Tag Your Thoughts
Thought Tagging is an essential Ancient Technology you can use to change unwanted behaviors. Where would spiritual growth and personal development be without this technique? Do you understand how to tag your thoughts? Do you know what to do once the tags are triggered?
We walk through life unconscious most of the time. And there are certain situations which push our buttons, so to speak. When they do, and we are unconscious, we react automatically from whatever programming we have in our past.
Tagging your thoughts and actions is like putting a wakeup call on a thought or action. Anytime the thought occurs an alarm goes off. Any time you engage in an action the alarm goes off. You then have the opportunity to become conscious and decide how to respond rather than reacting in a way that you know is hazardous to your well being.
Tagging your thought is a simple process:
1. Decide which thought or action you wish to tag.
2. Close your eyes, breathe deeply, relax and get centered.
3. Focus on the thought or action to be tagged and ask yourself, “What are my buttons, under what circumstances are these thoughts triggered?”
4. Decide what new thoughts or actions you want to become automatic. What do you want your new habit of thinking to be? Create a script.
5. Imagine becoming conscious when tag is triggered, just like a button was pressed and an alarm went off. Imagine yourself remembering that you have a new program to install, to put into practice.
6. Imagine yourself consciously and deliberately changing the thinking or action. Act out the new script in your mind.
7. Repeat these steps as often as needed. You will know you are successful when you become conscious everytime you find yourself in the situation you are attempting to tag.
What to do once the tag is triggered:
1. Stop and let yourself become conscious. Breathe deeply.
2. Take your time and proceed slowly.
3. Remember the new thought; explore it, contemplate it. If it is an action, perform the new action, even if you have to undo the old action and redo the new action. Review why it is that you want the new thought or action to become dominant.
4. Feel the energy of the new thought or action. If it does not feel good you have not chosen a replacement thought that will take you were you want to go in life. Come up with a replacement thought that does feel good. Stick with, keep reaching for new thoughts, until it does feel good.
Remember you are reprogramming yourself here. You need to practice the new program for it to be effective. Even if you make the mistake of automatically falling into old patterns, it is VERY IMPORTANT to rethink or redo the thought or action the new way. You MUST practice if you want the new behavior to automatically replace the old behavior. Practice is what will create your new habit of thought and action.
Mental practice is just as good as physical practice when it comes to physical actions. You can change physical behaviors by mentally practicing the desired new behavior.
Also check out my blog posting titled Reprogramming Self which has more information about changing your automatic thought and behavior patterns.
Love and Blessings,
Michael Skowronski
Author of Unforgettable: A Love and Spiritual Growth Story
P.S. For an enjoyable read that will make you laugh and bring you to tears check out my book Unforgettable: A Love and Spiritual Growth Story. This is a true story that is a good example of spiritual principals being intentionally applied and unintentionally misapplied. The results speak for themselves.
Full book reviews can be found on Amazon.com and BarnesAndNoble.com
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May 11th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Very good advice that makes perfect sense. I do practice this technique routinely, though must admit that being a woman - who is occasionally prompted by “emotion” rather than logic - I occasionally respond out of that old nature versus what my common sense would have me to do.
Loved the post!
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