OK, the title can be offensive. I’m sorry!! But I had to be accurate. This is the title of a podcast that has changed everything. Kara Loewentheil is a Harvard Law grad and former attorney who left the legal world behind to become a life coach. Instead of spending $100’s of dollars an hour to get her wisdom (and yes, it is absolutely WISDOM), we can just listen to her podcast for free and get episode upon episode of advice that changes our lives. And it changes them because she helps us change how we think. And how we think, creates our feelings. Which then motivates our actions. I’ve listened to five or so episodes and the point of almost every single one is CHANGE your THOUGHTS to solve all your problems. Seriously, simply our thoughts.

She starts by telling us that we all have a running dialogue in our mind that’s been placed there by society, our parents, experiences, etc. A lot of these things have been out of our control. And what our brain tells us is not always true, in fact sometimes our thoughts are downright hateful lies. In fact, most of the time our thoughts about ourselves fall into that category.  Most of the time we’re not even cognizant enough to recognize that these messages are constantly playing and that they’re usually detrimental to our sense of self and success in life.

So one episode of her podcast is titled “How to Change Your Thoughts.” She says the first step is to target a statement you continually tell yourself that is destructive. It could be:

“I’m fat.”

“I’m a failure,” or

“I’m not enough.”

Then, several times a day (and not every time because you can’t possibly catch yourself every time you think of the lie), tell yourself something like,

“I see you’ve been saying this a lot lately – INSERT THE LIE (example, “I’m fat”)

So set up a qualifier about the lie, so that you start to recognize the lies your brain is telling you.

Then, think of something about yourself that is true that you honestly believe (not something you WANT to believe, that will come later). Something that you undoubtedly believe about your self. Such as:

“I’m kind.”

“I’m smart.”

“I’m funny.”

And tell yourself this truth all day long. Make up a song about this statement. Over and over again, say it to yourself.

It may take a few months. Your old story is embedded in your brain. It’s like the Grand Canyon- For eons, water has run over a specific part of rock in the canyon,creating a deep ridge. And although it was just a small amount of water, the consistency of the flow created a deep imprint. That’s your old story. Your new story takes just as much material- for example, a small amount of water, but it’s the consistency that you tell yourself the new story, that will determine how deeply it’s embedded in your brain.

So just keep on keeping’ on. And as this truth starts to get easier to believe, add new ones. Baby steps are good. Don’t be a perfectionist and think you have to think positive thoughts only from now on. As you practice these new positive truths, your brain will continue to tell you negative lies- it’s normal. But hopefully this practice will help you to recognize them more readily and create positive truths that become a greater part of your mental dialogue. The compounding of these baby steps will soon lead to a brain that thinks positively about yourself more often than not.

Thats the goal anyway, right? So I’m starting on this new quest and will let you know how it goes.

In the meantime, I suggest listening to it. It’s fascinating and I’m feeling like it has the potential to really turn things around. Check it out- I’m already more positive-  DAY 1!