STOP Letting Your Past Dictate Your Future

We may have around 80,000 thoughts on any given day.

About 90% of those thoughts are the same thoughts as the day before.

And, about 50% of what we think & talk about from our past aren't even true, thanks to our left "interpreter" brain.

When we allow our left "interpreter" brain to label things as "good" or "bad", the more stories it creates about our lives, both present and past, as well as those in our lives and our circumstances in life.

This creates the reality we perceive every day, or the story we live by day in and day out.

When this happens, what we witness and experience today creates a pattern of reactions that has us go from thinking to feeling to doing, all based upon our past conditioning.

This occurs because about 95% of who we are by the time we get into our mid 30's is a series of memorized subconscious programs: "attitudes, beliefs, perceptions, unconscious thoughts, habits, behaviors and emotional reactions that function like a computer program that you’ve completed so many times it is now automatic".

It took me a while to understand this and the magnitude it had on my life, and why change was so difficult for me to initiate and stay consistent with.

The more I learned how the subconscious mind runs majority of the show that is our life, the more I stopped judging myself and labeling my behavior as "good" or "bad".

When I started to make this a new habit, the more curiosity and empathy I was able to utilize for myself as well as others.

The more curiosity & empathy I developed, the more I began to check the baggage I was unknowingly carrying around all of my adulthood, making up stories about why I couldn't do "this or that".

This allowed me to grow more confidently by doing that which was uncomfortable, unknown, and unfamiliar in my life.

As I stayed consistent and kept showing up in life in the best way I possibly could, congruent to the vision I was working towards, the more others took notice of the changes I was experiencing.

Then, I began to share more openly about what was going on in my life. The more I shared, the more others reach out to see if I could help them do the same. As I began supporting others in creating the changes they wanted to make in their lives, I learned a few key things we all go through from a surface level perspective:

1. What many of think is the problem is actually NOT the problem. Usually, it's just evidence of a deeper rooted problem programmed into our subconscious mind.
2. Many of us are suffering more than we want to acknowledge, let alone believe. But, it's not our fault. We were not given the instructions for most of what's holding us back and we unknowingly took on as our conditioning that created the suffering to begin with.
3. Many of us think we "can never change", we "aren't worthy" of what we want in life, we "don't deserve" what we want in life, we "aren't good enough" to do "x, y or z", and or are afraid of change due to all the stories going around our minds making us feel paralyzed from changing.

As Lauren Lefkowitz ?? shared with me on Monday "if you say so".

We live most of our lives controlled by the programs running beneath the surface of our awareness making up stories about why we can't succeed in whatever aspect of our lives we wish to. The story we hide behind is what's holding us back from making any change we want to have the experience we seek in our lives.

When I learned this, I did a few important things:

1. I became aware of my self as the "observer" of my life. When I noticed a thought, emotion and or action I wasn't happy with, I would acknowledge it and be curious of it. I did not judge nor label it any which way.
2. I made a decision that when I did something I was not proud of, or that I saw was not congruent to the life I wanted to experience, I would ask myself why I did what I did, said what I said, or why whatever else beyond me triggered me to think, feel and or act the way I did.
3. When 1 & 2 were completed, I would integrate those observations in a new action plan. If I noticed a thought that made me feel negatively and would either prevent me from taking the action I wanted to or would influence me to act in a non productive manner, I would entertain a new thought and see how it would make me feel and see what actions would come. For example: if I wanted to learn a new trick during my BMX career, I would notice the thoughts "what if I fall and break my leg?". This thought would make me feel fearful and anxious. Then, I would either not give that trick a go or I would half-ass attempt it, usually leading into falling and or getting injured. When I noticed this happening, I would shift my thoughts to "how would it feel to land that trick? What would that do for my contest runs and how awesome would that feel to land that trick in a middle of a run?" and I would feel so different, which would allow me to focus on the trick itself and have a higher probability of landing it.

The main point I am making is that our left brain is often trying to make up stories and works this way to protect us from the past times we felt "bad" or from the unknown future that posses a threat to the mind as it can't predict what's to come.

It's all designed to protect the body and keep it safe, but it's outdated.

The key here is to catch our FOCUS. Anytime we notice we are focusing on thoughts that don't make us feel good, we must catch those thoughts, audit if they're serving us or not, and decide where we want to redirect our focus.

We all posses the ability to change our lives.

That's why I love what I do so much because I get to lead others through this process and witness their shifts in personality, which ultimately changes their personal reality.

There is no better gift to give or receive than helping someone make meaningful changes in their life and witness the transformation while being a small part of it all.

If you're interested in having a conversation about making some changes in your life, please reach out via a message or use this link to set up a free call with me to chat about what you got going on, what changes you want to make in your life, and how I may support you in doing so.

Josh P. ??????