Becoming Master of your Domain – Part I – Your Coach
How many time have you sat in a crowded classroom, conference room or auditorium, and been presented a group question from the speaker? As that final word and virtual question-mark traverse the airwaves on a direct flight to our eardrum, the super computer in our skull begins opening up those cranial file cabinets for all relevant knowledge. A mad rush of thoughts, ideas and concepts flow to the very tips of our tongues, we run a QA (quality assurance) check , associate an estimated probability of accuracy (a confidence if you will), AND THEN WE WAIT! We wait for that one brave soul to brake the silence…And right before saying Fuck It and shouting-out our guess, someone begins to talk, a voice we recognize all too well, but no one else can hear…
“But what if your wrong?”
“The people here are smarter than you, just let them answer”
“Beth will think your lame for even caring to share your answer”
With this, our “Go for it” becomes a Punt... Now, adapting to the shy crowd, the speaker adjusts the question – “If you think this is the answer raise your hand”. All of a sudden a flurry of movement, but unfortunately not hands, just the heads of colleagues, friends and strangers joining you in scanning the room, waiting for that first hand to rise up. And in a true follow the herd mentality, once one floats up, the imaginary walls shatter, and a healthy percentage of the room follows.
All this Fear, Self Doubt, Judgment, Anxiety, and Stress, From a Question!
Multiply this simple scenario by twenty-five or fifty, and that’s probably a good estimate (not scientifically backed) of how many little situations (like the one above) we find ourselves in everyday. Sheltering our thoughts from the world due to the fear of judgment, the fear of being wrong, sounding stupid to peers (or strangers) and opening up the possibility of experiencing feelings of embarrassment and shame.
The facts of the matter are, we have the highest intelligence of all species on this planet, the largest brain of all vertebrates relative to body size, with more neurons per unit volume than any other animal. This biological advantage has served us well, being a driving factor in our rise atop the animal kingdom. But with the gift of these super computers, we must learn to deal with their malfunctions. The non-stop processing, subconscious thoughts, internal judgement, skewed perspective, and dispirited self-talk, all having repetitive tendencies. As you’ve probably already realized, it’s complicated, We’re complicated!
Our mind is a domain looking for a master, and if you don’t step up and take control, those little voices will.
We have to come to grips with the fact that the person we interact with most is not our significant others, family, friends or even dogs (I know, crazy right), it’s us. We’re in constant communication (with ourselves) for the majority of the day, analyzing the world, our environment, thoughts and ideas. Worrying about the future and reliving the past. Every Damn Day! It’s become such a habit, that for many, these sub-conscious thoughts default to belief. We have an estimated thirty to sixty thousand thoughts a day! I mean, I talk to my dog a lot, but that’s pushing it.
We (humans), as the most intelligent species on the planet have the brain capacity to alter our bodies homeostasis (or natural balance) by a thought alone. So how we process, frame, and respond to everyday situations REALLY does matter. In this multipart post, I plan to dive into how self-talk, triggers, nutrition, environment and exercise ALL play a role in stress, gene expression, age and disease. More importantly, some steps and strategies to become master of your domain.
Everybody needs a coach, and the most consistent one you’ll ever have is You…
Be on the Lookout for Part II
