SHORT-ISH POST ALERT!!!!!!!!!
A very rare sighting so stay with me! 😁
A chiropractor and friend of mine, named Lisa, posted something incredibly well-stated on Instagram and I had to share it with you!!! It provides a fascinating perspective on the miraculous machines that are our bodies and how our brain and nervous system link every age we have ever been into one beautiful, complex, mysterious, multifaceted, and multi-layered package:
“…in every moment, we are every age we have ever been…” WOW! Doesn’t that paint a striking visual and perhaps conger up images of our past selves through the years?!?!
Seriously, think about THAT for a moment!!!!!!!! It’s kinda crazy and pretty stinkin’ magnificent that our bodies are capable of holding onto YEARS (like, decades and decades) worth of memories and experiences. Even if we have forgotten so many of them, our brain, body, and nervous system never forget.
And yes, we can release past events that bother us or create stress, which means that we choose not to let them consume us and fester. However, just because we are no longer holding onto these thoughts and allowing them to rampage our minds does not mean that they just disappear. Their presence has gone to the behind-the-scenes storage area in our brains. And they are still a part of us, of our make up, and of the person that we are today.
Everything that happened in our lives prior to today was ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY in order for us to be who we are today.
How do we know?? BECAUSE THEY ALREADY HAPPENED. And therefore it couldn’t have happened any other way.
As much as I get it, this is still a rough pill for me to swallow……
…because I sometimes wish that I could turn back time and redo a moment…or FIVE….to have things turn out differently. Yet, it’s impossible and just creates feelings of regret, sadness, and a longing for something that cannot be done. I gotta let it go, ya know????? And realize that it was all supposed to go down the way it did because that is exactly what happened.
So, even though there might be things in our past that we wish we didn’t do or that we would change if we could get a do-over, they still led us here. And they are still a part of our journey that served a purpose, even if it was a sign of what NOT to do…which is often even more influential than learning what TO do!
Brook Castillo with “The Life School Podcast” had mentioned how she always has her own back, especially when her own brain is trying to judge her for things she did in her past. When those thoughts come up that question her motives, her worth, her morals, or her poor decision-making at the time, she instantly jumps in to defend herself. To stop those badgering thoughts and remind herself that she did the best that she could with where she was at and although “the best was not great,” it was all that she had.
Ahhhh, conversations with ourselves. Hey, we all do it!!!! And I thought that Brook Castillo’s support of herself was super important because other people may judge us and scold us for things that happened in the past but what happens when WE do that to ourselves?????
Most often, we BELIEVE it. We ACCEPT it. And we don’t question it because it is coming out of our own heads.
But here’s the thing – – that is what our brains are supposed to do. Find the worst-case scenarios and flag those less-than-great reminders from our thousands upon thousands of wonderful memories, in order to be on survival alert and fully aware of things that could potentially hurt us. 🚩
The good news is that we don’t have to believe every thought that comes into our heads! The mind, combined with our imagination, fiction stories, news headlines, friends stories, OUR own stories, and the experiences collected over our lifetime….can produce the most random, off-the-wall, and heavy thoughts!! That we are TOTALLY allowed to question, laugh at, counter, challenge, and/or dismiss!!
The thoughts we think are not who we are….unless we BELIEVE that they are.
As said in the book “Indistractable” by Nir Eyal, “Thankfully, you don’t have to believe everything you think; you are only powerless if you think you are.”
We must check our thoughts at the door!! We have the power to believe in the things that we want, even if our brains try to get in the way. Because we can have that lil’ convo with ourselves, override the protective mechanism in our brain that constantly seeks survival, and let those hindering/overprotective/worrisome thoughts go!!!!!!
My main point of this “short-ish” post today is to serve as a reminder that our minds and our bodies are doing their best to help us move forward in the ways that we wish. AND that we have lots of layers going on, between our experiences, our emotions, and our thoughts, and how they tend to all interact and intertwine with each other.
It’s wise to remember that the phases of our backstory are still with us and that we deserve to show ourselves patience, MAJOR listening skills, kindness, acceptance, approval, and support for everything that has led us to this very moment. BECAUSE:
Every age we have ever been = NOW. Forever more.
And our own personal collection of achievements and mistakes, wins and losses, accomplishments and failures, highs and lows, joy and despair…..they have all influenced us to evolve, grow, gain strength, get clarity, change paths, choose differently, and become who we are. All of it, together.
And that is pretty freakin’ special.
“May we learn to fulfill and love ourselves, in a manner that is harmonious to each perception of who we’ve been.”
Indeed. ♥️
Thank you, Lisa, for your insight and this thought-provoking post that inspired my blog today. May we give ourselves space for who we used to be as well as honor all of the pieces that make us US. ✨🙏🏻✨🙏🏻
