Hi guys! Welcome to Episode 426 of The Wildly Successful Lifestyle podcast! I hope this finds you happy and healthy and listening to that inner guidance system that is always guiding you towards your best life. I like that intro…it reminds me that I’m loved and guided every single day and so are you.
So I’ve been having fun lately because I am working on several really cool design projects. My mind is constantly working on what would look best and what would function the best for my clients lifestyle. How can I make their home feel like a respite, like a space they never want to leave? It’s so fun for me and sometimes that’s all I want to do or think about. I find that I have to make myself do other things.
For instance the other morning I had an idea for a client and so I was excited to do a little research on my idea. When I have projects going on my mind is always considering and deciphering and busy coming up with ideas of how to make the project better. But I have a pretty consistent routine in the mornings which include my meditation and journaling. This makes me better at everything I do throughout the day and I know it….but my brain did NOT want to stop the fun and exciting thing to sit for 10-15 minutes and do nothing, think about nothing..it was ready to get busy on that cool idea. I did NOT want to slow down to meditate and journal, but I did. I told myself “I know it’s not what we want to do but we’re gonna do it, and so we did. Now when I say “we” I mean the 2 year old version of me that wants what it wants when it wants it and also the adult version of me that makes good decisions for our long term goals. Just in case you were wondering.
A lot of times I notice that when I’m thinking from the part of the brain that acts like a 2 year old, it’s often when I’m stressed or worried or have a ton of things on my mind. That’s when I want to skip my workouts or I want to have that drink or I want to just eat cookies because it’s easy and they taste good. It makes sense though because our primitive brain, that’s the one that has you acting like a 2 year old…. That’s the part of the brain that seeks anything that brings pleasure, avoids anything that brings pain wants you to Conserve energy at all costs, has you sticking with people who are safe, and would really love for you to avoid being seen all together.
So you can see how living from that part of your brain can cause problems right? You’re not going to want to venture out from your house much, if at all when you live from the primitive brain, because the world is a scary place and it wants to protect you at all costs.
But guess what? You have someone that is always on your team. 100% of the time you have someone that knows what is best for you AND is rooting for you. And you get glimpses of that someone all the time. You get glimpses when you get the urge to go to the gym, when you get the urge to meal prep all your food for the week so you eat healthy, when you get the urge to do anything that is going to really serve you long term, that is when you notice that someone that’s guiding you….it’s that voice inside that says we really should be doing this or not doing this, it’s your inner guidance system and it’s talking to you all of the time, you know it is. It’s just that so much of our life is spent on autopilot that a lot of time that inner guidance system is drowned out. It’s drowned out by instagram or netflix or alcohol or food or sex or whatever it is that distracts you from listening to that voice, that voice that the only goal it has is you living your best life.
You ultimately know what is best for you, we all innately know. We are born with this innate knowing of what is best for us and we either follow it or we don’t. And you can tell by how your life is going the percentage of the time you follow your inner guidance system.
And look there are going to be times where you slip, where you have to give yourself grace, where the primitive brain takes over because you’re simply trying to survive….
Last week with losing our little yorkie we gave ourselves grace because we needed a little time, there were a few days where I didn’t want to do anything and neither did my husband and so we didn’t. We needed a little time and we took it, nothing wrong with that at all. Where we have to be careful though is we don’t want to do it too long because now we are picking up bad habits and they are not hard to pick up. I broke my habit of drinking alcohol during the week a while ago and I notice I have wanted to pick that habit back up this week, you know just to take the edge off but even though I just have one drink, I still don’t feel great the next day the way I do when I don’t drink alcohol at all.
Fortunately Im aware of it so which makes it easier to say no. I may feel the urge to have a drink during the week but feeling the urge and having the drink are two very different things as long as you decide in advance what you’re gonna do. Part of me wants the drink but the adult in the room says “I know you want it but we’re not gonna have it, not on a Tuesday”
This last Monday after taking a few days off from exercise I did NOT feel like going to the gym. But I had decided in advance that I was going to go even if I didn’t want to. Part of me said “I don’t want to go” but the adult in the room said “I know, but we’re gonna”
You see I used to think that people who were successful at eating or drinking or anything just never had the urge to be lazy or indulgent but that is not the case. They have those urges, they just know in advance what they are going to do when they have them. They let the adult in the room make the decisions which puts the 2 year old in it’s place.
So yeah, this morning when I was excited to get into my design Idea instead of quieting my mind to meditate, I knew in advance I was going to meditate anyway and it felt even more empowering because I started the day off following my inner guidance system instead of succumbing to my 2 year old craving to do whatever I wanted….
My challenge to you this week is the next time you hear your inner guidance system giving you an idea like let’s go to the gym or let’s get a salad instead of fries know in advance the 2 year old in you is going to say “I don’t want to” but also know in advance you’re going to override it by saying “I know but we’re gonna”. Share this with 3 people that have an inner guidance system (hint hint that’s everyone). I love you guys, I’ll talk to you in a few days!
