Often we may feel our brain, or the voices we hear in our head, are actually not helpful. For sure, I am regularly haunted by very negative or critical thoughts - "you´re not good enough" a common one!
On this post I will not dwell about why we get these thoughts, but want to talk more about how we can harness the power of our brain and channel it in a more positive way.
There is something that is always true: your brain will give you answers to the questions you ask of it. So be aware of the questions you ask and aim to direct them.
Often, if we are feeling bad, we will think "Why am I feeling this bad?". What does your brain do? It will aim to give you answers to this question: eg bringing up examples of what is not going well in your life... what things you are unhappy about... and so on. Can you criticize your brain? Not really, it is just looking to answer the question you have asked!
Try instead to ask positive questions. Try now this process:
1. Think about something you want. Visualize it. Example: you may want to have a productive day. Or you may want to lift your spirits. Or you may want to clarify a direction for a specific project. Visualize your ideal outcome: you ending the day feeling great about everything you have achieved. You in a good positive mood, happy. Or you progressing a specific project, seeing it landing successfully.
2. Ask yourself the question "What can I do to make this happen?". Keep asking and capture the answers. Your brain will do its best to answer you, going through previous learnings etc to give you the best suggestions. For example: for a productive day, it might suggest to list all the key tasks and prioritize them. Block time to do each of them. To start with an easy one to get momentum. For lifting your spirits, it might say go for a walk! it might say to remember what you are thankful about, to list it. Or to call a friend and open up. For the project, it might give you ideas of desk research you can do. Stakeholders you could interview. Potential customers you could talk to.
3. You can then take the answers and choose the ones that you feel good about or that you feel will drive things forward towards the desired outcome.
4. Extra tip: if the suggestion you get is not clear enough, just take that suggestion and ask your brain again: "what can I do now to make this happen?" - and sure enough your brain will give you more detailed suggestions.
Point is your brain is powerful and is at your service. It will aim to answer the questions you give him! So do aim to take that power and direct your questions. And watch out for questions that will not give you positive or nurturing answers.
