Episode 146: You vs. Your Brain: Win Your Life!

Episode Summary

There is a fight happening in your life between what your brain wants and what you (as an eternal, spiritual being) want.

Every thought your brain has is in service to your body and not your spirit. But your spirit is the one that chooses what you are going to do, no matter what your brain says. Your spirit has all the deciding power.

Today I’m sharing five things that will help you win the fight against your brain and create the life you want.

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 146 of the 100% Awesome Podcast. I'm April Price and I am recovering from the virus that has affected us for the last couple of years. It finally hit our house and I am recovering from that so, maybe you can hear that in my voice today. But I am excited to be feeling better and to be on the other side of it and to be getting on with my life. And I just wanted to also like, say, for those of you, I had a couple of you reach out after episode 144 and say, hey, you left us with a cliffhanger, did your daughter ever get or classes like re-instated? And I just wanted to give you a little update. Let you know my daughter made it home. We had an amazing homecoming and welcomed her home. Everybody came home and got to be at the airport, and hug her, and greet her, and I did get her re-registered for her classes. And now she is navigating life again, transitioning back to life as a student, and we've kind of settled back into our routine.

So, before we get to the episode today, I just wanted to talk to you about my next coaching group. It begins the first week in April, which is only about six-weeks away, and I just want to like make you aware, put it on your radar, and I hope that you are thinking about coaching because coaching is such a difference maker. It is the difference between like knowing theoretically what you should do, what's possible for you and then creating it, making it actually come to pass in your life. Coaching is the difference maker. At least it was for me between, like thinking about the way I wanted to be living and then actually doing it, actually creating it in my life. And I know if your brain is anything like mine, it has all kinds of reasons for why you should need coaching, how you should be able to create what you want on your own.

And I just think that is another way that your brain gets in the way of you getting everything you want out of your Earth, life experience. And honestly, like, I know I'm biased because my whole life is the happy result of the decision I made to get coached. And so like, I know that I am biased, but I can't think of a single good reason not to be coached and not to be in my program. It is such a life changing program. You're going to get some really elite coaching, so much compassion and support such an incredible foundation to be able to create all the things you want in your life for the rest of your life, the things you want in your relationships, in your relationship with yourself, in your health and your time and your money really understanding the resistance that is just your brain and how to overcome that.

And I just want you to know that there is changing your life and your relationship with your life, and then there is just waiting to do it. And I want you to know that you can just stop waiting. We are only really waiting for our brain to get on board with us, and I just want you to know. News flash, your brain is never going to get on board with you. We're going to talk about that later on in this episode, but you just need to understand that your brain is scared and it's going to give you doubts and questions and tell you that it can't be different for you and then it won't work for you and that you shouldn't need any of it anyway. But you don't have to listen to your brain and you get to come to coaching. You get to make that choice in your life, you get to use your agency to create that reality for yourself.

So, with that said, I just want you to know that even though we don't start our actual coaching calls for six weeks, you can sign up now. And as soon as you sign up, you get immediate access to the entire membership library, which has all of the videos and coaching tools that I teach, it gives you access to the workbook, it gives you access to all my past bonus workshops. So, all the business bonus workshops and then all of the regular bonus workshops that I do every single month. You have access to that entire library of workshops that I've done for the last year and a half on there. And you also get immediate access to the Facebook group, where you can come for coaching right now and ask questions and get going on whatever you want to be working on. And everyone that signed up before March 6th before like the kickoff of the open kart date, you're going to also get to free one on one coaching sessions with me that you can use any time right now or over the next six months.

And so, I tell you all of that to let you know that you don't have to wait, you can jump in right now and start creating the life you want. And have my help as your coach, so to sign up or to get on a free call and see what coaching is like with me, you can go to my website aprilpricecoaching.com and sign up and we can talk about the difference that coaching can make for you, okay? So again, that's aprilpricecoaching.com. I've already had a ton of interest in the group, and so I know that it's going to fill quickly and spots are limited. So, if you are interested, I encourage you to get signed-up and start creating the things that you want.

