Blog

The reason your life seems a bit fucked is because the way you're looking at life is a bit fucked.In other words, your mindset, your beliefs and your overall perspective or 'world-view' is not supportive of a good, happy and healthy life.After working with 100's of high-performing business professionals, I can confidently say that the things we experience are directly related to the way we see the world.And the way we see the world is based on our subconscious programming.In other words, it's our Beliefs, "World-View" and Perspective that shapes the experiences we have and therefore, the reality we experience.I've worked with people who have everything you might think you want to make you happy...<ul><li>Millions of dollars</li><li>Nice cars</li><li>Property</li><li>Successful business</li><li>Marriage</li></ul>Who are still not happy.How can some people have everything they thought they wanted and yet still feel so shit?Or in other cases, how can some people never seem to get the things they want despite trying so hard?It's because of our subconscious programming, habitual ways of thinking and feeling and disempowering belief systems stored away in the back of our mind. In this blog we're going to deep dive on:<ul><li>Understanding the Conscious &amp; Subconscious Mind</li><li>Thoughts, Feelings, Experiences &amp; Memories</li><li>Beliefs, Your World View &amp; Identity</li><li>Feedback Loops and How To Break Them</li><li>The Creative Mind VS The Programmed Mind</li><li>Self Awareness &amp; Consciously Creating A New Reality</li></ul>Let's start by understanding what is the difference between the conscious and subconscious mind.<h3>Understanding the Conscious &amp; Subconscious Mind</h3>You can think of your conscious mind as your creative and active mind.You can think of your subconscious mind as your habitual and passive mind.Another way of looking at it is by imagining your subconscious mind as a storehouse of information, kinda like a computer, whereas the conscious mind is the user who actively accesses the information.One more analogy is the 'book' and the 'reader'.&nbsp;The subconscious mind is the book, full of information, and the conscious mind is the reader who takes in that information page-by-page.Regardless of what the conscious mind is reading in any specific moment, the subconscious mind still stores the rest of the information in the rest of the book, waiting to be read or called upon when necessary.The conscious mind is the tip of the iceberg of your experience.The subconscious mind is the deep body of the iceberg submerged under the water.The subconscious holds all of your memories, habits, learned behaviours, life conditioning and so on.The conscious is the active and present experience of the moment.This is the fundamental difference between the conscious mind and the subconscious mind.Now let's dive into how the thoughts, feelings and experiences we have, create the programs in our subconscious mind.<h3>Thoughts, Feelings, Experiences &amp; Memories</h3>Most of our thoughts and feelings in the present come from our experiences and memories in the pastYour subconscious mind is essentially the hard-drive and record of all the things you've experienced to date.When you have experiences, you are conscious and all of your senses are there in the external environment with the experience you're having.As your brain is processing these experiences, it's creating neural pathways in the brain which then create a release of chemicals and hormones in the body which lead to emotions or feelings.Now your experience has created a mental and emotional imprint called a memory.Then as we continue to move through life, most of our thoughts and feelings in the present tend to be based on these memories from the past.This creates a bias and forms your attitude towards the things you experience which in turn creates beliefs.Then there is a feedback loop where your beliefs create your attitude towards things you experience which ends up creating more bias and from there you can get stuck in the feedback loop, reliving the past over and over again.You might want to read those last few paragraphs again.<h3>Beliefs, Your World View &amp; Identity</h3>Once these beliefs become solidified over time, you get a perspective which is like a lens through which you see the world.This makes you SEE reality based off past experiences AKA you develop a specific world-view.This is also where it gets tricky because as individuals, we usually become attached to our beliefs because they give us a sense of identity.AKA The Ego.Now the ego is not necessarily a bad thing - everyone has one.It's just your personal identity.If you refer to yourself as a person e.g. John Smith who does a thing e.g. Accountant / Father / Husband etc then that is your ego (identity).<ul><li>The problem people have is they become attached to their identity without even realising it.</li></ul>In other words, they're not conscious &nbsp;of the subconscious identity they have...If you've ever imagined yourself as someone who "doesn't have an ego", the truth is you're just not fully aware (conscious) of yourself.This is where you might start to have resistance to what I'm saying and that's normal.You may even feel the need to 'protect' your beliefs here.I encourage you to stick with me because I'll explain all this in the next section.The reason this ego or identity can be problem is because most of the time, your identity has been created off of programming that is not actually yours in the first place.It's not who you *really* are or who you *actually* want to be.Your identity has been created off programming which has been installed through your environment, family, school, society etc.I believe this is one of the biggest problems we have in the world.