Episode 115: Taking Responsibility for Your Life

Episode Summary

Your life is really just the physical manifestation of the invisible relationship between you and your brain.

What is that relationship like? Who gets the most say? Who is driving the conversation? Which of you is deciding what you do and how you feel most days? Who is in charge in your relationships? Which one of you is deciding how you spend your time or your money? Which one of you has the most say in what’s really important to you?

When you really understand the dynamic that exists between you and your brain, you will see how much control you really have over your life experience. In this episode, I’m sharing how to put yourself in charge more often and take more responsibility for your life instead of leaving it up to your brain.

Episode Tools and Questions

“Take responsibility for your life.” Depending on how your brain works, you could interpret that statement in any number of ways. I used to take it as a criticism. I already understood that I was responsible for my life. I also understood that since I was clearly terrible at doing life, my life was terrible as a result.

Now I see how that was just a thought I used to have and not the truth. Taking responsibility for our lives isn’t meant to send us spiraling into shame. It’s really a wonderful opportunity. But in order to make the most of the opportunity, we have to be aware of what our brain is doing. 

Today I’m sharing how to build your awareness of the thoughts your brain will offer you when you decide you want to take responsibility for your earth life experience. Once you recognize the difference between you and your brain, you can make different choices about who gets to navigate.

Episode Transcript

Welcome to the 100% Awesome Podcast with April Price, you might not know it, but every result in your life is 100% because of the thought you think. And that, my friends, is 100% awesome!

Hello, podcast universe! Welcome to Episode 115 of the 100% Awesome Podcast, I'm April Price and I want to welcome you to the podcast today. How are you? We are just getting ready to leave on a little beach vacation. Every year we go to Newport Beach, and we are headed out. My husband is right now packing the car and like everybody's tapping their foot waiting for me so, I am going to record this podcast and then I am going to jump in the car with all of them.

But I just wanted to, like, take notice that, like, we are officially over halfway through the year, right? Our trip to Newport, I always think about it like it cuts the year and half, like it is the midpoint of the year. And I'm just wondering, like how you are feeling about things, right? The other day I was reading a post on Instagram and a friend posted, she talked about how like this is the midpoint in the year, and it's a really good time to reflect, and recalibrate, and figure out like what has worked, and what you like, and what you can celebrate. And then also just to kind of take stock of like what you want to change, and what you want to let go of, and what you want to, like, not continue to repeat throughout the rest of the year. And anyway, like, it just reminded me of a little exercise, and I did it for myself, and I just wanted to remind you about it. I've told you about it before, but I think it can be so useful here, like in the middle of the year to kind of like reapply it.

And for this exercise, what you want to do is kind of access future you, like your future self, and kind of go forward in your mind to the end of the year. Go to you on December 31st, like the version of you that you want to be, the version of you that has accomplished the things that you want to do this year. And you kind of write a letter to yourself from that future point, from you December 31st to you today. And you start by saying, like, Dear April in July, I wish you would stop, and then you fill in the blank, right? So what do you do six-months from now wish you would stop doing today, okay? And then you write, I want to encourage you to start and fill in the blank, right? You're asking yourself what did you six-months from now want you to start doing today, so that her life will be different, right? Like she's already there. She is already there, in your future, what does she want you to start doing right now so that you can be her in six months. And then write please continue to, and fill in the blank. Like what does future you want you to continue? What are you doing right now that she really appreciates, really approves of and wants you to continue doing? Because you get to decide.

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So many times we're just like rinsing and repeating, right? We just like keep taking the same action and getting the same results. And then we're somehow disappointed that when we get to the future, we're still the same. And we have to kind of recognize that like every day we are creating that future moment. And you get to start doing anything right now. You get to stop doing anything right now. And you can keep continuing doing anything right now that is working, and like you are always in charge of that. And so, if you do this exercise and you decide, okay, like here are the things I want to stop, here are the things I want to start doing, here are the things I'm going to continue doing. I want you to remember, and like in so many ways, this is the most important thing to remember. I want you to remember that if you go to, like, stop and start and continue things, we often focus on the doing on the action line. And if you are only focused on the doing, and what you're like, the action you're taking, or not taking, it is really, really difficult to keep doing those things. Like focusing on the actions that we are stopping, or starting, or continuing is the least effective way to become that person in the future that you want to be.