So, today's episode, I want to talk about winning your life. I've been thinking so much recently about the contest or the war, right? Maybe that word war feels a little bit extreme, but it is a very real fight between what you want and what your brain wants. What you as an eternal spiritual being wants out of this life and what your brain wants. And there's kind of this contest or this fight all the time for who gets the say in what happens in your life. And I want you to win that contest. I want you to win your life. I want you to be able to call the shots. So, the reason that I've been thinking about this is that recently, my son and I signed up for a big endurance event that happens at the end of September, and the event is called 29 o 29. And the idea is that you climb the equivalent of the the height of Mount Everest, which is twenty- nine thousand, twenty-nine feet. And you do that climb, but you do it on lower elevation mountains, right? So, that you don't have to deal with like the oxygen deprivation, and the and the crevasses, and all the dangers of Everest, right?

And so, the event that we're going to do takes place on Whistler Mountain in Canada, and you end up going up the mountain, climbing up the mountain eight times so that within 36 hours you have climbed twenty-nine thousand twenty-nine feet. And so, we've been like working towards this goal and practicing our climbing, and we get on the treadmill. And what we've been trying to do is like increase the incline on the treadmill, the height of that incline, and increase the length, right? And the amount of time that we spend in that incline. And we kind of set up like this training program. And my brother, who's done the event before, said, listen, if you can hike for an hour at a 30 percent incline, then you'll you'll be be really prepared for it.

And or at least like in my mind, I'm like, okay, but that's like only like one sixteenth of the of the hike. So, like in my mind, I'm like, will I really be prepared? But anyway, so this is the goal that we've been working on, and as I have been on that treadmill and as I've been increasing the incline, and increasing the distance, and increasing the length of time that I'm in that incline, like it's just been so fascinating to watch my brain protest. And there are moments where my brain is just like begging me to stop to get off. And it just tells me, like, you can't do any more. And it's just been like such a fascinating experience to like, observe my brain, protest the desire that I have, right?

So, in this contest, on the treadmill, there's me and what I want, which is I want to complete this endurance event. And then there's what my brain wants, my brain wants nothing to do with any of it. My brain is like, this is ridiculous, this is not for us, this is not who we are, this is not anything that we want to do, right? And every day, I'm kind of in this little war between me and what I want, and what my brain wants. So, the other day I was on the treadmill, and as usual, my brain is like screaming at me, begging me, tempting me, asking me my reasoning with me to stop and does all the things like screaming protests, and then I will try to be really reasonable, you know, like do all the things to try to get me to stop. So, I'm there on the treadmill and I have this moment that just sort of like stunned me, right? Like stop me in my tracks. Except not really, because I just kept climbing.

But I was just like, Oh my gosh, I had this moment where I realized, Wait a minute, my brain is working for my body. My brain is working only for my body. It is not working for my spirit, right? So, like as my body's on that treadmill, is using energy to turn like oxygen and carbohydrates into ATP, right? Like, I can't remember the entire Krebs cycle, but like you get the idea, right? And the muscles are flexing and they're like, you know, repeating that motion over, and over, and over again and the cells are working, the blood is pumping, my lungs are expanding, like all this is happening in my body. Like, I realized all of a sudden like my brain is working in service to my body. My brain is an agent of my body, not my spirit. Now I know I keep repeating that, and I know that maybe that doesn't sound very significant.

But listen, like it's so good to know. Like, who's whose side my brain is on, like my brain is not on the side of my spirit, it doesn't want what my spirit wants. It wants what my body wants. Its whole job is to protect the survival of my body, it works for my body. Which means that every thought my brain is giving me is in service to my body and not my spirit. It means that every thought my brain is giving to me is like biased towards what my body wants, nor what my spirit wants.