<ul><li>People don't know who they really are.</li></ul>This is why we see mental health issues like anxiety and depression increasing every year.Most people just live out an existence that is not true to their 'deep self' and they wonder why they struggle so much...<blockquote>We need to break free from the limits of our conditioned or programmed self.</blockquote><h3>Feedback Loops and How To Break Them</h3>The reason it's so hard for people to break free is because their mind and body develops familiarity and reliance on the program it runs.You build neural pathways that support certain ways of thinking and you can end up getting addicted to certain ways of feelings because remember, your feelings are triggered by certain chemicals and hormones.Again, this is when you start to develop an identity around your beliefs, experiences and memories.More than that, your mind and body 'gets used to' this way of being and so anything that challenges your beliefs and perspective...Feels like a threat to your identity and existence which stimulates fear, anger, anxiety and other survival based emotions.<ul><li>Can you see how people can get stuck in these feedback loops?</li></ul>The key to breaking these feedback loops is to have some humility and drop the pride.You've gotta let go of your current beliefs and ways of thinking.I would go as far as to say, you need to let go of your 'self'.If your current self and mindset has not got you where you want to be, is it really that hard to swallow the pride and take an honest look at yourself?To realise that maybe it is you that needs to change?Most people get scared of this but it's important you overcome your fear and have courage.<h3>The Creative Mind VS The Programmed Mind</h3>The question is this:<ul><li>Are you running your life based off your conscious creative mind?</li></ul>OR<ul><li>Are you running your life based off your subconscious programmed mind?</li></ul>Science has revealed that we are only operating from the conscious and creative mind about 5% of the day.The other 95% of the day we are running off the subconscious habitual programming.For most of us, the vast majority of our subconscious programs are disempowering and mostly negative which we have downloaded from others.<blockquote>We must learn to consciously create new programs in the subconscious mind.</blockquote>This means we need to get beyond the current thoughts and feelings we have in our mind and body.We have to take stock of our current programs and from there we can work on releasing them and installing new programs.95% of your life is coming from the subconscious programs so your life is a print out of the programs in your mind.You don't usually even see this happening because your subconscious is playing it out but your conscious mind is not aware of it happening.This is why it's important to develop Self Awareness because Self Awareness allows you to become more conscious of yourself, your thoughts, your feelings and your behaviours.Once you are conscious of the subconscious, you can hack into the feedback loops and consciously choose to change into a more creative version of yourself.<ul><li>So the question remains, how do we do that?</li></ul><h3>Self Awareness &amp; Consciously Creating A New Reality</h3>Ask yourself these questions and then journal on them:Q. What am I currently believing about myself?Q. What am I currently believing about my ability to create a new reality?Q. What am I currently believing about my relationships?Q. What am I currently believing about my career or business?Q. What am I currently believing about life?These questions are going to help you understand what subconscious programs you're currently running.From there, we obviously want to change them and consciously create new programs.Here are my favourite ways to do this:<ul><li>Meditation - Accessing Alpha &amp; Theta Brain Wave States</li><li>Writing - Literally Writing Out New Conscious Programs</li><li>Repetition - Build New Habits Of Thinking, Feeling &amp; Behaving</li><li>Super Learning - Energy Psychology &amp; Changing Thoughts/Feelings Fast</li></ul> Finally, none of this is a magic quick fix.You have to "Do The Work".This means committing time and energy to your self development.For me, it's about maturing my ego and evolving my identity so I can become the person I want to be.It's about mind, body and spirit growth so I can be a Conscious Creator.It's important to understand that life is a journey and there is no final destination where everything will be perfect.A better way to look at things is that your life is an opportunity to continually grow into your highest potential.This won't go well for you if you're lazy or arrogant.You must develop the discipline and willpower to back yourself.If you're wanting some help to:&nbsp;<ul><li>Regulate your nervous system and get in control of your stress and anxiety.</li><li>Reprogram your subconscious mind and change your beliefs. </li><li>Become the Conscious Creator of your reality.</li></ul>Then you can:&nbsp;A) <a data-mce-href="http://www.mindlaunch.com.au/work-with-me" href="http://www.mindlaunch.com.au/work-with-me" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Watch my free 20-minute video training here</a> to see how I can help.B) Message me on instagram here:&nbsp;<a data-mce-href="https://www.instagram.com/itsjoshholliday/" href="https://www.instagram.com/itsjoshholliday/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@itsjoshholliday</a> with the word "DETAILS" and I'll send you all the details you need to know about my coaching program (including costs, time commitment etc).Thanks for reading and I hope this was helpful for you.With Optimism,Josh

