When my kids were small, I would tell them the worst thing they could do was lie to me. I explained that we could get through any mistake they made, problem they had, or whatever happened in life, if they told the truth. If they had problems at school, didn’t finish their homework, or started an argument with their sibling we could work it out if they told the truth. Lying about what happened was the worst offense and they knew it.  

Now my kids are grown and are doing an amazing job of parenting their own children. Recently as I was sharing this lesson with my grandchildren, I realized that lying to me wouldn’t be the worst offense they could do. Lying to themselves could be more harmful.

The most dangerous and damaging lies are the ones we tell ourselves. Our mind can be a powerful manipulator. It tries to feed us negative thoughts constantly. Thoughts that stifle our self-confidence and smother our dreams.

This part of our mind is an internal bully that beats us up. It punches us by saying things like - you are not attractive enough, smart enough, or worthy enough. We start to believe that we aren’t qualified enough for that job promotion, we aren’t smart enough to express our opinions, and we aren’t interesting or appealing enough to have the relationship of our dreams. We miss opportunities because we fear the lies are true. Is any of it true? No. It is the fictitious imagination of our brain bully.  

The brain bully tells us to do things because after all what harm is there? We listen to the bully in our head that insists that what we do isn’t hurting anyone. So, we make bad choices. We do things that we know are not right. If no one knows we are doing it, we aren’t hurting anyone. But is that true? No, we are hurting a very important person…ourselves.  

Our brain bully tells us lies that sound like the truth. This type of negative self-talk works so well because the lies are massaged and molded into a convincing narrative. It is repeated and repeated until we believe it. We pull back from our dreams. We accept what we are given in life and believe we are not deserving of more. We believe the lies we tell ourselves.

The brain bully is part of us. An ugly, unreliable, untrustworthy, controlling part of us. Call it your brain bully or give it a name- Fred, Marsha, Anabell… whatever you want to call the bully that feeds you negative thoughts. Start listening to your thoughts and soon you will recognize the truth from the brain bully’s ridiculous rhetoric. You will begin to catch the thoughts that don’t pass the does-this-make-sense test. You will begin to reject the lies that are disguised as the truth.

The more you push back your brain bully the quieter it will become. The more you ignore it and move forward with your dreams the less power it will have. It will no longer hold you hostage to its nonsensical banter. Your fear will disappear, and your confidence muscle will grow. Without the constant lies your self-esteem will increase and life will become a clear and clean place for you to explore.

Lies are harmful things, but the most dangerous and damaging lies are the ones we tell ourselves. We believe and trust ourselves more than any other person. So, when we hear our mind talk we want to believe that it is telling us the truth. We don’t want to believe it would lie to us, but that brain bully does.

Now take a minute and think… what was the biggest lie you have told yourself?  
                               ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
                                                     Pennie’s Life Lesson:
                                           Don’t listen to negative self-talk.
           The most dangerous and damaging lies are the ones we tell ourselves.
​                                ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

#CornerofSpiritandBrave #loveyourlifenomatterwhat #journeythrough #PennieHunt #YouAreGoodEnough
YOUR TURN...        
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below.  And please feel free to email me  at:
 PennieHunt@gmail.com. 
                                                                 Thank you!  ​
                                      ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
                                                         All Rights Reserved
                                          Copyright © 2013-2023 Pennie Hunt
                             This was written and produced by Pennie Hunt.
Feel free to forward and share this post.  Please keep the entire message intact, including  contact, logo, and copyright information. ​

“What are you up to today, Mom?” I asked.
“Weeelll, I have the vacuum cleaner out. I need to vacuum the living room.”

I don’t know the number of times those two sentences were included in a phone conversation with my mom. I lived five hours away from her. Many times when I visited her I would walk in her house and see the vacuum cleaner sitting in the middle of her living room. She would tell me she planned to vacuum before I arrived, but just didn’t get it done. I would vacuum for her and put the vacuum cleaner in the closet.

At first, I thought she hated to vacuum, and she knew I would do it for her when I arrived. I am not sure when the clarity came to me that explained the real reason she never seemed to do the vacuuming. She was in her 80’s and living alone. Daily tasks were becoming more than she could handle on her own and the thought of vacuuming had become an overwhelming chore. One she could no longer manage. I think she looked at it. I think she wanted to vacuum and clean the dirt from her life. But she couldn’t.

