Psst… The voices in your head are real
I’ve come to know the mind as a shady creature. She equally backs you up 
as much as she lets you down and backs you out 
every time you start a new quest.
Remember a time you tried doing something new. You probably told yourself:
“This will be great for me, I will feel successful and I’m excited and a little scared to try something new”
You stuck with it for a while then there was this voice which just appeared (uninvited, mind you) and was like:
“This is too hard. I keep forgetting to do it, I’m not good at it so it’s probably not for me”
And the voice was pretty convincing too.
The reason why your mind can be your greatest fan and your biggest foe is thanks to the Thinking Brain (TB)
and the Observing Brain (OB)
, a warped version of the ‘devil 
and angel 
on the shoulder’ concept. But their mission is not to commit sin or do only good deeds…
The Thinking Brain (TB) Will keep you safe but equally keeps you stuck. Uncomfortable with change. Would rather keep things the same, no matter how detrimental. Most of her thoughts are not factual, even though it’s easy to see it as truth in the moment. When choosing decisions which are uncomfortable or makes us vulnerable her words are unhelpful and… well… false.
When the brain is under stress (chronic or short-term) We think:
‘Ok what can I do to just get through this next situation/day/week’
Then we react without much exploration to the possibilities.
When we’re in a state of stress our ability to think critically is impaired.
It’s easier to give TB the microphone 
and have OB on mute 
I want you to know that although a lot of our first thoughts are naturally negative, you can counteract the TB and produce change. It just takes awareness and practice.
Introducing: The Observing Brain (OB)
She’s in there too though does not get near enough air time. 
She actively listens to the TB, gives it space and time to vent, thanks it for it’s input and then says… “WTF mate, really?” She has great judgement and objectivity. She sees ‘the facts’. The OB takes the ‘view from above’, seeing a situation from more perspectives. She asks helpful questions and encourages responsiveness instead of reactivity. She’s not a cheerleader: Unsubstantiated positivity is not her game, rather, she behaves critically and seeks change.
So even though Observing Brain lets the Thinking Brain have her moment. A well trained OB knows how to mute the TB’ mic, grabs her own, puts out some critical truths and then does the ceremonious mic drop ready for you to make a better informed decision.
Listen out for your Thinking Brain (she’s not hard to miss) then see if you can convince her to give the Observing Brain some air time.
PS: An easy way to switch the frequencies when you notice an unhelpful thought arise is to make the statement…
“That’s an interesting thought”… or
“I wonder where that came from”…
and the Observing Brain will take it from there.
This concept is adapted from Dr Russ Harris’ book ‘The Happiness Trap’ which I highly recommend if, like me, you have spent years allowing Thinking Brain hog the mic.
Whilst you can’t get rid of TB (she still has a purpose), you can train these two to coexist and give the Observing Brain the final say.
Do it for the mic drop moment 
Elise
Get That Goal You Keep Sabotaging
Get out of your head and out of your own way.
My confidence webinar was a big hit
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