Hey,
I'm Dana Mitchell and I want to talk about something that may have happened to you this morning.
Your alarm went off or maybe you woke up before it did and before you even decided to open up your eyes,
Your brain had already written the review for today.
One star.
Would not recommend this day.
It had already decided based on whatever happened yesterday or whatever's on your calendar or based on conversations that you are not looking forward to or tasks that you're putting off or maybe based on general low-level dread that sometimes shows up for no reason at all.
Your brain handed you a bad day before the day had a chance to prove itself and here's what I want you to know about that.
Your brain is doing what brains do.
Scanning for threats and preparing for the worst so that you're not caught off guard.
The problem is it's working against you.
It's just making your morning feel really heavy and probably heavier than it needs to.
Here's the thing about a brain that has already decided that this day is bad.
It's going to spend all day finding evidence and proof that it was right and that's really just how we work.
We find what we're looking for and you may have noticed this in other areas such as when you're in a bad mood every single inconvenience feels like confirmation.
Maybe it's a slow driver.
Maybe the email you wrote landed wrong with the person you sent it to.
Maybe you spilled your coffee all over your desk.
All of it lines up perfectly to back up what your brain has decided before you even got out of bed.
It works exactly the same way in the other direction.
If you point your brain at something different,
Anything different,
Then it will start to find evidence of that instead and it's not because your day is like magically gotten better.
It's because you changed what you were looking for or scanning for.
I want to give you an example,
A real-life example.
In our family,
We play a game called yellow car.
Somebody in the car sees a yellow car and calls out yellow car.
One point and then suddenly everybody is looking for a yellow car and you know what happens?
Yellow cars are everywhere and they really always were.
We just were not looking for them and so that is exactly how your brain works.
It finds what it's pointing towards.
So right now before you go any further into this day that your brain had already decided was not a good one,
I want you to do one thing.
I want you to find your yellow car.
Ask yourself what is one thing today that could be good or easy or just slightly less heavy than everything else.
I'm not talking about lining up your whole day or making a list or anything.
One thing is all I'm asking for.
Maybe it's a conversation that you're actually looking forward to.
Maybe it's lunch with a friend.
Maybe it's the drive home with the music on and the windows open.
Maybe it's that you get to be done with that thing that you've been dreading because today is the day you're finally going to do it.
I want you to find it,
Name it,
And hold it in your head for a couple of seconds.
That is your yellow car and now your brain knows what to look for today.
Your brain wrote a one-star review for today before it had any real information.
So you just gave it something better to work with.
One yellow car is all it takes to get started.
I'm Dana Mitchell and thank you for spending time with me today.
So go improve your brain wrong and look for your yellow car.