Mom spent her last few years in an assisted living community. Her apartment was cleaned for her. She stopped talking about the need to vacuum the living room. The vacuum stayed in the closet. She never mentioned it again.

I still think of that vacuum cleaner sitting in the middle of her living room. I wonder how many of us have one in the middle of our room. In the middle of our life. It may not look like a vacuum, but the meaning is the same. A task that seems overwhelming. A project that we feel like we will never accomplish. A skill we are certain we cannot master. A hurt from our past that we don’t want to deal with. And so the vacuum sits there.

We think about it. We know it needs to be done. We want to do it. But the size and scope of it overwhelms us. The idea becomes a large frightening monster that we hope someone else will handle. Or we give up on ever having the ability to accomplish it. We feel inadequate. We don’t believe we will ever be good enough to do the job. Our fear and insecurity grow.

The project sits there right in the middle of the room. We walk around it. We throw a blanket over it to hide it. We ignore it and wish our desire to accomplish it will diminish.

But it is there. We trip over it. We stub our toe on it. We move it around to keep it out of our way. But it never leaves.

Fill in the blank with what your desire is. A new job. A new relationship. A college degree. Painting your house. Or is it something personal like rebuilding a bridge from your past? Apologizing or clearing out some internal trauma. What do you want to accomplish that you feel you aren’t good enough to do? If you stare at the vacuum in the middle of the room long enough without trying, soon years will go by. There will come a time when you can’t physically or mentally do it.

Don’t wait. Stop tip-toeing around the issue. Do one thing today that puts you one step closer to moving that vacuum. Make one phone call. Research one class. Create a budget and begin saving for that trip. Write a letter of apology. Schedule an appointment.  Do one thing that sets a plan in motion.

As for me, what am I up to today, you might ask…
I have some vacuuming to do.
                                ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
                                                    Pennie’s Life Lesson:
                  Open your eyes to see the vacuum in the middle of your life.
                    Take one step that puts you on the path of dealing with it. 
                                           ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

#CornerofSpiritandBrave #loveyourlifenomatterwhat #journeythrough #PennieHunt #YouAreGoodEnough
YOUR TURN...        
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below.  And please feel free to email me  at:
 PennieHunt@gmail.com. 
                                                                 Thank you!  ​
                                      ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
                                                         All Rights Reserved
                                          Copyright © 2013-2023 Pennie Hunt
                             This was written and produced by Pennie Hunt.
Feel free to forward and share this post.  Please keep the entire message intact, including  contact, logo, and copyright information. ​

Have you ever driven to work and as you parked your car you can’t remember even driving there?

There is a term called Brain Autopilot which is the ability to perform a task or activity without any conscious effort. It is like we are sleeping while we do an activity and only when we wake up do we realize what we have done.

This works because you have driven to work so many times that even if your mind wanders your unconscious muscle memory of repetitively driving to work takes over. When you park it can be a frightening moment when you realize you don’t totally remember the drive.

Driving in mental autopilot mode is not recommended or the safest habit to have. There are, however, good ways to use this mental autopilot. Once you create a habit of always getting up at 7 AM and immediately drinking a glass of water and then working out, you will automatically do this every day. Your mental autopilot tells your body this is what we do, when we do it, and how we do it – so let’s go!

Here is when automatic activity gets glitchy – when your entire life is on autopilot.
When you wake up every morning to the exact same routine. Coffee, breakfast, work, lunch, work, dinner, bedtime, repeat. Your days are so predictable that you don’t think about what you are doing. You sleepwalk through life.

You never notice flowers and certainly don’t stop to smell them. Your mundane life is not flexible and there are no cracks of time to allow feelings of joy or happiness to seep in. Words like creativity, imagination, innovation, inspiration, and vision do not enter your mind. Spontaneity is not in your vocabulary. None of those concepts fit within the pattern that your autopilot follows.

You are bored, but does your autopilot even let you realize it?

Do you see yourself in that description? Even a little bit? Now that you realize your pattern, is it time to change? Is it time to shake up the pattern and design the life you want?

Some people like the predictable life. The set routine makes them feel secure and safe. That is ok. But if you see areas you would like to improve – let’s go!

Think back in your life to things you used to daydream about. Don’t sleepwalk. Let yourself daydream. Daydreaming is when you relive happy memories, think about goals and interests. As a child what did you see in your future? As a teenager what plans did you have? Now as an adult which ideas can you reach back to the past and grasp. Pull them into your life now.

