Compose The BEST Soundtrack for Your Life
The BEST Way to “Flip the Script”: When all else fails, remember THIS!
“You can’t….”
“It won’t work….”
“Why didn’t you do that instead?”
“What’s wrong with you?
“Something bad is going to happen.”
“Oh, it’s just gonna be like last time.”
“See? It’s just not meant for you.”
We all have that inner voice inside of us, that mean Inner Critic that tries to scare us.
It’s a vestige of our past, a part of our evolutionary history. It’s the part that tries to keep us safe from harm.
It thinks that if it scares us into submission, we’ll do nothing and keep the status quo.
Even if the status quo is not good for us.
Because at least “the same” is predictable.
Our brain likes predictability.
Our brain doesn’t want change.
And that’s the problem.
Because any goal that’s worth achieving requires us to strive beyond our current capabilities. A good goal should stretch us to our limit, and require us to transform who we are, to become who we are meant to be.
That automatically triggers our amygdala, the fear center in our brain, and the hippocampus, where our memories are stored.
Then it’s just a few beats down memory lane, to our past when things did not work out, when our fears were once true. Our brains love to remind us of those times we’d much rather forget, to threaten and scare us into thinking that the same thing that went wrong before will go wrong again.
What do you do when you find yourself stuck reliving the past, or catastrophizing and imagining your worst possible future?
Over the years, I’ve found many wonderful options to be kinder to myself, to “love my way out” of many a mental mess, or to prove that my fearful thoughts were false — but, sometimes, effort is not the answer.
Sometimes, the BEST way to “Flip the Script” is to remind yourself,
“NOT every thought needs to be entertained and addressed.”
Indeed, many thoughts are just “habit loops” — phrases and patterns of thinking that our minds are used to playing on repeat.
Our minds aren’t “wrong” for playing that record again and again.
It’s just what our minds do.
So, why fight it?
Sometimes, letting go is the easier, faster path.
Of course, we can write a new record, filled with better songs, and entrain our brains to accept the new until it becomes our regular, preferred soundtrack.
But, in the meantime, when that old record starts to play, we can listen. Observe it with curiosity. Let it spin until it plays to completion.
Then enjoy the silence that follows.
Silence seems to come easily, when I let the dark, moody music play itself out.
I’ve noticed that my darkest music is just that…a familiar soundtrack that my inner voice sometimes likes to play.
And it’s just noise.
It doesn’t have to have any meaning, if I decide not to assign any meaning to it.
And that seems to make all the difference.
Without meaning, it loses its momentum.
It doesn’t snowball into some magnum opus, like something you’d hear in Star Wars.
Or…maybe it crescendos into something close to that — but it sounds funny, now. I can see the humor in its playing, yet again.
Like, really. “Brain, aren’t you sick of hearing that song…again?”
And it’s that looseness, of not gripping, not holding tightly, not having to solve or address anything, that seems to free up a tremendous amount of energy in me.
When I simply let it play, there’s silence in the after.
It’s where I find peace and space to find Better Words.
Entrain your brain to hear Better Words; compose Better Songs; and, eventually, the old record will stop spinning.
It may seem, so far, like I’m talking metaphorically. And, on one level, I am.
But, on another level, I mean it quite literally.
I’ve been writing songs, using Better Words for my lyrics, and I can tell that the more I listen to this music, the more my life has improved.
One day, I will release it, to share it all with you.
Because it’s clear to me now:
When we choose Better Words to tell ourselves, we can play the BEST record for the soundtrack of our life.
And I believe, more than ever, that if we do it enough times, eventually, our old painful record will stop spinning.
Maybe it’ll stay on the shelf, but it’ll collect dust.
And if we play our new record enough times, maybe one day it’ll disintegrate, ‘till it’s no longer playable.
What’s the song that your mind likes to repeat?
I’m writing a new score for myself.
And I hope that you’ll join me.
The Composer in me honors & respects the Composer in each of you,
Marisa
🎤 📺 🎤
If you would like to hear or see me succeed (or flop 😂) as I practice in public, and you’d love to learn about the science of self-improvement, please Subscribe to my new YouTube Channel and signup for my free Substack Newsletter.
Together, we’ll explore all the ways that we can 10x our life — mind, body, & soul.
We’ll learn the scientific, physiological, and psychological reasons why we are the way that we are, and combine that understanding with simple, active practices that will:
• Enliven our emotions & creativity;
• Enhance our efficiency & productivity;
• Foster a greater depth of Self;
• Build the Secure Attachment that we need to develop a Growth Mindset; and,
• Reprogram our minds to pivot from the Sympathetic Nervous System to the Parasympathetic Nervous System when we need it to, more often than not.
I’ve planned so many exciting & fun things to share with you (in addition to music!) and I can’t wait for you to get all the FREE goodies I’ve prepared for you.
We CAN do this, TOGETHER!
Marisa
