7 Levels of Awareness – Where are you?

There are seven levels of awareness in the human mind. You’ve heard the expressions “mass appeal” and “animal magnetism” and these statements were derived from these seven levels. Since we are all about getting to and then maintaining your ideal weight, here are the seven levels as related to weight. Which level do you think you’re currently at?

1. Animal level. This level is about reacting rather than thinking. It’s the level of the fight or flight responses. As it relates to weight, at this level, anything that throws you off becomes a good excuse to overeat. “I had a bad day, so I’m going to eat _________ (fill in your food of choice) to make myself feel better.”

2. Mass level. This is where we are programmed to conform. The thinking is “they can’t all be wrong, so I’ll do it too.” Control is through fear; “what will they think of me?” As it relates to weight, at this level, it seems that “everyone else is eating fattening foods, so why not me too? They’ll think I’m weird if I don’t go to the burger joint and pig out with them.”

3. Aspiration level. This is where we want to go beyond where we currently are, however it’s desire without action. You’ll verbalize your intentions, “I’ve been meaning to lose weight”, however nothing changes. This is a very frustrating level to be at, and this frustration can cause a drop back to the Mass level.

4. Individual level. This is the level where we begin to take action.
We begin to express our own individuality, and move away from the crowd. This is where we begin to grow as a person, and that can be scary. This is also the level where most people fail. As it relates to weight, at this level, you may begin turning down invites to the burger joint, remembering that you want to stay on track with your healthy eating. However you may also give in and revert back to old habits.

5. Discipline level. This is where you give yourself a command and you follow it. As it relates to weight, at this level, if you say to yourself “I am not going to have second helpings anymore” you won’t have any more second helpings. You stick with what you promised yourself to do. You will sometimes fail, but more often than not you stick with your resolve.

6. Experience level. You achieve this level when you have practiced the Discipline level and you begin to experience change in results. The feedback from your experiences causes personal growth. You will occasionally meet with failure at this level, but you have the discipline to keep going. As it relates to weight, at this level, it means that you are experiencing physically and emotionally what it feels like to eat normally, and you are happy you are sticking with your plans.

7. Mastery level. At this level, you are responding to situations rather than reacting to them. You think and plan, and make choices. Your emotions are even and no longer controlling you around food. As it relates to weight, at this level, even if you have the worst day ever, you will stop and think about how you are going to respond. You will make conscious choices about how to deal with the stress, choosing healthier options than overeating.

So where are you in the Levels of Awareness as they relate to your weight? (they also relate relationships, finances, personal growth etc.) If you have been trying to lose weight, but with no success, you are stuck somewhere between levels 1 & 3, maybe even 4. However to truly master your weight, you must continue to work your way up the levels. And remember, the journey to mastery is not a straight line! There will be bumps in the road, and occasionally even a giant pot-hole, but you must keep going. So go easy on yourself when you do have a set-back, and just get back on track as quickly as you can.

Tags: diet, fat, habits, obese, overweight, psychology, reduction, weight

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 18th, 2009 at 11:23 pm and is filed under The Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.