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So there’s something pretty darn cool about your brain.

Because of your cortex, and particularly your pre-frontal cortex, you have the ability to have a relationship with your own brain. Your brain creates your perception of your consciousness, and because of this you can understand what your brain is thinking.

It’s as if you can take a step outside of your own thinking mind so you can observe it from without.

This allows you to observe, talk to, and collaborate with that super-computer contained in your skull. That computer is programmed with a lot of knowledge that you did not have an understanding of when it was put in, but as an adult with higher consciousness you most certainly can look at that programming now and determine whether or not it is serving your life.

You experience suffering because what you are experiencing outside of your thinking mind is coming into conflict with what is programmed into your thinking mind. For example, let’s say you have some programming in your brain that says a person your height should weigh X amount. You step on the scale and the number you see is 10 over the number you believe you should weigh.

Now there is a conflict between what you are experiencing outside of your mind, and how your mind is interpreting through your programmed thoughts.

Let’s switch this up a bit. If your programming told you that weight doesn’t matter, and you truly believed it, no matter the number you saw on a scale, there would be no suffering, because there would be no conflict in your mind. Your programming would assign no meaning to the number on the scale, therefor it wouldn’t even matter.

The programming in your mind, also know as beliefs, is what triggers your emotional states, and what creates your behavior. If you learn how to understand your programming, you’ll also see the possibility of how it can change. This is what leads to being able to collaborate with your brain.

So let’s break this down into a few steps:

1. Examine your programming. Get something to write or type on, ask yourself these questions and write the answers down. Don’t overthink it, just let stuff come out:
   • What is causing you suffering in your life right now?
   • Why does it make you suffer?
   • What would make it better?
2. Audit your programming. Look at the answers your brain provided, and do this: DEBATE YOURSELF. What if none of what your brain offered you was true? Or what if it were half true, or a quarter true? The point is, see where that programming is simply words that were embedded into your mind by other humans. What if there is no truth to how to think about anything in life? If you could wipe the slate clean, as if you had a baby’s wide open brain but in an adult body, what thoughts would you choose to keep?
3. Consider what can change. Did you discover some programming you’d like to change? Take it into consideration and determine why you want to change it. How would it effect your life to change it? How would it alleviate your suffering?
4. Collaborate with your brain. Work with your own mind to start to embed new programming. In order for any thought process to become automatic, you have to think it repetitively. You have to encourage your brain to remember it, think it, and use it.

Sometimes our brains are so entrenched in programming that it can be hard to see our thoughts simply as programming, and not as fact. This is why I have my own coach, and why I would recommend coaching to anyone. A coach can ask the right questions to help you see your programming and patterns, and help you get intentional about creating new ones.

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