We have been talking about the negative and mean voice that you have inside your head. The one that says, “You are not ___.” “You cannot ____.” “You have to do more or you will lose your job.” “You have to lose weight or people won’t like you.”

I believe all behavior has a purpose behind it.

When I ask people, “What do you think this negative voice does for you?” often they say, “It motivates me.”

And then I ask, “How does it feel when you listen to this voice?”

They always say, “Terrible.”

And so I will ask you, as I ask them, “What happens when you feel terrible like this?” “How does it feel in your body?” “Does it make you want to do more or less? Stretch or take a nap? Excel or do the bare minimum?”

Because yes it makes sense that this voice is there to motivate us. I think maybe we grow up that way. But the fact is, it does not motivate us. Check for yourself.

So what is the purpose of the voice? We talked about this last week. The purpose of the sabotaging voice is to keep you safe. This might be necessary if you were living in prehistoric times in a cave with saber toothed tigers outside your door. But you are not. And there is little that you actually need to be kept safe from. And those things that you do actually need to be kept safe from you can see, you will know and you will avoid it.

So there you go. Same homework – learn to recognize it. Choose not to focus on it.

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