You Are Brilliant-Let’s Celebrate!

How often do you celebrate your brilliance?

How many times have you purposefully set out to gather evidence of your success and then have a party to commemorate everything that makes you YOU!? 

Sadly, most of us never do this.

Instead, we spend time thinking about how we fall short instead.

Don’t worry. 

You are not inherently negative.

The fact is that your brain is hardwired to focus on the negative rather than the positive. 

That’s because the limbic system, which is the  oldest part of the brain, has evolved over thousands of years to protect us, ensure our safety and alert us to danger. 

If you will, it has been trained to always be on the lookout for the worst case scenario! 

That’s why we are much more likely to remember the negative feedback or comments people give us than the compliments, our successes and contributions.

According to Rick Hanson, the author of Buddha’s Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love and Wisdom, there’s a way around our limbic system’s inherent negativity. 

We need to consciously ‘take in the good’ and celebrate the positive. When we do that, we literally strengthen our brain’s neural pathways related to positivity and celebration and become more resilient to whatever negative things might come our way. 

Thoughts literally shape our brains.

Be mindful of the thoughts you nurture. 

Your task is to gather evidence about your brilliance as if you were collecting gemstones.

Celebrate ALL your successes no matter how small.

Embrace positive feedback, never rejecting a compliment when someone tells you how amazing you are. 

Actively look for the good in life: the positive events, feedback and people.

These can be small things-a smile, the smell of bread baking, the touch of a friend’s hand.

Hold onto those feelings for an extended period of time. Savor them. Internalize them. 

By doing so, you will replace negative memories with the positive ones, always with the understanding that ‘good’ events are rarely as good as you build up in your head and ‘bad’ events are never nearly as devastating as you think. 

The limbic system means that all of us error on the cautious (and negative side). 

The good news is that you can retrain your brain to redress this bias. 

The formula is simple.

Let go of things that hurt.

Strengthen what brings joy. 

Go gather those gemstones and celebrate!

You can set up a complimentary session with me here.