Secrets of the Subconscious Mind

"A Shit Person"- Definition: Someone who takes no accountability for their own outcomes and instead blames others for their personal issues and emotional outburts.There is a more compassionate side of myself which understands these people are the ones who need the most help.It's unfortunate but it's true that "hurt people, hurt people".It's also true that you can't help anyone who doesn't want to be helped.I believe we all have a choice to take responsibility for our lives, accountability for our actions and ownership for our behaviours.Not everyone does that though.Hence, we have "shit people".For those of you who don't want to be a shit person, I'm going to explain how you can control your emotions and learn to process what you're feeling in a healthy way. In this blog we'll discuss:<ul><li>Mindfulness-Based Emotional Intelligence&nbsp;</li><li>Emotional Trauma &amp; The Brain</li><li>Emotional Triggers &amp; Amygdala Hijack</li><li>The Victim Mindset VS The Empowered Mindset</li></ul>Alright let's start with one of the best solutions I know for the problem of emotional reactivity.<h3>Mindfulness-Based Emotional Intelligence</h3>This is a big and fancy way of saying you need to become mindfully aware of your feelings WITHOUT reacting to them.Yes, it is possible to feel a feeling and not allow that feeling to take control of you.A lot of people I talk to in my coaching business struggle with this when they start working with me.They usually have negative thoughts which then stimulate negative feelings and then those negative feelings start to create negative actions which lead to negative outcomes.I'm gonna make a well-informed assumption that if you're reading this then you don't want to be having those kinds of experiences.A lot of people I work with also tell me they've "tried meditation" or they've "tried the apps like 'calm' and 'headspace'" but they don't really understand what they're doing.This is why it can be so helpful to have a qualified mindfulness meditation teacher (like myself) to actually teach you the 'ins and outs' of what you're supposed to be doing.One of the most common mistakes people make with meditation is this...They think if they can't stop their thoughts, they're doing it wrong.That is the wrong way to think about it.&nbsp;You're not supposed to stop your thoughts, you're supposed to learn how to become aware of your thoughts without attaching to them.There's a big difference.Once you learn to observe your thoughts and your emotions without attaching to them, you'll start to become more present which will help you begin to control your thoughts and emotions.You want to develop the ability to become aware of your body, your mind, your feelings and your thoughts WITHOUT reacting to them.This is a practice of sensory awareness and you probably won't master it overnight. Usually it takes my clients between 2-6 months to master it (if they're consistent).Now let's talk about why this is so hard for a lot of people.<h3>Emotional Trauma and the Brain.</h3>Firstly, WTF is emotional trauma?Trauma can be any experience that leaves an imprint on your nervous system, memory and subconscious mind.The most significant trauma is often created through childhood as our brains (and general sense of who we are and what it means to be in the world) are developing.More complex trauma may happen when your nervous system is sent into overdrive by physical circumstances and you're not able to escape this situation (think war / assault etc)This is how PTSD can be created however trauma is not isolated to people who have those more extreme experiences.We all have trauma to some degree.We are all born as very fragile beings.&nbsp;Imagine coming out of the womb for the first time without understanding anything you are seeing, hearing, feeling or sensing...Totally new to the world.In a state of pure awareness and just soaking in every bit of information from your environment without any filter whatsoever.Crazy to think about.There is a built in attachment mechanism to our parents as our carers but we're not really aware of how or why that's the case.There is a built in need for belonging and love but again, we don't really know why as children.As we develop through our early childhood we are hyper dependent on those around us for love, connection and a sense of belonging.Any experiences we have where we don't experience that love can make us feel disconnected, alone and often scared or insecure.Remember, I want you to imagine what I'm sharing with you from the perspective of a child, not the grown adult version of yourself you are now.Some people struggle with this because of their own pride and ego but I encourage you to drop that for a moment and try to connect with the vulnerability of a child in their development.Now imagine, the child is left alone, made fun of, mocked, blamed for their parents shortcomings, pitted against their siblings or peers at school in competition.Now imagine, they're not "the best" and they have some of the love withdrawn.