So, once you kind of see what you wish you would start, or stop, or continue, the next question really is what do I need to think in order to do these things in my life? Remember that all of your actions are just coming down stream of your thoughts, and so what you think is way more important than what you do. Like if there is another version out there on December 30, first living their life differently than you are right now, it's because he or she is not thinking the same things that you are thinking right now, right? If they are enjoying their life in a different way than you are, it's because they are thinking differently about their life than you are right now. They think differently than you do, and that's why they have different results on December 31st.

So here at the middle of the year, as you take a minute to re-evaluate, and reassess, and recalibrate, do it in terms of like reevaluating your thinking, what you've been thinking. And if you really want to keep thinking in that way, and looking at it in terms of your thinking will make all the difference. So, I'm just going to give you one quick example of this for me. At the beginning of this year, I set this really big goal in my business. And so, as I've done this sort of evaluation, and assessment, noticing where I am here in July, and where I want to be in December, I kind of realize for the first half of the year I have been thinking, I'm not sure I can hit my goal. I mean, I hope I can and maybe I'm going to get lucky, but I'm not really sure I can hit it, okay? And I didn't really even notice that thought was there. But as I re-evaluated, I see how that thought, I'm not really sure if I can get there, is creating my current results. And I know that I want actually different results than I have right now by the end of the year.

And so, I'm going to have to change that thought. I'm going to have to decide intentionally that I am no longer going to think, I'm not sure if I can hit my goal. Or I need to let go of that and stop choosing to think that thought, because me on December 31st doesn't think I'm not sure if I can hit this goal, right? Me on December 31st thinks I did hit my goal. Me on December 31st thinks I create all my results. Me on December 31st thinks there is no question that I can hit it, of course I can. And so, it's time to just start believing that it is as good as done right now. So, whatever you want to do, whatever way you want to become, whatever you want to accomplish, whatever you want to create in your life between now, and the end of the year, the you that creates it, that you that is living that way on December 31st thinks something differently than you right now thinks.

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And it's really important to try and figure out what that is and listen the best way that I know to figure that out and to change and challenge your current beliefs and believe new things about yourself so they can get what you want is through coaching. This is why I will never not have a coach, right? Because I never want to stop believing new things about myself. This is my life, and if I keep asking myself to stop believing what I believe right now and start believing something else, like there is no telling what I can create in my life. And this is the most magical, powerful or inspiring thing I can tell you, you are not limited by anything but your own thoughts. You are not limited by your past or the first half of this year or the first half of your life, right. You are not limited by your education, or your training, or or by your family situation, or your trauma, or your health, or your economic situation, right?

Now, like this is the great equalizing principle of human life. Not one of us is limited. Now, we may all start at different starting points, but none of us is limited in what we can create, or experience, or have, except as we limit ourselves by our own beliefs. And so, I think if you are ready to create something different in the second half of this year, the best way to do that is to join my coaching program. I will give you the most powerful practical tools that will allow you to start thinking the thoughts that will create the life you really want. This is exactly how I changed my life, one area at a time, one thought at a time. I stopped thinking one way, and I started thinking another. And I am never going to stop doing that. And I think you deserve to have that same experience for yourself if you want it. My next coaching program starts the first week in August and it is already filling up. I am offering two different time slots, one during the day, and one in the evening to accommodate more of your schedules. And so, if you have been thinking about coaching, this is the perfect time.

Your kids are going to be going back to school in August, and you can spend some time, and effort, and energy, and money on you. On creating what you want out of your amazing life. No matter what you choose to think, the next six-months are going to happen, they're going to go by, and if you are intentional about what you think, you will be amazed at what you can create in those six months. So, if you're interested, you can sign up for a free coaching call at my website aprilpricecoaching.com. See how coaching works, see if it will help you personally, how different you could feel, how different you could think about yourself, and how different that would let you show up in your life. That is how I changed my life. And I know it can change yours, okay?

That was a really long introduction. My poor husband! We are never going to get on the road, right? Okay, just quickly, I want to share one thought with you today on the podcast that I hope will help you in your life. And it's you know, it's related to what I just talked about, but I was thinking about how when we boil it all down, it's about the relationship that you have between you and your brain, right? There is you eternal, the you that existed before you lived in this body, and the you that will exist after this body dies, there is you. And then there is your brain, and everything that happens in your life is filtered, and processed, and interpreted through this brain. And the way that these two parts of you interact, you and your brain, the relationship between the two of those two things, that is what is determining your Earth life experience. And everything about this experience is the result of that relationship, the relationship between you and your brain.

