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Sabotage of the Mind


Last week we talked about wrangling our chaotic brain who we often let run rampant through our lives like a spoiled, screaming toddler, and we’re going to revisit that a bit today. When we let our brains run the show without adult supervision (us being conscious of what it’s saying and controlling the narrative), we typically end up with a mangled sense of self: we imagine small problems or incidents to be life-changing encounters, we see ourselves as less-than, and/or we feel like we’re always on the losing team in life. This is no way to live – and this is a hard way to live! Letting your child-brain control your story is a miserable, chaotic life and letting it happen knowingly is definitely self-sabotage.

Why would we do this – what sense does it make to believe these lies that only make you feel badly about yourself and your situation? Sometimes we just aren’t aware that our brain is telling stories, and in that case the only remedy is to start listening and pay attention so we can create change. But sometimes even when we are aware, we choose not to act. In this case, maybe you’re telling yourself a new story: it’s too late to change your story, you’re too old, you’re too set in your ways, and so on. To that, I say: hogwash. Horse feathers. Great googley moogley. If you’re young enough to read and think, you’re young enough to take control of your brain.

But it’s hard work.

The payoff is life-changing.

How do I even get started?

Start at the beginning. Listen to the stories your brain is telling you, and change the narrative. You don’t have to put up with that baloney from anyone, and you certainly don’t have to put up sabotaging thoughts from your own brain. Would you stand for a complete stranger calling you a no-good fatty whose relationships are all doomed to fail and has a dead-end career? I would hope not! Why in the world would you continue to put up with that from your own brain?

But I can’t stop it.

You can choose to stop it anytime you want.

But it sounds like work.

Would you rather do the work now and start immediately reaping the benefits of a happier life or continue down a path of self-sabotage that leads only to unhappiness and disappointment? No one can change you but you. You are the only person with power over your brain, and your brain is the only entity over which you have power. This is literally your only move. You either change your narrative, or live as you are.

I can’t wait to hear the story of how you changed your narrative to believe that you are the amazing, extraordinary human you are!

Kelley

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