Written by: Lucy Griffin-Stiff, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Could understanding yourself be the most useful but overlooked key to creating a life you love?
Many of us believe that we know ourselves, but deep down we don’t.
So much of what we do, think believe and say is unconscious. And so much of how we are shaped happens in the first half of our lives when we are influenced by others.
The brain is very clever: only 5% of what we do is controlled by conscious thought, whereas 95% operates from the subconscious level, on automatic. With over 60,000 thoughts a day, and millions of subconscious processes to keep the blood pumping and lungs breathing, our systems have a lot to be dealing with – there is no way we could do everything consciously.
So, the brain creates programmes. ‘If this, then that’ on repeat.
The brain sorts things into patterns and programmes to keep you efficient and functioning. Think of it as your supercomputer.
By the time you reach your mid-thirties, pretty much all the programming in your brain has been hardwired. And unless you’ve taken the time out to reprogramme it or update your software, you are not going to be functioning to your true potential. Like an out-of-date laptop, that takes ten minutes to start up. (I had one of those for too long.)
Creatures of habit
This supercomputer forms billions of predictive patterns, so much so that 80–90% of your thoughts today are the same ones you had yesterday. We truly are creatures of habit, or habitual programming. You get so used to your wiring, your programmes, that it becomes harder as you get older to unpick those old programmes and rewire your brain.
We end up living by habit where our subconscious is telling us how to think, feel, and function. And we get used to it.
When was the majority of our programming created? In the first half of our lives. We learned from our parents, our teachers, our community, our bosses, our peers, our religion, our culture… From this we formed our personality.
We picked up all this programming and have been functioning through life on predictable autopilot.
But have you ever stopped to consider if this is really how you want to be thinking, feeling and functioning?
Are YOU actually consciously running the show here? Have you been living your life by habit, without thinking?
Sleepwalking through life… going through the motions.
Have you been following somebody else’s life plan, goals or ideals?
Maybe you don’t even know why you’ve ended up where you are.
Usually after the age of 35 we have an awakening. In or around our forties we start to WAKE UP! We get to a mid-life point of reflection where we start to question these old voices, expectations, and beliefs. We start to question how we are living our lives.
We start to question our identity.
Who am I?
Do I really know myself?
Is this who I want to be?
Is this what I want?
Is this how I want to feel?
Is this how I want to show up?
What is my purpose?
Is this really how I want to spend the rest of my life?
Is this it for me
We want to discover our true selves without the baggage.
We can rewire our brains
Thanks to the wonders of neuroplasticity, it is possible to unpick and rewire brain programming. You can uncover who you truly are and want to be – and leave behind the unhelpful programming from the first half of life. You can let go of the old conditioning you don’t want to hold on to anymore. You can unlearn old things and learn new things.
It feels like a revelation.
In my book The Create a Life you Love Journal® The Ultimate Life and Mindset Makeover – you’ll discover how to re-find your true self and let go of the old programming that no longer fits with who you want to be.
What’s the best thing about knowing yourself?
When you know yourself, your values, what’s important to you, and how you want life to be and feel – you can start taking action towards it
When you know yourself – you’ll identify unhelpful patterns that could have been getting in your way – and learn how to navigate them
When you know yourself – you’ll know how you tick, what motivates you
To take it a step further - when you know your subconscious behavioural preferences – you can build a life that suits you, while also understanding how you fit amongst others.
You’ll get to know what lights you up, what triggers you, what to let go of or say no to.
You’ll be able to set yourself clear boundaries and redefine and redesign what success means to you.
All just by spending some time getting to know yourself! When was the last time you did that?
Get a copy of my book The Create a Life you Love Journal® – The Ultimate Life and Mindset Makeover to start your journey of self-discovery.
Lucy Griffin-Stiff, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Lucy Griffin-Stiff is a global messenger of Enoughness, on a mission to help as many people as possible understand they are worthy and enough. Lucy spreads the message that the unhelpful conditioning of the past isn’t how the future needs to be. As a life and mindset coach, Lucy works mostly with women in and around their forties to help them understand or re-find themselves, let go of what’s been holding them back, reach their potential, and design a life they love from the inside, out. Lucy is a certified mindset coach, Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) coach practitioner, Timeline Therapy™ practitioner, certified hypnotherapist, neuroscience geek, and author of The Create a Life you Love Journal ™ The Ultimate Life and Mindset Makeover.
