Apparently, most of us don’t know what we really want in life.
Recently I've got into podcasts, and while tuning in to episode 498 of Feel Better Live More the other morning, I learned that while we can often describe what we don’t want, we find it much harder to verbalise or visualise what we do want.
This was a timely reminder since I'd just had an email from a loyal Arienas customer asking whether we would be hosting the Your Life, Your Way workshop run by Eugenia Rosa again in 2025. (Spoiler alert...we are now!)
In Dr Bruce Lipton's view (the interviewee) life is based on belief. As per his example, this means that if we believe that being old equates to falling apart and sitting on a chair staring at the landscape, then - thanks to our hard-wired sub-conscious brain - that’s exactly what we’ll end up doing, no matter how physically or mentally healthy we are.
At the ripe-young age of (nearly) 80, Lipton is still travelling the world speaking at length about the 'new' science of epigenetics (the theory that it's the environment that controls how our cells function, not our genes) to anyone and everyone who will listen, and has no plans to hang up his hat.
Lipton practises what he preaches: he spends his time (energy) on things that benefit him and his community, rather than expending this most valuable of resources on things he can’t control, or change, or that make him angry. In the case of both Lipton and host Dr Chatterjee, the latter includes no longer listening to the news, something I also find myself doing less and less.
Of his life's work, Lipton says,
"Life is energy...I'm not giving up on the energy. I love the energy because I get the energy back...it's love energy."
That’s a lot of energy right there in one sentence! Something I’ve been told by many of my elders, as well as quite a few contemporaries (and ergo become pre-programmed to believe) that we lack as we age.
But if age is a belief system in itself, as Lipton proposes, and we believe ageing means slowing down, then if we follow Lipton's thinking that's what we will do. I presume, if slowing down is what we desire from our later years, then that’s fine. But what if we don’t?
I hit official retirement age this year, and I asked myself at the start of the year whether it was time to retire from the responsibilities of paid work. I am fortunate that I don’t depend on the money - and my long-awaited state pension (yes, I’m one of those Waspi women) brings in more than I earn from the paid work I do.
But for me it was never about the money, but rather about what I could do to help others within my creative community earn a fair income. Through making a conscious decision to continue running The Arienas Collective, and building a Creative Workshops Scotland network, my time and energy are being spent doing something I’m passionate about, within a community which gives me so much energy back in return.
Though I've often used the phrase, I hadn't dwelled deeply on the difference between conscious and sub-conscious decision-making before, but it seems it is key. Here's why...
Lipton proposes we have two minds: our conscious mind, which is creative and subject to change; and our subconscious mind which is where the hard-to-change pre-programmed habits - mainly formed by others (think parents for example) - sit. Our wishes and desires rest within our conscious mind, so it was those that had informed my decision to continue.
Has this year presented its challenges? Absolutely! Do I regret my decision? Absolutely not. If it's right that the environment and our consciousness define our lives much more than our genes, while this raises a number of big questions for discussion elsewhere around nature versus nurture for example, in terms of how my future days, weeks, months and years might go, it tells me that I have more control over my physical and mental wellbeing than I thought.
Lipton starts each day glad to still be alive. He extols the power of a positive start to the day, as do many self-help gurus. The notion that if we begin the day from a place of negative thinking it will manifest as negative behaviour, and vice versa, seems a reasonable proposal. Lipton's theories help explain the biology behind why spiritually-inspired morning routines and rituals work for many: if we believe we will have a good day, the science supports that it's much more likely that we will.
I’d never been one for morning routines: to my not-yet-self-identified neurodivergent mind they were restrictive and contrived. But during lockdown I found myself doing exactly that, with the help Dr Chatterjee's book The Stress Solution: the 4 steps to reset your body, mind, relationships and purpose. I see now that it was a positive morning routine that helped me get through the long lonely days, and keep my spirits high. And I know it's something I need to be stricter about enforcing in 2025.
