The Battleground Inside Our Mind

Deep down we know it’s okay to…

• Say “no”
• Speak up
• Tell the truth
• Believe and express differently
• Change our mind
• Prioritise our own needs
• Learn and grow from our mistakes
• Embrace our imperfections
• Cut ourselves some slack
• Forgive and seek forgiveness
• Begin again, wiser and stronger than before

Yet, when life gets stressful and we’re under pressure, we often revert to automatic patterns of thinking and behaviours, so we end up doing and seeking the exact opposite.

We can sometimes do the wrong things even when we know better. Why is this and what can we do about it? Let’s explore this now…

Now here’s the thing – our mind is our battleground!

It has so many little weaknesses and is easily distracted.

It becomes forgetful and insensible when it’s stressed. And the only way to conquer these weaknesses is to practice conquering them – to practice thinking better. This takes effort – it takes focus, intentionally refocusing our attention, it takes repetition and it takes positive reinforcement. This is how we reprogram habits in our brain. And this takes time, this takes practice and this takes a whole lot of patience.

What we also need to remember is that the brain operates like a muscle. You’ve probably heard the saying: use it or lose it. Brain function is exactly the same. Just like every muscle in the human body, our brain needs to be exercised to gain and maintain strength and functionin. It needs to be trained consistently to grow and develop gradually over time.

So what is the most significant hidden benefit of exercising your mind and brain to think better? Guess what?! When we wire our brain to think better, we renew trust in ourselves so we can LIVE BETTER too.

In fact, what I lacked 12 years ago when I was struggling to get my life back on track was the trust that I was actually capable of achieving positive results in my lives, despite all the set backs that were going on at that time. I’d made many foolish little mistakes in the past, and had grown discouraged in myself – I even started to subconsciously choose procrastination over future attempts to fulfil the promises I made to myself, my children and those I cared most about… including YOU.

In essence, I’d lost trust in both my abilities and myself. It’s just like another person constantly lying to you – eventually you just stop trusting them. The same holds true with the promises we make to ourselves that always end in disappointment and even resentment. Eventually, we stop trusting ourselves.

The solution in most cases is this: we have to renew our trust gradually, with small shifts in our thinking, small steps forward, and noting our small victories – no matter how small. Yes, this process takes time, but it happens relatively fast if we learn to stick to it. And it’s arguably one of the most important, life-changing things you can do for yourself.

The bottom line is this: the greatest conflict always resides in our mind first. We are what we think – we can’t change anything if we can’t change our thinking.

And the good news is this: YOU CAN change your thinking… if you WANT to.

And… when you change the way you think, you can master a new way to be and live your life.

This is also why I’ve made ‘thinking better’ the foundation of all of my free webinars and my in-person quarterly workshops in Brisbane. Check out the details here.

If you’ve got a story to share about how thinking better has enabled you to live better, please do so. I’d love to hear from you.

Until next time, remember this:

You may not be able to change what’s happening around and to you, but you have total command to determine how you respond to what’s happening.

Be kind and be patient and take good care of YOU. Because you’re worth it!

Shine on.