You are not your thoughts!: You are not... - Above & Beyond - ...

Above & Beyond - Mental Health

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You are not your thoughts!

InspireHope profile image
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You are not your thoughts: there’s a part of the brain called the Default Mode Network that essentially plays the stories about who you believe you are and what you believe about life on a reel, non-stop. We can’t turn it off or push pause because it gives us a sense of self. But, here’s the thing, these messages and stories are distorted and many times just plain false! Yes, your brain lies to you. It has the best of intentions of giving you a sense of self, but it doesn’t know that the past does not define you and that many of the stories we have were developed from a child’s undeveloped brain. So, what do we do? We can’t turn it off, but we can choose to not attend to it so that it becomes meaningless background noise. We can turn our attention to what we are engaged with right now and create a new story of who we are. If we do this hundreds of times a day, eventually our brain will overwrite the old stories with the new ones. Every time you get hooked by a self defeating story your brain is playing, say “thank you brain, but I got this” and fully immerse yourself in your present experience. Be prepared to do this A LOT, but don’t be discouraged; every time your brain turns up the volume is an opportunity to rewrite your story.

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InspireHope
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Salix211 profile image
Salix211

I know this is 2 years old but I just stumbled upon it (new member!) and it SPEAKS TO ME. This is so true and something I battle with on almost a minute-by-minute basis.

Thank you for the reminder...be quiet, brain!!! <3

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