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So, I want you to think about that relationship for yourself for a minute, okay? The relationship between you and your brain. What is that relationship like? Like who gets the most, say, for example, who is driving the conversation most of the time, you or your brain? Which of you is deciding what you do, and how you feel most of the time, like who is making that call? Who is in charge in the relationships with other people in your life, you or your brain? Which one of you is deciding how you spend your time or what you do with your money? Who is deciding, like what your body does every day, what activity it has, what it eats, right? Which one of you is creating the habits of your life? And like which one of you gets the most votes in what your life looks like on a daily basis? It's like so interesting to think about, right? Like who is calling the shots in your life and and who has the most say in this relationship between you and your brain?

Like the quality of your life, the way you live your life on a daily basis, the results in your relationships, like everything, it all boils down to that to that relationship. Who has the most say and who is in charge most of the time? And I think there's so many times we think of life as just like this series of events that happened to us, that we have very little control over or saying, but that is really an illusion. The outside world is the illusion. Our life really is just like the physical manifestation of this sort of invisible relationship that is always going on between us, and our brain. And the physical world just reflects that relationship back to us. And when you really understand that, you suddenly start to see how much control you really have over your life experience. And how much more control you could have over it, if you like, really took that relationship seriously.

And if you really put yourself in charge of it instead of letting your brain just, like, run the show by default. If it all comes down to the relationship between you and your brain, that means that you are responsible for your life, you are responsible for your results, and your outcomes. Like how much you take charge of that is up to you. And I want you to know that I used to hear this, I used to hear this all the time. You are responsible for your life. You are responsible for your happiness, and I only ever use that against myself. Like, I was like, yeah, I'm responsible and I suck, so therefore my life sucks and there's nothing I can do about it, right? Like, I just used it to make myself wrong and see myself and I'm just like, hey, you're responsible and you're doing a terrible job, okay?

Instead of like seeing it, like what if responsible doesn't mean anything about like fault, okay? Like it's your fault that your life looks like this, but instead, what if we look at responsible? It's like this incredible opportunity, this like, incredible ownership of our life. Like instead, what if we made responsibility mean like we are the only one that can change it? Like, we are the only ones that have the power to change it, and we take ownership of that. We are the only ones that can change our life because there is only us and our brain involved in the creation of it, right? It's only us and our brain involved in this whole drama. It is only what is happening between us and our brain that is creating any of it. And so, there is literally no one else that can change it. We are the only ones who have the power to change it. You are the one.

And believe me, that doesn't mean you have to change it, but if you want to, you are the one. If you want those things that I talked about to be different, your relationships, your habits, what you do with your body, what you do with your money, what you do with your time, your feelings, your opinion of you like all these things. If you want to change any of that, you need to know that you are in charge of it, that you are 100% responsible because you are creating it in the chamber of your own mind. Like that relationship between you and your mind, the decisions you make there are what are creating it. That makes you so powerful. If you want to change it, to know that it's all up to you. And I also want to point out to you that you do not have to change a million things about you or your life. You only have to change one thing. You only have to change the relationship between you, and your brain. You have to put you in charge more often than you let your brain be in charge, you have to stop letting your brain run the show, at least in the areas that you want things to be different.

You are responsible for your life, and you take responsibility by changing the way you look at this one defining relationship between you and your brain, that is the key to everything. And this is why coaching is so powerful, because it is changing that relationship, it's noticing, first of all how often my brain is in charge and then it is altering the power structure in there and putting myself in charge, deciding what I want and making myself responsible for what I want to think. And then that thinking creates everything else in my life. You are responsible for your life, and that is the best news I have for you, because if you want anything to be different, it absolutely can be. You only have to change the relationship between you and your brain. And that, my friends, is 100% awesome. I love you for listening. And I'll see you next week.

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The next round of my group coaching program made four more starts soon, and I think you should be a part of it. Your brain was program for survival, but you were made for more than that. You were made for more love and more accomplishment and more joy right now. And I can show you the simple way to get all of that. Join me in Made for More where we will spend the next six-months coaching and reprogramming your brain so that you can get the most out of this life. And the next go to aprilpricecoaching.com to sign up for a free coaching consultation and see how changing your thoughts can change everything!