Okay so, I want you to think about the significance of that as a spiritual being here on Earth, trying to create a life that you want, trying to have the experiences you want. All of a sudden you see that it seems like the odds are stacked against you as a spiritual being. Like, it's kind of like two against one here. My brain and my body are against my spirit what my spirit wants, right? And that's feels sort of unfair. And I'm like, Hey, wait a minute. Like, my brain is just working for my body and my spirits, having to, like, combat both of them. But here's the kicker here is the coolest thing, you guys. No matter what happens, no matter how badly my brain complains or kajol's, or screams at me, no matter how badly my body hurts, no matter what my spirit always gets the last say, meaning it may be two against one. But the one my spirit has all the deciding power. Meaning, though, like even though it seems like it's two against one, the spirit has all the veto power, and if it wants to keep going, my brain and my body have to obey.

My brain and my body cannot do anything without the consent of my spirit, right? Like, think about that, my brain may work for my body, but in reality they are both 100% subject to the decisions of my spirit. And that is true for you to. Because you have agency, which is the power to choose, the power to determine your life and your experience. You can make your brain and body work for you, so that you can create the experiences you want while you are here on the Earth. And that, my friends, is so freaking awesome. So, I really I want you to think about this, not just in terms of like physical endurance, not just in terms of your physical goals, though. It applies there, of course, but your brain is like also paired up with your body when it comes to other things as well. When it comes to the way you spend your time, or your money, or like in your relationships, your brain and your body, like don't want the same things as your spirit wants. And so, it's just really important to recognize like who's making the call here, and the power that your spirit has to overcome anything your brain offers you.

And so, I just want to give you a few thoughts to think about. To help you win if it is you vs. your brain in your body, how do you win? How do you win more often? How do you choose what you really want in the face of your brain and your body constantly trying to talk you out of it? Constantly trying to talk you into the easy way into into less discomfort, into giving up, into letting up, in playing small, and not pursuing your dreams, okay? So, I just want to talk to you briefly about five things that I think will help you like to keep in mind so that you can win your life.

So, the first thing that I want you to keep in mind is that your brain is always lying to you about how much you can do. All right, because your brain works for your body, like it's always like trying to get you to stop before you actually need to, okay? And I've heard a lot of like athletes talk about this. Ross Edgley calls this like the central governor theory, which is basically like, we all have this central governor, which is our brain that's like running everything. And they're always like way underestimating the amount of effort and like endurance that we actually have, right? And that if we stop when our brain says stop, we stop way before we need to we before we actually run out of capacity. And I've just noticed this for myself on the treadmill that like, no matter how much my brain protests like, I have never once hit a spot where I died.

Like, obviously because here I am speaking, right? But like, my brain is convinced, like one more step, I'm going to die. And it hasn't happened yet. In fact, no matter how far I'm saying, no matter how high the incline, no matter how long I tell myself I'm going to walk, I always make it to that place. Even though my brain told me the day before, Oh, I can't go one more step. I always can. So, I want you to know that like when your brain says whatever goal it is, you're working on whatever like limitations your brain has put there and whatever like your brain has said, like we can't do any more, I can't go any farther, it is always lying. It is always lying, because it's it's working in service to your body. And so, it stops way before it needs to. And so, you just cannot trust your brain when it says, I have to stop, all right? All right.

The second thing that I want to give you is that your brain is like such a drama queen about pain and discomfort. Like it just like blows, pain and discomfort out of proportion, it's always catastrophizing and exaggerating. Like how bad it hurts, right? Like it has to convince you to stop. And so, it's like going all in. It's like, you know, those soccer players that fall down and they act like they're like in so much pain, like this is your brain all the time. I'm like, and I'm building my business and I'm like, Oh my goodness, I need to like, make this post and write this email and do this podcast. My brain's like, Oh, it's too scary, it's too vulnerable, I can't do it. Like it just exaggerates the pain and discomfort and vulnerability that that it's going to require, right?

