How to override the fake news your mind tries to sell you

When I was a little girl, a really popular game to play at school was called 'Simon says'. The teacher would call out instructions and the children would have to follow the instructions, but only if they started with "Simon says".

So if a teacher said "Simon says, touch your shoes", you would touch your shoes. If the teacher said "Touch your shoes", you were not supposed to do anything. If you did, you were out of the game.

In our own bodies, we get to tell each body part what to do. We tell our arms when we want it to raise up, our legs when we want it to walk, our eyes when we want it to close. However, with our brains, we often make an exception. We allow our brains to take charge and tell us messages about ourselves, our situation, the past, the future. And because our brains like patterns, if you think something long enough, it just becomes habit - like an automatic thought.

So what if we flip the roles for our brains and stop letting it run the show? Just like every other body part, we get to tell our brains what we want to think now. What we want to believe. And this is everything, because our thoughts lead to what we feel, and what we feel leads to the action we take, and the actions we take in life (or don't take) will create the results we see.

So in a time where everything around you is uncertain, yes it's true you can't control everything, but start with what you can control which is one thought at a time.

A really simple, but powerful tool you can try is this: (takes 45 seconds)

1. Grab a blank sheet of paper or notecard and draw a line down the middle of the paper, making two columns.

2. Name the first column "My mind says"; name the second column "But I say"

3. Write down in the first column 1 negative thought that your mind is recruiting you to believe.
(e.g. I have to get it perfect otherwise I won't start, I won't be able to handle this challenge, I always mess this up, I'm a horrible person)

4. Write down in the second column a more supportive thought that feels realistic to believe right now.
(e.g. I value progress over perfection, all I need to know if my very next step, my mistakes are just evidence that I'm taking action and moving forward in life, I can love others even more when I'm rested)

5. Ask yourself: What would I do differently if I believed the new thought in column two?

Let me know what you come up with and have fun with this!!

Xx