alternative paradigm.
That is, in a perfect world, how would you choose to interpret the situation?
How would you like to perceive reality?
You get to decide!
You were given the gift of consciousness and imagination. If you can think it and imagine it, you can create it in your life.
Once you’ve determined how you’d like your reality to play out, it’s time to move to step three which is to condition yourself to believe it.
You see, this is where imagination becomes reality in the body and where the body starts to step into the feeling of that reality.
This is the step where the rubber meets the road!
Now that you know the situation you want to change AND you know what you want to change it to, you have to practice envisioning that reality in your mind.
This is, essentially, visualization.
This is where you take a few minutes to sit quietly and imagine yourself in the situation you want to change. And in this visualization, conjure up your desired reality.
You should feel the feelings of what it would be like to experience that reality in your body.
If you don’t feel it then you’re not fully connected to the reality of it and it won’t be effective.
You have to summon the feeling of the new reality and sit in the feeling for as long as you can (or as long as you’d like).
Simply enjoy the feeling.
You will likely notice shifts in your body.
Your posture might straighten out.
The tension you were holding somewhere in your body might let go.
You might start to feel more powerful.
You are conditioning yourself to a new way of being.
You want to practice this as often as you can throughout the day but as a bare minimum, do it first thing in the morning and last thing before bed.
(This is where your subconscious is most suggestable)
The more often you do it and the more emotional energy behind it, the better.
You might notice, next time you’re out and about and the situation arises, that your natural response feels different.
You are slowly shifting your paradigm.
You see, the mind needs confirmation and the heart must believe it’s possible.
When you combine feeling with everyday confirmation of this changing reality, you will begin to shift your paradigm to one of your choosing!
As you continue to tap into the feelings of this new reality, your nervous system will start to naturally gravitate towards this alternative paradigm and less to the old one.That is how you change an old, unhelpful paradigm into something of your choosing, into something that serves you and helps you lead a life that you enjoy.
