Think about what happens when you procrastinate for just a moment. What is going on inside of you? We already know what is going on outside of you….NOTHING! Most of the time we think of procrastination as simply “putting things off” that we really should be doing or would like to do. We think to ourselves, “Tomorrow I am going to get that thing DONE.” Right? Then tomorrow comes and even with the best of intentions we mean to get that “thing” done but we come up with a ton of reasons why we don’t. Or, we simply just “don’t”.
Procrastination is definitely something to conquer but it’s so much easier when you know what it is all about and why it happens to us. When we procrastinate we are “frozen” from doing that “thing” we promised ourselves we would get done. Often it’s met with yet another promise that never seems to get fulfilled. The next thing you know you are suffering consequences from not doing it or you can become filled with guilt for not doing it.
Procrastination is actually a response that comes from trauma, usually a childhood trauma, but is can be from any prior time. Generally, procrastination comes from feelings of failure that are instilled in us as children or even as young adults. It’s a kind of giving up so to speak. It’s also like our lives are frozen in time. Don’t you feel frozen when you procrastinate? You have all of the good intentions but your body just won’t move. That old tape that says you are a failure chimes right into your life from your subconscious mind.
We freeze when someone, usually a close caregiver, has been too harsh with us growing up. More likely, we are being yelled at, ridiculed, and emotionally frozen. We stand there afraid to move, feeling ashamed and like we can never do anything right. This stays stuck in our subconscious mind as we tend to move along through life just pushing it down as much as we can. Even with the best of intentions it still will affect us over and over again as it plays the same old record we heard when we were a child or young adult. We attempt to do what our intention begs us to do and yet, “You are a failure” repeats itself over and over and we subconsciously think, “Why try.” So we procrastinate.
Then there is the fight or flight mechanism in our brains that says FREEZE! It’s not an audible voice but it sure speaks loud and clear, doesn’t it? The same area of the brain and chemical reaction that gives us a panic or anxiety attack, tells us to freeze and do nothing. Our call to freeze happens naturally when faced with danger and to move might take our lives. It is a life-sustaining instinct that is meant to keep us from harm. It happens out of place when we freeze and there is no danger at all. Only the subconscious memory that stays you will fail if you try, therefore you need to freeze, or put things off, for fear of looking ridiculous.
When this happens to us in life we tend to choose life partners who ridicule us. This is actually an opportunity much more than we know. Overcoming that temptation to freeze and feel like a failure can beg us to finally get to the point where we can take no more, therefore we take action! There is our life lesson! Speak up, defend ourselves, not be a failure, get a breakthrough, and stop freezing when feeling threatened. We can go through a lifetime feeling too threatened to speak up for fear of being ridiculed and continue to procrastinate to the point where we lose everything, even a part of ourselves. We might lose a promotion, our business, our visions, our dreams, and our voice. Of course, until we get that moment when our throats open up and learn to fight back verbally! It is THEN that we move! The ice drips off of us as we melt and healing can open up and begin as long as we continue to move and take action when faced with someone who acts like we were treated growing up. It is an undoing of what was done to get a breakthrough.
If you don’t get this breakthrough not only will you freeze many opportunities in your life but you could pass the same tendency to procrastinate to your children as you behave the way your caregivers behaved. Break the cycle! Become awake and aware! Hypnosis can reveal a lot going on in the subconscious mind! If procrastination is your issue, let’s dig a bit more and really get to the place where you will defend yourself, open your voice, and not allow yourself to be frozen any longer! Your life is waiting for you!
Loving you from here,
Dr. Rev. Jenine Marie Howry
If this article makes sense to you, you are practically there! Let’s schedule a free discovery session to see if hypnosis is right for you! Connect with me via the contact form under contact in the menu of this site.
Life Lessons by Jenine Marie 