Buddha describes our minds as being filled with drunken monkeys, jumping around, screeching, chattering and carrying on endlessly all clamouring for attention.
And of all the monkeys, FEAR is the loudest.... sounding the alarm incessantly, pointing out all the things we should be wary of and everything that could go wrong.
Sound familiar?
Modern science tells us we have 60,000 ish thoughts a day,
our brains have not evolved in millennia
and our deepest and strongest human motivation is to survive.
So much so the oldest part of our brains has the ability to set us off running and hiding at the merest hint of danger.
The problem is that danger is no longer running for your dear life to escape being eaten, but everything from your phone beeping at you when you didn’t expect it,
to thinking about doing something different in your career.
So if your response to the questions
“What do you want for your career in 2023”
And
“How am I going to get it”
caused you to do anything but try and answer the questions,
or
you valiantly tried to answer them and found that every time your mind threw up a suggestion, that same mind came up with all the reasons why it wouldn’t work, you couldn’t do it and things really were not that bad where you are….
Welcome to the human race.
It’s just who we are.
We are only here as a species because we are so good at survival.
We want to stay safe, and in our caves,
expending minimum energy,
avoiding any kind of pain,
and doing stuff that gives us pleasure (eating, drinking, sex, drugs, or anything else that provides a good strong dopamine hit).
But the story does not end there.
We have this other part of our brain,
newer,
smarter,
analytical,
that can actually override these baser instincts,
and enable us to not only see and understand our thoughts
but also manage them!
And in managing those thoughts,
develop new ways of thinking and being
that allow us to take action
and make changes
and get different results
and learn from failure
and feel fear,
but still do it anyway.
So, if you perseverating (what a great word!) over those questions,
are dismissing any ideas you have as ridiculous,
judging and criticising yourself and others (harshly),
and objecting to being prompted to think differently
You’re in good company.
Welcome to the human race.
All you need to do is understand what is happening,
begin to become more aware of your thoughts
and how they affect what you feel, do and believe,
and start creating new ones.
But while you are building up to that,
Feel the fear and do in anyway.
Just answer the questions.
It doesn’t mean you have to do anything with the answers.
You really don’t.
But you could….
With some support…
if you decide to?
Wouldn’t it be fun to just let yourself imagine what might be possible?
But for now, just answer the questions.
No harm, no foul, just for kicks and curiousity.
Have a great Wednesday.
Patricia. x
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© Patricia Ezechie Coaching and Consultancy 2023. All Rights Reserved.
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