How To Stop Living In The Past And Overthinking The Future

Live Class Recording: Past disappointments can quietly become “proof” that things will go wrong again, fueling fear, self-doubt, and endless overthinking.

In this talk, you’ll learn how to interrupt that pattern with one simple question: “But what if…?”

Discover how accepting your fear and considering a different outcome can help you move forward with greater trust and calm.

Transcript

So you're holding on to the path. And you're holding on to the future. It means literally that you're not living in the present because your mind is going either into the past. . . Or into the future. What happened in the past can happen again. And oh my God, What is happening in the future? So it's always being somewhere, But not present. I'm going through that right now. So I thought, Why not share it with you that that you can see that it's so common and it's okay. Not okay because it happens to me, But okay because. . . All of us are going through it. It's not just you. It's not just me. It's not just your neighbor, Your friend or whoever. It happens to all of us. The difference might be. How we are dealing with it and that's what I want to share with you how I'm dealing with it because as you know I'm doing this work now for 12 years plus and I have coached over 500 people in these years. And now you would think that, Oh, Hannah's an expert. Things like that don't happen to her. Surprise, Surprise, They do. Because I'm human, Same as you, Of course they happen to me, But the difference is how long am I staying in these scenarios of holding on to the past or worrying about the future. That's the difference. So let me give you my example that I'm currently going through and maybe Pretty sure it will make more sense at the end. So what happened is that I have this business now. So I'm a business owner here in China and I'm running this business now for five years. And when I started, I thought setting up the business, I have my skills, Clients are just flooding in and they didn't. Okay. So I learned it's not how it works. You need to do something about it. So for the first couple of years, I've been looking to get as much knowledge as possible about marketing, About sales, About finances, About Ah, Posting. YouTube. Instagram. Facebook, LinkedIn. And I did, And did, And did. I never was quite, I never was successful. Let's put it that way. Yeah. If you go to my accounts, There aren't a thousand people that follow me. And that's probably because I haven't been consistent and I've been Shutting down. I think my Instagram profile, I started from scratch. I think this is now the fourth time. Because I thought I want to do it better than the last time. I never stick to it. But anyway, That's not the point today. So over these years, Working with clients one-on-one a lot, Like I said, Over 500 clients, That means thousands of sessions. It was always my dream. To have a group program. So from I think it was year three having the business, Being in the business, I thought, Okay, Now it's time. Now it's time to create my program. And because I've been looking for information on how to best sell it, How to set it up, What's the best thing to sell, How do you teach it, Et cetera, Et cetera. So I've been going through that. And I said, Yeah, The thing to do right now is a masterclass or you do have like a mini course, Like a three day thing. And I've been doing that. So I had my first I think it was five days and. It was about overthinking and it was about how your mind is interrupting and is causing you to overthink even more. And I worked on that mini course and then I worked on the bigger course. Mini course was just like the lineup. So when the bigger course comes and that mini course, Those five day challenge on the first day, I had two people showing up. One didn't even stay to the end. And the one person that stayed, It was a guy from my networking group who just wanted to see what I'm actually doing. And he said, Oh, That was very good. Didn't show up for the second, Third, Fourth or fifth day. And no one either. So I did it by myself, For myself. And I put it then out there. And when people watched it. So I took it off. And then a couple of months later, I had another idea. So again, From what these experts told me how to promote and how to get online business, Do a three day masterclass. And I did that. And you can actually watch it here on YouTube or you can watch it on YouTube. Go there. Watch it. It's a three days. And it's, Again, About overthinking. How does it happen? Can you do etc. And no one showed up. And then I thought, Okay, Maybe I need to do like this, Just one masterclass, One day challenge, Something like that. I did that. And no one showed up. And then I thought, Okay. Maybe it's now time. I don't know why I threw it, But I thought it's a good idea. It's a great idea to now create that online program. And I created it, It was called back to me. It had in total 27 sessions. And it was to help women. And probably men, But it was advertised for women to come back to themselves, To be okay with who they are and find their way back to themselves. Six modules. Each module had, Like I said, A couple of other modules. We had a workbook. I did