It always makes your pain bigger than it actually is. Like the pain in our minds is huge. And in the body, it's really not. And I find that if I can get into my body, and really try to identify, and describe the pain, it is never that bad. It is never as bad as my brain is making it, it's so much smaller than that, right? Not only that, but it's a drama queen about like it projects into the future. Like, I can't endured this pain for that long. So, for example, when I'm on the treadmill, like the first ten minutes are always the worst. Like my, calves, my glutes, everything is burning. And it's like telling me like, Oh, this is impossible, and my brain is always like, Listen, if the first 10 minutes are this hard, how can I do 60, right? Like, catastrophize is like projects that same pain into the future. But what I found is that pain is never the same in the future. It's always better.

The second half hour I'm on that incline is always way better than the first half hour. And so, like so many times, we think that the discomfort we feel in this moment is going to last forever. And that fear is the thing that stops us and makes us like, quit and give up where we are, right? My sister does hypnobirthing classes and she talks about how, like, if we get scared of the pain in the future, like all of the sudden, the pain gets out of control, right? And instead, if we can just go to the present moment and find the discomfort or the contraction or the opening inside, right in that moment, it's never unendurable. It's when we like project out and worry about how will I handle this in the future that we get into trouble? And so, I just want to remind you the same thing about your goals, and this applies to any goal that you have like any goal we have. That is like outside of what we normally do outside of our comfort zone is going to produce some measure of pain and discomfort. And one of the ways that our brain like tries to win this argument is by like projecting that we can't endure the pain for like as long as the goal takes. And they just want you to know that pain and discomfort in any goal changes over time and it is always endurable if you can go to the present moment.

The third thing that I want to tell you is that your brain makes your past relevant when it never is. So, I cannot tell you, as I've pursued this goal, how many times my brain says this is not who we are, we have never done anything like this. This isn't in our history. This isn't like this is who we are, and it's using everything that I've done in the past to tell the story of what I'm capable of. And this is true for so many of us. We are so prone to believe what we are not based on our past. Based on on things that we have never done, we tell the story of what we are capable of now. And I just want you to know that at any moment you get to change what you are capable of, the past has nothing to do with it. A few weeks ago, I was at the gym and they were talking about the AFC Championship, and they were talking about the bills where we're playing and they were like, they threw this like stat up and they said, like, well, the bills have lost all of the last five consecutive AFC Championships that they've been to, right? Like the last five AFC Championships they've been to, they've lost everyone. And he noticed how my brain was like, Oh, well, that doesn't bode well for this one, right? It's like, Wait a minute, right? Like, it's actually irrelevant because the bills today. Now they did end up losing the game, but not because they lost the last five consecutive championships, right?

Like, they are a different team. They have a different quarterback, they have different plays. They I don't even know if they have the same coach. Like, I don't know that much about it, but I do know is that like whatever they did in the past has nothing to do with today. The same is true for you. Like so many times, we tell ourselves we can't have the thing we want because that isn't who we are. We've never done it before, and I just want you to know that this is completely irrelevant. Your brain cannot predict the future based on the past like it thinks it can, but it literally cannot. It cannot decide what I'm capable of in September based on what I'm capable of today, or based on what I was capable of like the last, you know, four decades of my life. So, to win your life, I want you to spend less time thinking about who you are not, and more time deliberately deciding who you want to be. You get to decide, your spirit gets to decide, your brain is just like extrapolating things from the past and making it mean things that it never has to mean.

Okay, the next thing I think that will help you win your life is to make sure that your spirit is making the call about what you want. I remember that the greatest motivator of human beings is the avoidance of discomfort. And so, we can't make decisions about what we really want in those moments of discomfort. Our brain will just find a way out of the discomfort. So, for me, I just and I know that I've talked to you about this before, but never let your brain in the present in the present discomfort, make decisions about what you want in the future of your life. And the way that you can do this is to really limit the moments of negotiation you have with your brain.