<ul><li>What kind of impact do you think that leaves on the kids sense of self?</li><li>What do you think that child might start to believe about themselves?</li></ul>It's not difficult to get a sense of the shame, guilt or fear that one could experience and the core belief systems one may start to develop.This can be the beginning of emotional trauma which leaves imprints on the brain through the memory because the child usually will just suppress those emotions and not talk about it.Now fast - forward to being an adult and you have an experience where you feel 'less than' or alone or not good enough.What happens in your brain is a flooding of suppressed emotions based off the old memories.This is why people can get so triggered and emotionally reactive over seemingly insignificant things.<h3>Emotional Triggers &amp; Amygdala Hijack</h3>The 'Amygdala Hijack' is a term coined by Daniel Goleman (PHD &amp; American Psychologist) which refers to a sudden emotional flooding that is disproportionate to the actual stimulus AKA "triggered".The amygdalae are emotional processing centers which are part of the limbic system in the brain and function like warning systems.&nbsp;When these warning systems go off, cortisol is released into the blood stream which sends the nervous system into the fight-flight-freeze response (sympathetic mode).To put it simply, the "feeling brain" hijacks the "thinking brain" and the result is people get "triggered".The logical aspect of the brain shuts down, executive function is halted and the ability to think rationally or make wise decisions becomes suppressed.What you're left with is a highly reactive brain that is only concerned about survival which can then lead to anger, frustration, blaming, pointing the finger etc etc etc.All in a bid to 'survive'.Crazy stuff right?Now here's where we have a decision to make.<h3>The Victim Mindset VS The Empowered Mindset</h3>Once you become aware or mindful of this happening, you have a choice.The Victim Mindset<ul><li>You can continue to play out your survival story, be a victim to your experiences and blame others without taking any responsibility or ownership for your own inner world (AKA be a shit person).</li></ul>ORThe Empowered Mindset<ul><li>You can take ownership and responsibility for your inner world and become empowered to work on yourself and start thriving.</li></ul>You need to understand that as long as you continue to blame others and complain about what you're experiencing, you are putting yourself in a disempowered position and you are playing out the victim identity which makes changing very hard.When you take responsibility and ownership for everything in your life and all of your experiences, you are putting yourself in an empowered position where change becomes possible.I believe we should all aim to live with an empowered mindset and that starts with a choice to put your pride aside, stop blaming others or projecting outwardly and instead, start looking within. If you're wanting some help to:&nbsp;<ul><li>Regulate your nervous system and practice mindfulness.</li><li>Reprogram your subconscious mind and change core belief systems.</li><li>Process your suppressed emotional trauma in a healthy way.</li></ul>Then you can:&nbsp;A) <a data-mce-href="http://www.mindlaunch.com.au/work-with-me/" href="http://www.mindlaunch.com.au/work-with-me/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to watch my free 20-minute video to see how I can help.</a>B) Message me on instagram with the word "DETAILS" <a data-mce-href="https://www.instagram.com/itsjoshholliday/" href="https://www.instagram.com/itsjoshholliday/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@itsjoshholliday </a>and I'll send you all the details you need to know about my coaching program (including costs, time commitment etc). Thanks for reading and I hope this was helpful for you.With Optimism,Josh