the promotion. I did the posting. I did classes again. For people to invite them in, Show them. And no one showed up to the classes. I didn't get one response from anyone about the class. I didn't get any email back, No interest whatsoever. That program was sitting there, Costing me money each month for the hosting for six months. Not one person signed up. I had one friend of mine, I told her about it and she was interested. And I said, You know what, I give you free access. And she did the course. She thought it's amazing. But that was it. So that one person did it. Thought it's amazing, But no one else. I probably even knew about it. But for me, What's stuck in my head. . . It's like no one came. No one was willing to pay. No one saw your promotion efforts. No one read your emails. Everything pointed into no one wanted it. And I thought, Fair enough. And then this lady, I met her in April this year, And she said, Because I was doing like meet and greet at one of the clinics that I work with here in Xinjiang. They said, Anna, Let's have like this meet and greet luncheon thingy and let's invite women and talk about their emotional health and how they lost themselves, How they get themselves back, Et cetera. And we did that. And one of these ladies we shared a taxi back to the compound. Said, You know, I'm interviewing interesting people here at Shin Young and you seem quite interesting. Would it be OK if I interview you? I said, Of course, I'd love to. And she said, Do you have like a program where we can lead people to and just get to know your work? And I thought, Well, Back to me. I closed it down. Thy food. No, But I can create something. When do you want to do the interview? And he said, In two weeks time. And I said, OK, In two weeks time, I'm going to have something. So don't you worry, I will put something up and then we promote that with that interview. So within a week I combined my coaching, I combined my sound healing, I combined my body sensation regulation, Etc. So body, Mind and energy. The stuff that I work with my clients on. All together and I created the Identity Upgrade 1. 0 just for China because that's where it got published. So it was just for China for the China market and it was about how you find your way back to yourself, Including six live sessions each week for six weeks and then energy clearings. And I created that flyer, I explained what it's about and I sent it to her. We had the interview and a couple of days later it got published. And five people signed up. I don't know, It's like. . . Oh my God, Five people signed up to my online program. And I was like speechless. And immediately. Immediately my brain went back to Yeah, But it's just China. Yeah, But it's so cheap. Yeah, But it's people you know. So my brain was looking for excuses, Justifications, Why it wasn't a success. That five people signed up for that program. Immediately went to the past because that's the experience I had so far. Failure, Failure, Failure, Failure. And just let me tell you something, It's not about the failures you have, It's how often you get up, Because without failures, There will never be success. Different story, But this is what it is. So my brain immediately went to the past, That happened in the past. So this is not good enough. This is not proof. That you can sell online programs. And it's like, Oh, Didn't feel good. Can tell you that. My brain was telling me I'm not good enough. And I jumped on it. I jumped on that wagon. And I thought, Yeah. This is just an exception. Well, Then. . . I started the online programme and three weeks in, We were flying to Germany. Visiting family and friends had a couple of events to attend and the first event we attended was my sister's daughter Confirmation, That's what it's called. Anyway, So been there and the whole family, Her extended family, His extended family, All were there. And then her mother-in-law comes to her and said, Oh, Anna, I heard that you're working with energy. I say, Yeah, I do, I do. Yeah, This is, I do these energy clearings and I work with my client's body, Mind and energy. So yeah, And she said, Oh, Did you know that my daughter She's working with energy as well. I said, What? I thought she's helping people to speak better. It's like, What's it called? Don't remember. But a speech therapist. I think she's doing it. I thought she's doing that. She said, Yeah, But she also is doing it with energy. So I walked over straight over to her and said, Ruth, Your mom just told me you do energy work. Let's talk about it and we talked about it and then I at one point said yeah I'm just currently I just launched this identity upgrade program and this is what we're doing and with this energy clearings da da da da da and she said oh Do you have it in German as well? And I thought. . . But give me a week. And I'm going to have it. And that's what I did within a week. And my mind said, You can do that within a week without thinking, Without getting to all that past experience. Not even, Ooh, You already sold. The English version to five people. No, No, No, No, No. It was just like, Yeah, I can do that. So off I went, I created that, I rewrote it in German. And I said, Yes, Here it is. Here is the flyer. And I'm going to do the energy clearance in German. Everything will be done. Let's start in three weeks time. And I send it to her, She send it to people. I talked to everyone I met about that German version of identity upgrade. And three people signed up. That was sick. It doesn't count because in the past, You try to do it online and this is now people face-to-face so it will be a totally different story. So this isn't proof that you can sell online programs. And I jumped on that wagon again. I did it again. So when I was back and finished the first round, People asking me, So are you doing another one? Are you doing another one? We missed the first one. I said, Yeah, I can do that. Let's have another one. Let's have 3. 