Reader be warned
Please bear in mind as you read what may or may not have been written by a caffeinated squirrel: This is the quickly-paraphrased-as-we-listened version of Write Here, Right Now, the podcast with KT & Moni (if you’d rather listen, scroll to the very bottom of this page for a PLAY button). What seemed to flow as a natural conversation on the recorded version doesn’t always translate to article format. But sometimes, ya know, it really does.
a new character
Isn’t it great when dinner is in the oven? We love it when we are prepared. It goes a long way. This thought is giving us a challenge as we try to focus on our topic today.
Today we bring you a new character in our lives. Please be introduced to Brooke Castillo, the creator of the Life Coach School Podcast.
She is looking to share a new thought process for our brains. We have been conditioned our whole lives on Earth, and our evolutionary lives before this, to believe and behave in certain ways. Brooke’s coaching lessons give us Big Deal shifts, and permission to look at our minds in a way that we haven’t done before.
let’s go deeper
Sometimes it’s hard to take a step back and look at the way we are doing something and why. When we take time to zoom out, or really zoom in, it gives us a chance to notice that ripple effect. If we can master this quality of observation, we have the power to invite more joy into our lives. The life coach gives us someone in our corner, that stands up for us thru all the day to day bullshit. They can help us get our lives the way we want them to be, when we are struggling to hold true to ourselves. The thoughts we have about everything in our lives could potentially give us access to that inner life coach…right now. Is your mind blown yet? This is just the beginning.
(you guys…this is the first pic that pops up on google when you search “mind blown”)
We have been binging The Life Coach School Podcast so we felt like we HAD to share this resource with you, so you should definitely go check it out. But don’t forget: she doesn’t offer creative writing like we do! Ha, ha! So be sure to come back to us…remembering we all have our strengths, and give yourself permission to honor yours with a more kind mindset.
Let’s jump on in to this compilation of many truths that have been taught forever (no big deal). This takes us back to a quote from our early episode: watch your thoughts, for they become words, watch your words, for they become deeds, and watch your deeds, for they become habits, and habits harden into character (Moni also visits this topic HERE). So this ripple effect is well known…and we recognize it starts with our thoughts. We have up to 60,000 per day! Omg. And the shape of our destiny begins here, with our thoughts. We often don’t even recognize we have power to control this. ….Yes you heard right. You can MIND CONTROL YOUR OWN MIND!!! With practice.
It keeps rippling…
circumstances
Though the internal model starts with thoughts, Brooke’s “self coaching model” starts with a Circumstance: something neutral, a fact, that no one would argue about. It turns out Katie being beautiful is an opinion because not everyone likes peaches… Did you know some people don’t even like fruit? Crazy right. But that’s their thing. Anyway. We have a circumstance. It is the thing that is happening that no one would argue about.
thoughts
In our example, we suggest that dinner has been burnt. From this circumstance, this neutral thing, we have a choice to believe many thoughts. Is our husband an asshole because he abandoned dinner/left the family? Or is he outside with the dog because Spot got bit by a snake? Often times we start forming our thoughts before we take time to assess the truth behind the circumstance. But either way you think about the circumstance happening, it will produce a feeling.
feelings
Turns out feelings are just a one word vibration, and the feeling of thinking of a situation is usually worse than feeling the actual feeling. Take a moment to reread that. Brooke believes that if we can release the fear of feeling certain feelings, we can free ourselves from the constant worry, questioning, and doubt that we often burden ourselves with. If you aren’t afraid to feel a feeling, you are untouchable. Not to say we will be immune to the experience of an icky feeling, but we will know that it will pass and it won’t kill you.
WHAT?! That’s right. Feelings can’t kill us, and they don’t want to. They’re actually around to make sure we stay alive (gratitude to our cave dwelling ancestors!). And they’ll eventually get bored of us if we let them hang out long enough. Then they will leave on their own. Without a big fuss. BYE, anxiety! That is revolutionary shit, y’all.
actions
So make some tea for your anxiety. Because that feeling is going to turn into an action. IF it had some tea in its system, it might be less reactionary(read “crazy”). Think about the way you behave when you’re pissed versus when you are stoked. Do you want to be acting like that first version on the reg? If you were to trace back, Do you really believe the thought that is turning into the feeling that is making you act this way? Or would you rather take charge, empower yourself, and re-frame your thought to produce a more beneficial feeling , to create a behavior more aligned with the self you want to be? However, it is easier said than done, we know. That’s where practice comes in.
model practice
Let’s say we have a circumstance: You have a creative writing opportunity. Your thought about this initially is “I can’t write creatively, and I am stumped.” Your feeling is stumped, as in: no possibility. The action is then, no writing. The results are…no story. COOL.
Brooke suggests to give yourself baby steps to rewire your thought. It might feel like a hard sell to convince ourselves to shift from “I can’t write creatively” to the thought that “I am an amazing creative writer”. So instead, start with something less drastic that is more agreeable. For our example, perhaps “I can write.” That thought might produce a new feeling, say… possibility. The feeling of possibility creates an action of giving the writing exercise a shot. The result is a story. Hey, neat! A STORY! Looks like you were correct, you can write! Maybe you even like that new story you wrote…so much so that slowly over time of listening and trying, you actually change the story that you are telling yourself. Now we can really believe that “I am an amazing creative writer!” Look at you!!!
Now these shifts don’t happen over night. We have potential to change our worlds but it takes a commitment to step back and examine what’s really going on. Remember the fun part of this practice…the trying, the failing, and the trying again(it is critical that you convince yourself: this is the fun part!)!
Check it out…this neutral circumstance is about to happen: it is time to WRITE HERE, RIGHT NOW!
are you ready to Write here, right now?
Get your writing materials and your timer. Read the first prompt, write for 3 minutes, reveal the second prompt, add to your story for 3 minutes, reveal the final prompt, finish your story in 3 minutes! Read aloud and practice regularly. Email your story to [email protected] along with a few new prompts for us to share on future episodes!
1st prompt: A bumbling bartender in a carwash
2nd prompt: A marionette puppet
3rd prompt: an illegal operation
It’s STORY TIME!
Tune in to listen to our stories…we start reading after the wind chime at 19:25!
Or search for “write here, right now” on any other podcast platform! Please follow, subscribe, review, and share the love…