As a 25 year old grown-up adult I once left the top off a smoothie maker and the resultant splatter across the kitchen, while giving my partner minutes of mirth — gave me further evidence that I was indeed a clumsy so-and-so, and always will be.
From a young age my brain did what it should do and created neural pathways linked to my behaviour which offered a route — whether good or bad - to how I would behave in the future…hence my flouncing and sullen outlook when that bloody smoothie mishap further re-inforced that I was a clumsy git.
Like a hiker in low cloud who uses waymarkers to find their way off a mountain, in life we can only follow from one marker to another — my issue was that I was veering off from my first waymark of “clumsy once” to the cliff of “chronic clumsy kid” and it’s very hard to re-wire your brain to address this.
But we can do. Our mind uses duff information as reference points — if we don’t challenge negative perceptions either personal (clumsy, disloyal, too trusting) or social (shit job, overweight or no progress) we run the risk of tripping ourselves up (self-sabotage or sabotaging others), or at worse hobbling ourselves in dense fog at the top of the mountain.
We can’t trust our minds to provide us with clear guidance (or a clear day’s walking) — we are always in cloud and should not allow our intuition to provide solid guidance.
The mind isn’t a compass with true north hardwired in — our mind doesn’t deal in“true north” absolutes — it’s too easily swayed by our social, family and perceptions of ourselves (I may be clumsy for example, but not “just because” but it’s down to me being too impulsive which is another issue in itself).
Treat your brain and mind with respect but don’t trust the perceptions it presents — it is often wrong and can be challenged!