0. And I thought I'd do it end of October. Then I moved it to end of September. Now we're currently end of October. And of course I have very good reasons for why I'm pushing it. But in the end, It all comes down to fear. Because my past experience. It seems like I'm still holding on to that. I'm still holding on to, You try to sell from China. To the world. Betty again. To the world you try to sell this online program, Your online program. And no one wanted it. And now we're in the same situation. It's not just for China and it's not for the Germans that I meet in Germany. Now it's for the world again. Now we're back to the same foundation, To the same starting point. Like we had for the last. Attempts. And I'm holding on. And then, So here's my thought process that I'm going and it's not every day. For most of the days, I'm working on setting up that program. I want to make it even bigger and better because that's the point for me. I'm learning with every delivery. I'm getting better in delivering it. I'm getting better in my language. I'm getting better to the point, To the root point and help the students there. So that's the goal, Working towards that. So I'm preparing this program that launches. In October. And then they add these days, These moments. Where this voice goes like. What if no art shows up? What if no one signed up? And then comes this other voice, And I trained myself for that voice to show up. I practiced for that voice to show up. And that voice is saying, What if it will be false? What if you can do it? What if it will be your biggest success yet? That's it, That's the other voice. It's not a statement, It's a question. It's an open question. What if it will be okay? And that gives your brain the capacity, The space. Say wow yeah well what if well if if it's going to be okay if if it's going to be full if there will be 12 students to make it a full a full room How amazing will it be when I launch it for the first, Fourth time? How amazing will it be for the people to be in that room? Yeah, That's where your brain can go then. What if? Because then your brain can dream, Then your brain can go into all the scenarios. That you might not even think about because you're stuck in. What if no one shows up? Then you give your brain that perspective. What if no one shows up? And the answer to that could also be, Well, If no one shows up, Try, Try again. But often we don't do that. Often we stuck in that loop of, Well, If no one shows up, That means that I haven't done a good job. That means that my marketing is shite. That means that my sales is shite. That means that my program isn't good enough. That means that I'm not good enough. That's where our brain usually goes, Particularly if you're used to it, If you're trained your brain to go there. Because it will find these answers. If you give it a chance, It will find those answers. And training them, Your brain, Yourself, To also come up with these other questions. But what if it will be amazing? You give your brain that whole spectrum of possibilities. That's where we come back to being in the present because the question what if i will fuck it up what if no one will sign up for it that's the past speaking because if you've seen some of my videos and and listen to this before you know that everything is filtered through your I call it the triangle here. Brain, Brain section. Oh, I've got something in my eye. You have that triangle, Just call it the triangle. Anyway, But it's your filter system and your past experiences, Your worries, Your fears. Everything is in that filter system, And then it comes out as a thought. So when you think, What if no one shows up? What if no one is interested? That's the past talking. Because in theory you also have, I have evidence that I can sell this damn thing. Yeah? People want it. People get results. People love it. They want more. I have that evidence. But yet, I'm not allowing myself to use it as proper evidence. I'd rather depend on them. 15 times before that no one showed up. That no one was interested. That no one paid for my online program. I'd rather deem that as the truth because that's bigger. We have more evidence. It happened more often. That's why we give it more importance and worth. Not the two times that it did totally work out. And that's. Filter system, Yeah, Going through, Thought comes up, Says, Hmm, What if no one shows up? And then. Instead of then going into worrying about the future. Because your past that brought you to this question and this question now goes into the future to worry