Your Brain - Is it always helpful?
Since being on my journey connecting to my spiritual side, listening to my intuition and following what feels right to me I notice more and more how really unhelpful our brains can be and how much they can steer us off course.
Our brains can be really helpful like when we want to remember something we’ve stored away such as how to use Netflix on the television or the password for the computer however day to day our brains can be very unkind to us.
Think about it, our brains tell us we are not enough, compare us to others, say we can’t do things, or we shouldn’t have done this or that or Should do this or that, tell us we should feel bad about something we’ve done, or that we are not smart, pretty, tall, thin enough and so on and so on ….
and when we are paying attention to its chatter we can’t hear the Truth with a capital “T” and we can end up feeling pretty sh*t about ourselves.
What is the Truth?
Our brains are like computers and store information and can give you information you already know. Very helpful at times for sure.
But when you are stuck and don’t know where to go, what to do, feel overwhelmed and need to make a decision, our brains can make us feel worse with its constant chatter.
What we really need is support and guidance.
So how do we get that support and guidance?
We access our intuition, our heart, our wisdom.
And how do we get that?
Well the less we pay attention to what our brain is telling us, you know that constant chatter and the stories it makes up that often makes us feel anxious or fearful or just plain out stressed, the more connected we are to our intuition to our heart to our Knowing and to the Truth with a capital “T”.
Our brains are not all bad intentions 😆 they are trying to protect us.
Well they think they are trying to protect us and keep us safe. We did come from ancestors that had to fear for their lives and be on alert to run from the sabre tooth tigers.
Rick Hanson a Psychologist wrote an article called “Confronting the Negativity Bias” and he says “humans evolved to be fearful — since that helped keep our ancestors alive — so we are very vulnerable to being frightened and even intimidated by threats, both real ones and “paper tigers.”.
What he means by “paper tigers” is that our brains cannot discern very well what is a real or a perceived threat and so we experience the same feelings and thoughts of stress whether you are running away from a tiger as you do if you feel overwhelmed and can’t imagine how you can get that report completed for your boss in one hour.
So let’s have compassion for our brains 😍.
And when we understand how our brains work it’s much easier to ignore them and listen for the Truth.
We need our brains to remember things but we definitely don’t want them driving the car, calling the shots. Being a passenger in the car is fine but not the one making decisions on how we live our lives.
So now I stop and question the thoughts that comes in my head especially when I’m feeling stressed and ask myself “Is this Truth?”
I find this really fascinating as 99.99% of the time the answer is No.
No its not the Truth when I hear:
“I cannot do this ….” – sure it may be challenging to learn but there is no truth in that I can’t do it ever
“I am not good at this ….” Sure this is really challenging and feels so overwhelming but I know I grow and evolve most when I am challenged
“The worst possible scenario will come true for ….” – yes you may feel really anxious and worried right now but I cannot say that means the worst will happen. How else can I see this situation? What does my intuition say about this?
Bringing some curiosity around what our brains are trying to tell us can be so helpful to support us to have a change in perspective. And all we need is a change in perspective to have a whole new experience of life!!!
Remember my last blog post about intuition I talked about how we can all access intuition and this part within ourselves that supports and guides us.
That’s always going to be Truth. That’s come from our heart, our wisdom, our gut and that is new and fresh ready just for you in exactly the moment you need it.
What better support and guidance is there than that?
To me it feels like the more faith and attention you give to your intuition, the less attention you give to what your brain is telling you. And the calmer you feel and the better decisions you make.
I am going to be running a course in July on connecting to your intuition discussing topics similar to this one, please email me if you are interested and would like to go on the waitlist.
I invite you to be curious…
How often do you question what your brain is telling you?
Do you ever feel stressed or anxious or overwhelmed by the chatter in your brain and the stories it makes up?
Have you ever noticed when you listen to your intuition not your brain how it makes you feel?
As always, if you feel called to share anything I'd love to hear from you.
Hope you’re having a wonderful day