Like every time things come up for negotiation, your brain is going to do its very best to get what it wants. So, if I get on that treadmill, for example, and I have no set decision about how long I'm going to be there and what incline I'm going to be at, my brain will negotiate literally every 20 seconds, every 20 seconds it'll be saying like, okay, how about that? That's enough. I mean, really because like, we're tired today and we just had COVID and like, it'll give you a million and one excuses. But if I make the decision ahead of time, right? A day ahead of time, a week ahead of time, I have a training plan with my son. And we've just made the decisions ahead of time so that there isn't a debate. And when I know this is exactly how far I'm going, I can always go exactly that far. It's the most amazing thing that like if I create a space where my brain can negotiate, it will. So, you want to really limit the times of negotiation? You need to decide ahead of time what you are going to do so that your brain that's working for your body isn't making that call in the moment.

I want to give you one more thought to help you win your life. Now, a lot of us like notice our brains, protests notice kind of this like war between us and our brain, and our body, right? And we kind of are like, you know, what would be better is if that didn't exist, you know, it'd be better if this was easy. It was just easy for my spirit to make the call and my brain, my body would just get on board. You know, what would be better is if like this? Was it hard? And I didn't have all this resistance? But. Like, I have come to recognize, like what a gift it is to be able to watch my brain. I'm so grateful that I put myself in a position where my brain has to protest what I've asked you to do something hard. And then I get to watch it protest because then I get to see the truth and I get to see, like and recognize like how many other areas in my life is my brain getting what it wants instead of my spirit, right?

What I want to tell you is that the more you put yourself in situations where you can watch your brain protests like, the more you put yourself in hard situations where your brain is like, Oh, we got to get out of this. The more you're going to like, hear your brain's protests and be on to them, the more you're going to be able to hear them and see them for what they are, just a protest just because your brain works for your body, but not actually a reason to stop. And that is going to apply to so many areas of your life, right? Like I just noticed, like, for example, because I've done this work on the treadmill, I see it so clearly in my spiritual life. I see my brain trying to wheedle out of like my daily spiritual practices and tell me, like, I can just let up a little bit here. Will it really matter? Because I'm so aware of the way my brain talks to me on that treadmill, I can see it in other areas. I see it in my business. I see it my spirituality. I see it in my relationships. I see where my brain and my body are trying to get something different than what I really want. And there is so much power and value in putting yourself into situations where you can listen, and get accustomed to that voice, get accustomed to the whine and the complaint and the cajoling of your brain so that you can get good at discerning between you and your brain.

And that is going to help you get more and more of what you want. I've heard for years like I, I, I follow a lot of people like put themselves in uncomfortable situations because I'm just so fascinated about like how they overcome that. And I've heard so many times, like people like expounding the virtues of cold showers and like, I'm not a cold shower person, but they talk about how, like just putting themselves in that situation, and is so valuable to listen to their own brain, to watch it protest and stay anyway. And and I kind of get that now, like as I watch myself on this treadmill, do this thing that, like my brain, really, really wants to protest. Like, I feel like I'm so much more aware of my brain and onto it's like tricks onto its lies. And so, I just want to offer you that to win your life. You want to put yourself in situations where you get to practice, mastering what you want and choosing what you want over what your brain and body want.

Like, the more you put yourself in those situations, the better you get at choosing, the better you get at using your agency for what you really want and creating the life that you want. And when you get good at that, it's a repeatable meta skill that that goes to every area of your life and can serve you so well. I want you to live a life where you are calling the shots, where you get the things that you want while you're here. And I want you to remember that your brain may work for your body, but the best news I have for you is that they are both 100% percent subject to the decisions of your spirit, and that, my friends, is 100% awesome. I love you for listening, and I'll see you next week.

Thanks so much for joining me on the podcast today. If you want to take the things I've talked about and apply them in your life so that you can love your Earth-life experience. Sign-up for a free coaching session at aprilpricecoaching.com. This is where the real magic happens and your life starts to change forever as your coach. I'll show you that believing your life is 100% awesome is totally available to every one of us. The way things are is not the way things have to stay and that my friends is 100% awesome.