Our brains are these miraculous machines that are housed within our heads,
And they've unfolded over the course of millions of years of evolution and adaptation.
That being said,
We haven't really worked out all the kinks yet.
Our brains still have these primal,
Primitive,
Fear-based responses that come from our early ancestors who thought that they had to look over their shoulders all the time to protect themselves.
Modern psychology calls this propensity to react to the world with fear and negativity,
Negativity bias.
And this negativity bias has leaked into our families and societies in the forms of anxieties,
Depressions,
And addictions.
That being said,
That doesn't have to be the case forever.
Our brains have also developed in this course of evolutionary unfolding this outer region of the brain that we call the cortex.
And the cortex contains our ability to respond,
To organize,
To plan,
To be present,
And to overall take control of one's life.
These are called executive functioning skills.
These executive functioning skills can be trained over time with practice,
Just like training our bicep,
Doing a bicep curl over and over and over,
Trains that muscle.
So if we practice organization and we practice intentional focus,
Then our executive functioning skills and our cortex will also grow in response.
With this,
We become the drivers of our vehicles,
The drivers of our brains,
With the reins around our thoughts and emotions,
Guiding our thoughts and emotions to their ideal destiny of our choosing.
Here's a step-by-step process that will allow you to recognize old emotional reactions,
Respond to them accordingly,
Look at the underlying narratives,
And move forward with your own unique chosen narrative.
So when an emotional reaction occurs,
Follow these steps.
That first step is called noting.
Noting is simply the ability to notice or take note of the reaction that is occurring,
To stop it in its tracks.
For example,
You might say to yourself,
I notice this reaction and I notice the thoughts that are occurring due to past programming.
I am mindful of this reaction.
Number two,
Distancing.
This is actually taking a step back from that reaction,
Distancing ourself from it.
With this,
We might say to ourselves,
This is simply a temporary reaction.
It does not define me.
I am much more than this.
Number three,
Injecting compassionate understanding.
This might sound something like,
I understand why this reaction arises.
It protected me in the past,
And I am growing all of the time.
Number four,
Allow this compassionate understanding to neutralize that initial reaction.
Again,
Compassion acts as this beautiful neutralizer to any form of negative emotion.
Be it anger or any kind of impulse.
This is best explained by the words of the peaceful Thich Nhat Hanh.
We can practice loving our own suffering just as we love the joy and happiness in our lives.
We can hold our suffering with tenderness and compassion,
Like a mother holding her baby.
As compassion neutralizes that suffering,
We're able to move into the next two steps.
Number five,
We mindfully notice the space of stillness underneath the reactions that occurred.
We might say to ourselves,
I notice a sense of peace when I let go of the past.
And then number six,
We replace that old inner monologue and create a new narrative based on your own unique values and ideals.
Which may sound something like,
I choose to live in connection,
Love,
Truth,
Beauty,
Prosperity,
And fulfillment.
This is best illustrated by the words of Brother David Steindl-Rost,
Benedictine monk.
Gratefulness is a way of being that moves us from counting our blessings to living gratefully.
It's like the traffic signs,
Stop,
Look,
Go.
You stop so that you can be present.
You look so you can appreciate the beauty and the opportunity,
And you go forward to act and express your gratitude.
Perhaps paradoxically,
We become the drivers of our brains and bodies.
When we surrender to the life around us.
When we surrender to the present moment,
The here and now.
Harnessing those skills of inner stillness and awakeness,
Aliveness.
Releasing the old tensions and truly creating from a space of inner stillness,
Wholeness,
And growth mindset,
Opportunity mindset.
After all,
In the words of Buckminster Fuller,
You never change things by fighting the existing reality.
To change something,
You build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.
Thank you for being here today.
My name is Max Colmus.
I'm wishing you the best always.
If you have any questions,
Comments,
Please leave them below.
I would love to have some discussions on this video below.
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And until next time,
May you be well.