Imagine all the possibilities and dreams that are in your mind. It isn’t too late, and they are not lost. They have just been waiting for you to dream again. They have been waiting for you to take action. They have been waiting for you to wake up from your sleepwalking.

Switch that autopilot to off and take control. Design your life. Plan your route. Be the driver and the navigator of your journey. Become very clear about what you want to do, when you will do it, and how you will do it. You have dreams to chase. Let’s go!!
                                 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
                                                       Pennie’s Life Lesson:
                                                Wake up from life’s autopilot.
                                              Imagine possibilities and dreams. 
                                             ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

#CornerofSpiritandBrave #loveyourlifenomatterwhat #journeythrough #PennieHunt #YouAreGoodEnough
YOUR TURN...        
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below.  And please feel free to email me  at:
 PennieHunt@gmail.com. 
                                                                 Thank you!  ​
                                      ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
                                                         All Rights Reserved
                                          Copyright © 2013-2023 Pennie Hunt
                             This was written and produced by Pennie Hunt.
Feel free to forward and share this post.  Please keep the entire message intact, including  contact, logo, and copyright information. ​

Humans are amazing creatures. I study people.     I watch their behaviors. I am not a creepy stalker, but I do watch, observe, and take notes about fellow humans. I watch people in airports.  I notice people in grocery stores. I see others at sporting events, restaurants, and meetings.
 
In all the places I watch people one thing seems to be the norm… everyone is listening to something. I remember as a child one of my cherished possessions was my small AM transistor radio. I played it all the time. Depending on your age, you may remember the days of people carrying a large boom box on their shoulders to keep their ‘tunes’ right in their ears. And remember the first cell phones? They came in a small suitcase and as you carried it everyone saw an invisible sign of status- you didn’t leave home without it.
 
Technology changed rapidly to Walkmans and iPods. Noise cancelling headphones soon became the way we listened. It was easy to shut out the entire world and concentrate on the message coming through the headphones.
 
Everyone has become very tuned in. Tuned in to music, videos, social media, movies, podcasts, and news reports. Humans are always plugged in.
 
Now everyone carries a minicomputer in their hands disguised as a smartphone. These are attached through the magic of Bluetooth to the input of your choice. The recent trend I have noticed is the one ear headphone. Call it an in-ear headphone, ear pod, earbud, AirPod, headset, or earpiece, but it seems to be cool to wear just one. Sometimes you don’t see the wireless ear device, so you never know if someone is on their phone or talking to themselves. Either way is it good etiquette to interrupt their conversation?
I also observe the dual listener. You know the ones… they are always listening to something through the one ear headphone. If you talk to the person, they don’t remove the ear device. They seem to be dual listening -- they listen to you while listening to whatever the ear device is delivering.
 
Hello, is anyone really listening?
 
Is it possible to simultaneously receive, understand and process multiple messages? Has our world become so fast, so busy, and so demanding that this multi-listening is the norm? Is it required to keep up with everything we need to know?
 
Or are people so overwhelmed with life that we need some kind of white noise in our ears at all times to blur the craziness of life?
 
Maybe we have all forgotten how to listen. We have forgotten the kind of deep listening that comes from sitting face to face and knee to knee while focusing our attention on another person as they speak. We have forgotten what it feels like to be outside without something in our ear. We have forgotten the pleasure of hearing the birds sing and the sweet sounds of nature.
 
What if you tried this for a day? Commit to deep listening for one day. No headphones. No multi-listening. Concentrate on one message at a time. Just music. Just the sound of a waterfall. Just a phone call. Just a conversation. Listen to one thing at a time. One person at a time. When you focus and really listen, you may notice that humans are amazing creatures.
                                       ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
                                                 Pennie’s Life Lesson:
               Give complete attention to the message you are listening to.
​                                                Practice deep listening. 
                                          ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

#CornerofSpiritandBrave #loveyourlifenomatterwhat #journeythrough #PennieHunt #YouAreGoodEnough
YOUR TURN...        
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below.  And please feel free to email me  at:
 PennieHunt@gmail.com. 
                                                                 Thank you!  ​
                                      ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
                                                         All Rights Reserved
                                          Copyright © 2013-2023 Pennie Hunt
                             This was written and produced by Pennie Hunt.
Feel free to forward and share this post.  Please keep the entire message intact, including  contact, logo, and copyright information. ​