Not meeting those New Year’s goals like you hoped? Maybe it’s time to spring clean your past.

By Erin Del Toro, Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist

As a nation, we’ve survived a year of COVID and masks, high emotions, political tension, and financial challenges. But as individuals, this surviving did not happen in a vacuum. Before 2020 turned upside down and emptied itself into an already-full wastebasket of issues, most people were already dealing with enough in their day-to-day lives. 

For many, the combination of the past and the present is beginning to feel overwhelming, making it difficult to meet goals and make changes. The results are showing in pretty much every way that people tend to react to stress.

In 2020, anxiety and depression steadily increased. Seventy-one million Americans reported significant weight gain. Reports and polls show that men and women have increased alcohol consumption and day-drinking. Recreational marijuana purchases continue to climb, American families have moved to more television binge-watching, and electronics usage has skyrocketed. 

When human beings aren’t sure about how to deal with stress, it’s only natural for them to turn to easy comfort. This usually means less movement, more fast food, and more substance use, creating a body that is unhealthy and weighed down. As is often the case with easy comforts, a negative feedback loop is created that can be challenging to break. 

Sound familiar? If you’re moving through 2021 and you are not thrilled with the way your resolutions are turning out—whether you wanted to be healthier, disconnect from a bad relationship, enjoy less screen time, improve your sleep schedule, or discontinue a substance—you’re not alone. It is not just the current stress and distractions you have around you right now that are likely holding you back; chances are it’s rooted in your past.

When we have had an experience that we no longer consciously think about it, the feelings and memories surrounding it are stored in the cells in our brains and the pathways that link them—for life. These memories that we are not aware of using end up functioning with what we call the subconscious mind. 

The subconscious mind reminds the body of the programming issued by these old experiences: the feelings, the thoughts, and the way we reacted to what happened. It continues to communicate these feelings to our bodies, and it alters the way our bodies and minds work, including the system in the body responsible for distributing chemicals for emotions.

In this way, old, unaddressed feelings hold people back from living up to their potential. One of the keys to success is to locate the old experiences that are quietly hiding away and need to be dealt with, then heal and repurpose them to make pathways for new growth.

There are several ways to clear your path for the future:

Meditating and/or praying can connect you deeply to the experiences your body and mind are storing. There are many great sources of meditation and prayer on youtube and the internet for all types of healing and trauma. 

Cognitive behavioral therapy helps you process and evaluate your thoughts and feelings about your behaviors and past experiences with a therapist. 

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) incorporates elements of cognitive behavioral therapy with eye movements or other forms of rhythmic, left-right stimulation that can “unfreeze” traumatic memories.

Clinical hypnotherapy allows the conscious and subconscious mind to connect and collaborate to locate what is responsible for emotions, habits, physical ailments, or negative feedback loops and correct them. (For more information on clinical hypnotherapy, visit truenorthmindmanagement.com).

If you’re ready to take the next step into personal healing and new goals, one of these methods might be right for you. There couldn’t be a better time for a deep spring clean.