How To Control Your Emotions So You Don't Be A Shit Person

Most people think anxiety is a mental health problem but that’s not really true.Anxiety is really more of a physiological (and emotional) issue.The symptoms can show up as mental issues like overthinking, negative thinking or worse-case scenario thinking.However, it's important not to mistake the symptoms for the cause.In this email, I would like to change what you believe about anxiety so you can understand what you *ACTUALLY* need to work on if you want to heal your anxiety naturally.I'm going to cover:&nbsp;<ul><li>The Nervous System &amp; Human Physiology</li><li>The Anxious Brain on Cortisol &amp; Adrenaline (AKA Stress)</li><li>The Problem with Modern Society &amp; "Mental Health"</li><li>The Mind Launch Solution</li></ul> I believe the mental health system and mental health education need a complete overhaul and this is exactly what I'm working towards at Mind Launch.Let's start by looking at what actually causes these symptoms (anxiety, overthinking etc)First we need to understand what's going on in the brain and why it's having this response (e.g. overthinking and anxiety). The brain does not operate in isolation and therefore even the term "mental health" is limited and flawed.<h3>The Nervous System &amp; Human Physiology</h3>The brain is intimately connected to the rest of your body through your nervous system and physiology.Your nervous system is basically your bodies information highway and includes your brain, brain stem and spine (which are all connected if you didn't already know).Your nervous system helps to control everything from your stress response to your heart beat and the distribution of chemicals and hormones through your body.When you sense a threat in your environment (real or imagined), you start to perceive 'danger' which begins to activate your nervous system.You'll start to engage the sympathetic mode of the nervous system which is responsible fot helping you survive.This will then stimulate the production of survival hormones like adrenaline and cortisol to help you move faster which would be necessary if there was a real threat in your environment.This is actually supposed to happen and it's not a bad thing *IF* the nervous system is healthy and functioning well.If the nervous system is functioning well you should be able to easily return to resting in the parasympathetic mode of the nervous system.The problem most people with anxiety have is their nervous system is not functioning well and they can't easily return to their natural resting state.Now let's take a look at what happens when you're living in this heightened and stressed out state.<h3>The Anxious Brain on Cortisol &amp; Adrenaline (AKA Stress)</h3>When cortisol and adrenaline levels are high in your body, your brain is impaired and the executive function in your pre-frontal cortex (which is the part of your brain responsible for logical thinking) doesn't function at its best.It might help you to visualise this next bit as you read...In simpler terms, the top of your brain near your forehead (pre-frontal cortex) is where your thinking happens.When you're anxious you lose the ability to think reasonably because the 'brain activity' is more focussed on the survival area of the brain (amygdala) which is down the back near the brain stem and closer to the spine.I'm over-simplifying this and people in the scientific community have much bigger and fancier ways of explaining this but basically your brain is operating out of survival when your anxious and it really struggles to be operating logically.Again, this is a helpful thing in the right scenario but in our modern world, we have become a bit confused about what a real threat is and what an imagined threat is...&nbsp;<h3>The Problem with Modern Society &amp; "Mental Health"</h3>In our fast paced modern world, stress levels are high, expectations are high and we all feel the pressure.We've created ideas about what it means to "belong" and this often leads us to keeping up with the joneses, living in big cities with lots of noise, pushing financially, keeping up with career progression etc etc&nbsp;I could go on but I'm sure you understand what I'm saying...All of this leads to heightened stress and heightened nervous systems.Now are you starting to see why mental health issues are rapidly increasing in the west?Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of good and accessible education about this kinda stuff.I believe it should be taught in schools as this is vital information about how to function well in the world as a human.Because the vast majority of the population don't understand this stuff, mental health issues are increasing rapidly and the pharmaceutical industry is thriving.Most people are confused and don't have the answers which means they seek answers from the doctors, the drugs, the government or where-ever you're supposed to get answers these days.Furthermore, big pharmaceutical companies make a lot of money thanks to people relying on their drugs.There's no money in teaching people to heal themselves but that's what I'm here for...Sure my coaching program has a fee, but it's a one-time fee and then you get the return on the investment for the rest of your life by not having to rely on medication or ongoing medical fees for your "mental health".<h3>The Mind Launch Solution</h3>Over the last 5 years in my coaching business (and 15 years in my personal life), I have become obsessed with learning about and understanding the 'inner world' of humans.From our minds, our thoughts, our emotions, our behaviours and everything in between.I have been directly impacted by "mental health" issues in my own life and within my immediate family.It's an issue that's close to my heart.Which is why I've been so dedicated to finding out the truth and solutions that actually work.I now understand we need to take much more of a holistic approach to healing anxiety (and most other "mental health" issues).I've developed a 3-step process which I believe addresses the core problems.Here's the 3-step process:1. Learn to regulate the nervous system to reduce your stress and anxiety quickly.2. Learn to reprogram the subconscious mind and change your belief systems and thinking.3. Learn to manage your emotions in a healthy way instead of suppressing and avoiding them.I believe this process helps you to re-connect with yourself at a deep level which helps you *actually* create long term and sustainable change.To date, I have directly coaching over 225 people with this approach and have a very high success rate.The only caveat that will determine the success of clients I work with is their own commitment to the process.It's not a magic pill.It requires you to put in the work.If you're willing to muster up the courage, put your pride aside and do the work then I'm confident this process will work for you.<ul><li>If you'd like to learn more about the Mind Launch Method then you can:&nbsp;</li></ul>A) <a data-mce-href="http://www.mindlaunch.com.au/work-with-me/" href="http://www.mindlaunch.com.au/work-with-me/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to watch my free 20-minute video training here to see how I can help.</a>B) Message me the word "DETAILS" on Instagram <a data-mce-href="https://www.instagram.com/itsjoshholliday/" href="https://www.instagram.com/itsjoshholliday/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@itsjoshholliday</a> and I'll send you all the details you need to know about my coaching program (including costs, time commitment etc).Thanks for reading and I hope this was helpful for you.With Optimism,Josh

The Blog

Secrets of the Subconscious Mind

How To Control Your Emotions So You Don't Be A Shit Person

Anxiety is NOT a Mental Health Problem