about what if no one shows up. Yeah, That's where you go. That's what you do. That's what I do. And then you train yourself. And this takes time. It takes practice because you trained yourself so brilliantly. You are a master in going from Ooh, Panic about the past. Ooh, Always bet things into. Ooh, It will be the same in the future. Yep. This line, You have been practicing for so, So long. You become a master. But now you're starting maybe as an apprentice. That's what I like to tell my clients, That you're starting as an apprentice now with this new pattern, With this interruption of that pattern. And my interruption is. To then immediately. Like I give it a, Probably it takes me up to 10 seconds. To then come up with the question, But what if it will be the best launch? What if it will be fully booked? And then you can daydream, Then I daydream. Like, Oh my God, I'm opening here the Zoom and then I have 12 faces looking at me and we're working and we're getting results. That's what I go to. The what if it's a fully booked program. And you probably noticed. If not, Pay attention to my face. When I say what if it's a fully booked program? You see the energy changing in my eyes, In my face, In how I talk. What if no one shows up? Energy goes down. Give out. I was down. And that's what you get. I mean, Let's face it. We get back what we give out. And that's where the energy clearings come in because they balance that all out. And, But that's a different story, But you see, It's. It's up to you. And don't believe that. Me or any other coach, Anyone else who is in this fears that they don't have or go through the same as you. But we learned how to deal with it. We learned and practiced techniques, Mind hacks, Regulations, Emotional regulations, Energy clearings. Yes, I'm using energy clearings almost every day. I love these things. Thanks. So we just know. We just know how to deal with it. And you're learning. You're learning, You're on the way there, Or maybe you're further along. Maybe you passed me years ago. Amazing. But just know this is what's holding you in the past. And that is interrupting, Interfering your future. And that is holding you back from living in the present. Because when this happens to me, When my brain is going to, What if no one shows up? And then I interfere and say, What if it's fully boxed and it's amazing? I love to work on my program. In that state of mind, In that energy. Hear this recording, I'm creating this recording. In that energy. And it's such a difference. And you can use it, You can use this. Simple. Technique. Anytime. For any situation. But what if it's going to be good? What if it's going to be okay? What if it's going to be amazing? What if I love it? Everything is possible. And you start with the awareness. Awareness is always the first step. At least that's what I believe in. You need to be aware that you're doing it. You need to be aware that your brain is going into that other direction in the past, In the negative, In the fear. And then be okay with it. Yesterday I was watching a replay of Friends and it was this episode where Monica and Rachel, They're living together and then Phoebe, No Monica and Phoebe, Rachel and Phoebe are living together and Monica has come to visit. And then Phoebe says to Monica that she's high maintenance and that Rachel is a pushover. And both Rachel and Monica are like, No, No, No, We're not, We're not, We're not. And then they come back after a while and say, Oh, Phoebe, You are flaky. And Phoebe says, Yes I am. I am totally flaky. And I said, What? Don't you want to be different? Why aren't you annoyed with me or us saying that? Because I am. I am flaky. And that's the thing that I want to bring across to you guys, And that's what I work for, To be okay. With who you are. It doesn't mean that you can't change. It doesn't mean that you can't grow. It doesn't mean that you stay the same and won't be able to grow and reach your goals. Not at all. It just takes away that inner fight, That inner war with yourself. For me, For me saying, I am afraid that no one will show up and no one wants to have this program. Yes, I. . . I live in the past. And I live in the future, I worry about the future. I do that. Full stop. There's nothing for me to shame myself for or to blame myself for. And I know a hack for me that this hack is working, For you it might be a different hack. You try, And you see, And you learn, And you use it. For me, This is working. And being okay with good, Bad, And ugly, That is you, That is part of your package. That stops that inner war and makes it so much easier for you to move forward, To grow. And to become the version of you that you might want now. Let's see who you want to be when you get there. It's always a progression. But being okay. I am the person. Doesn't mean no change at all, Because this is something that people get wrong so, So, So, So, So, So, So often and constantly and all the time. It doesn't mean there is no progress. It doesn't mean there is no change. It just means we're changing, We're progressing, We're growing from a place of peace. In your mind. In your body. Neutral energy. So much easier. So, So much easier. And that brings me to the end. Of today's lecture sharing of today's