The self-work I did during that time also led me to my life mantra: a Gandhi quote,
“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”
Whenever I have a big decision to make I test it against my happiness mantra by asking myself: does what I’m about to do align with my beliefs? If it doesn’t, then I know it’s the wrong decision, or the wrong time.
As we race towards 2025, I will once again assess how I am spending my time and energy against my beliefs. It’s a process that goes beyond New Year’s Resolutions (though sometimes a simple resolution can work from my experience) to think more deeply about how I feel, and what I want from my life in the coming year. I will revisit my wishes and desires, and engage my creative conscious brain to re-programme any parts of my subconscious brain that get in the way.
This process always involves a new diary! (I buy Karst Stone Paper diaries and journals to help align my earth-conscious principles with my self-indulgent guilty pleasure of purchasing new stationery versus making my own or up-cycling something old.)
And it also always involves something visual: my mind maps have seen me through everything from exam revision to planning my next house move, or new business venture.
Apart from providing the science behind why mind mapping works for me, another thing that listening to this podcast helped me clarify is how - or perhaps more accurately why - my stalling Sensed Spaces project should feature in my 2025 vision.
Lipton proposes that every object around us gives off an energy: good vibes enhance energy, bad ones reduce energy. So where we put our chairs and hang our paintings matters because it makes our space feel better, and feelings are an interpretation of energy. (Consider how Feng Shui has influenced the Western interior design world in recent years, and why the Scandanavian principles of Hygge seem here to stay.)
This is not new theory. But it's music to my ears as I embark on another redesign of my home and work spaces to know that there's some science behind why I'm continually moving the furniture around!; and to back up spending my time and energy encouraging others to trust their senses to help them create spaces that make them feel good.
Lipton is a renowned leader in bridging science and spirit, and his work provides us with evidence of the biological science behind our beliefs. While his message is a reminder that the default position is for our future life to be informed by the past beliefs that have largely been created by others if we let it, it's also a heads up that we have the power to change the default programme by telling it - in the wannabe words of the Spice Girls - what we really, really want, and by reinforcing these new beliefs through changed daily behaviours.
If life is based on belief, and we can visualise or verbalise what we really want, we can re-programme the parts of our sub-conscious brain that hold views downloaded from others to let us lead a life that is more like the one our conscious mind desires.
If life is based on belief, and we can visualise or verbalise what we really want, we can re-programme the parts of our sub-conscious brain that hold views downloaded from others to let us lead a life that is more like the one our conscious mind desires. I didn't retire in 2024 because I identified what I really wanted to do was to carry on with all my creative projects, and what I really needed to do was find practical ways of making sure I could embed them in my every day life, while also achieving the better work-life time balance I yearned for. I booked myself onto a coaching course, and it was worth every minute of my time.
Did I achieve my desires? Mostly, but I've work to do on establishing the regular rituals and habits that will reinforce more positive behaviours and keep those nagging, negative sub-conscious thoughts at bay.
Taking - or rather making - time to listen to podcast 498 has reminded me how important it is to remain open to new ideas and perspectives (and the belief that we're never too old to learn); and to make sure it's my conscious, creative mind that is making the decisions...otherwise it just wouldn't be me being me.
Do you have a vision for how you want your life to be in 2025?
Lynn x
Your Life, Your Way in 2025 is a 3-hour evening workshop run by multi-modal artist and Healing Arts Practitioner Eugenia Rosa at The Arienas Collective on 17 January 2025 to help you to create a vision board with feeling that will inspire your brightest vision for the year ahead.
Join the waitlist to be notified when the Sensed Spaces: how to design your feel-good home workshop is available to book.
The 10th Anniversary edition of The Biology of Belief by Bruce Lipton PhD has been credited as giving a much-needed scientific framework for the mind body spirit connection, and has been added to my Christmas wish list! If you're interested, please shop local and order a copy from your local, independent bookshop or local library if you can.
I worked with Sophy Dale Coaching. Our Creative Team tutor Anna Campbell is also a certified life coach and leads the Good Girl Rebellion.
Image credits (in order): Lynn Powell, Eugenia Rosa, Clear Photography
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