"If it's such a good idea, why haven't I done it already?" many are asking this during this season of New Year's resolutions. This question points to a central idea of hypnotism, that the logical conscious mind often comes into conflict with and is often overruled by the subconscious. Otherwise, we would just make intelligent decisions based on the best evidence available and simply carry them out.

The subconscious mind refers to body/mind functions that are normally beyond conscious awareness and control. Today we are going to look at one particular element that can make change difficult and even painful: changing beliefs.

Quite a few professional motivators, myself included, will state that if you can let go of self-limiting beliefs, a quantum leap has been made towards your transformation. As the old saying goes, "if you believe you can or you believe you can't, either way you're right!." Nonetheless, this step can be quite challenging due to a mental phenomena called "cognitive dissonance."

Many years ago a college psychology professor by the name of Leon Festinger became intrigued by a local doomsday cult whose leader was predicting that the world was coming to an end on a specific date in the near future. This leader also preached that only his followers would be saved, due to their loyalty to him.

Safely assuming this prediction was false, Festinger was curious how the cult's followers would react when the cataclysmic prophecy did not come to pass. So the good doctor and some of his colleagues infiltrated the group and observed. And they were quite surprised by the group members' response when doomsday turned out to be a dud. Instead of becoming angry with the leader as one might expect, instead they rationalized that it was their devotion and faith that forestalled the calamity. From this Festinger put forth the idea of "cognitive dissonance," that when the strongly held beliefs of a group or individual were in direct conflict with obvious reality, this created discomfort and there was a tendency to unconsciously rationalize the original belief, even to the point of being ridiculous.

The concept of cognitive dissonance was an extremely important contribution to our understanding of both individual and group behavior and why change, even when beneficial, can often be strongly resisted. People and societies will often unconsciously choose to be miserable rather than proven "wrong."

On a personal level, it may be helpful to examine your assumptions about why you haven't been able to move past your personal limitations. Is it really true that you are destined to remain overweight, a smoker or trapped in an unhappy job or personal relationship? Remember that releasing such beliefs often entails letting go of blame too (it's the fault of your parents/society/genetics/etc.) while accepting greater responsibility for how your life is turning out, which can be a frightening prospect. It also means altering your self-image which was familiar and therefore somewhat comfortable, even though it was limited.

Although self-examination is not always easy, the cost of remaining stuck is usually higher.