A conversation recently triggered these thoughts of me after a long time. For someone who had started living in this truth, it has been so easy to forget. So penning it down here too. Just small reminders and notes for me when I time travel back :)
Our brains can take over and make us feel very broken, amongst other things.
Every fear, every anxiety, is doing exactly what it is designed to do: protect you. I’ve recently had to remind myself of all this too :)
Our problem is not the brain. It is how we easily forget that we are not our thoughts.
We are simply the observer of our thoughts.
All we truly do is listen to them, and we can allow specific thoughts to enter our brain, or not!
But usually what happens is that we become prisoners of our thoughts, giving our fears and insecurities the right of passage :) even when we think we don’t do that.
As observers of our thoughts, we tend to have a lot more power.
You are not your thoughts.
You are not stuck.
Your brain rewires itself every single day based on what you’re thinking about.
You’re either hardening old patterns or creating new ones.
It’s biology. We are not stuck. We can change the trajectory of our lives at any point and begin again, as many times as needed.
For me, empathy and compassion are not weaknesses.
They are now known and studied as some of the highest neurological functions.
I have realised, and conveniently forgotten in the recent past, that when I practice kindness towards others, it helps soften and suppress my own fears a little.
Our heart and brain are constantly conversing, and the shift happens when the heart finally has the courage to shush the brain.
When we practice gratitude, our heart rhythm changes, and then the brain follows.
Not only can you think your way into a new life, you can *feel* your way into one too.
If your heart believes it, your brain eventually will too.
Suffering is universal, yes, but the story you tell yourself is optional.
You can decide what the story is and tell it to yourself, or you can let it tell itself to you.
For the majority of my life, I have chosen the empowering one.
Healing from suffering and cycles of negative thought makes us resilient. I need to remind my brain all the time that even the hardships, pain, and suffering I’m going through have a purpose.
The brain is capable of imagination and intention.
It can envision anything or anyone you want to be. If I can think vividly about who I want to become, and wire that into my brain, it will eventually come true. It may not happen on my timeline, but maybe it already exists somewhere in a parallel reality :) Which is why we can imagine and feel it.
This is not wishful thinking. It is neuroscience. :) :p
We have the gift, and the ability, to start again with every passing second...
In the end, the legacy we leave behind isn’t what has lasting value; it’s whether we loved others, and whether they loved us. If we had even a small impact on someone’s life or life path, that is what really matters.
So in this constant conversation between our head and our heart, I pray that our hearts always win and teach our brains to be gentler with ourselves, specially when it needs to protect us :D
There are other ways to take off the amour. I pray our hearts lead and guide the way for our brains.
