Breaking the Cycle: why we get stuck and how to grow instead 🌱

TUNE IN TO LEARN: 
 
Why do we keep falling into patterns that don't serve us, like binge-watching TV shows or endlessly scrolling through social media feeds? 
 
Uncover the transformative power of self-reflection and how it can break these cycles helping you grow into a transformed version of you. 
 
We'll explore the surprisingly simple yet effective practice of spending just 20 minutes every week to examine your past, accept your present and transform your future... self. 
 
You'll learn how to better align your actions with your personal goals and aspirations.  
 
Discover how consistent self-reflection can dramatically enhance your overall life experience. 
 
It can finally make you... happy. 
 
This episode is an invitation to build one of the most desired traits of a leader - self-awareness. 
 
I'm here to guide you every step of the way.
 
Let’s begin this transformative journey together and witness the positive changes by the end of next month. 
 
✍️  

Transcript

The Process of Self-Reflection for Growth

Speaker 1 0:00

Hey, guys, and welcome back to another episode of your Brain's Coach podcast. My name is Angela Shurina, I'm your host, I'm your Brain's Coach and it is my job here to bring to you all the best, most useful, cutting edge sometimes fun and very applicable to your life brain, body tools so you could take better control of your emotions, of your thoughts and, most importantly, of your actions, so you could chart a better path forward, more aligned with who you want to grow into. Today's podcast, guys, it's an invitation. It's an invitation to explore deeper what kind of person you are and why you do the things that you do, and what things serve you and what things don't serve you, and, based on that knowledge, on that awareness, build something better, more meaningful and fulfilling life experience. Folks, today is an invitation for you to adopt self-reflection as a regular practice. If I hear anything from leaders, entrepreneurs, amazing people dedicated to making a positive impact in this world, if I hear anything consistently from every single one of them, is that they all talk about the importance of self-awareness and how coaching helped them to get better at that, to get more consistent with looking at their actions, looking at their patterns, look at who they were, who they are, who they want to become, and figuring out together how to align what they do every day so they could create a better again, more fulfilling path forward and become the person, the future self, who you, who they, who my clients, who people on this podcast, just like you, envision themselves to be Unexamined.

Speaker 1 2:15

Life is not worth living. Socrates, guys, have you ever wondered why you do the things that you do, even when they don't work for you, obviously, like binge watching, social media or Netflix or drinking food? You know they are not aligned with who you want to become and what you want to do and how you want to spend your time, but you still do that. And in some areas of our life, we are all guilty of this kind of patterns. We know they no longer serve us, and yet we keep repeating them. And the only antidote to that, guys, is getting better at self-awareness, is developing self-awareness. There is only one practice which allows you to do so is consistent, frequent self-reflection, and so today's podcast is an invitation for you on this last beautiful May Day. It is an invitation for you to try out, in a simple way, self-reflection as a practice, something that you can do consistently. My suggestion is to try it out and do it once a week for the next month of June. So tomorrow is June 1st and behavioral scientists say that there is no better day to start a new habit, a new routine, a new pattern than the first of the months or the first day that you move somewhere or something. First, that feels more like a blank page that you are free to fill with whatever words are in your head, in your heart, and so on. So today is an invitation to start this self-reflection practice that will allow you to develop deeper, better, more self-awareness so you could understand yourself why you do certain things and what things work, don't work, and why and how you can do better.

Speaker 1 4:20

Moving forward, to start this practice, I recommend you to take 20 minutes today, or maybe on the first day of June. So every Saturday for the next month, you take those 20 minutes to develop self-awareness. You spend those 20 minutes dedicating it to self-reflection. The best time to do it when you're fresh in the morning, when your mind is not occupied with all this stuff in the day, and you have the cleanest, clearest, fastest connection to your soul, to your spirit, to who you truly are and what you're here to do. So the best time is to take some time in the morning, even if you have to wake up 20 minutes earlier before everyone else and just I don't know. Lock yourself up in the bathroom, just do that uninterrupted. Maybe get outside and sit on the bench or somewhere on the chair or on the grass and just do the self-reflection.

Speaker 1 5:22

Take a piece of paper, a new paper, a pen. Writing three-hand is what works much better than typing it in your phone, on your computer. Research shows that those actions are not the same. Just because the way your pen works on paper. There's something about putting every letter on paper that makes it more clear, that makes it distinct in your mind, versus just typing. Perhaps writing with a digital pen on a tablet might also work, but I always recommend to go the old way and just take a piece of paper, take a pen and get somewhere for 20 minutes, for a date with yourself first thing in the morning, and give an answer to three questions.

Speaker 1 6:11

Three simple questions. First question for the past months of May, what's been working for me and why? Just sit down and think about, okay, last month, kind of browse through everything that happened and think about the bright moments that you thought, ah, that worked out well, or I'm really proud of that, or I want to repeat more of that and perhaps better, like what's been working for you and why? So this is question number one. Question number two what's been not working for me, what things like clearly do not work and I'd like to stop doing them? Do not repeat. Or maybe you had new experiences, new people came into your life, you tried something at work, in your family, in your personal life, in your health habits, what did not work and you don't want to repeat that again. Maybe you want to improve it in some way. But what hasn't worked and why? Why is important folks?

Speaker 1 7:21

And the third one, looking forward, looking ahead, looking in June what would you like to improve, work on, introduce, rewire, rebuild change in your life, in your career, in your relationships, in your health habits, and what kind of support systems you could put in place? Things to put in your fridge, maybe gym membership? Support systems in terms of relationships, people keeping you accountable, helping you to do that thing that you're struggling with doing, or eliminating certain things like having rules around your phone in the bedroom late at night or your computer. What is it that can help you to do, what you want to change and what you've been struggling to change. Or maybe there are new experiments that you'd like to try that are more aligned with who you see becoming. Forget about your past self, forget about even your present self. Your present self is already past. It's an accumulation of patterns and behaviors that you did before.

Speaker 1 8:32

So, the person you want to become, what can you do in the next month that is aligned with that person? You, but better. You, who inspires you, who has your best interest in their heart, in their mind, who is the highest representation of your vision for yourself? What can you do moving in the upcoming months to can you do moving in the upcoming months to become more aligned with that version of self? And again, most important thing is what kind of systems can you put in place so you actually do the things that you say you want to do? You're going to get busy life going to get unpredictable, just as it usually does. So what kind of systems can you put in place? What can you do not do? What kind of people you can use as your support system for accountability and motivation and inspiration and learnings? What can you do to make these new actions more aligned with your future, better version of yourself. What can you put in place so you have a much better chance of taking that action or trying new things that you've struggled with or never had the time for? So three questions what's been working and why? So three questions what's been working and why. What hasn't been working and why?

Speaker 1 10:02

And what would you like to change, introduce in the upcoming months to have the life experience that is more aligned with what you envision for your future self, your idyllic self? And that's about it, guys. That's what I wanted to do, to invite you to this practice. I'm doing it tomorrow morning no better day than the first of any months or any significant state. That feels like a blank page and then repeat it for three more times Every Saturday. Sit down, schedule 20 minutes of self-reflection using the same questions that you used today. Maybe even have a special small notebook where you register this mini journey of you starting your self-reflection practice. So then, looking back on June, you could also reflect in the same small notebook, just this micro step towards more self-awareness. Well, I did that for months. How did that go? So, looking at the end of June, imagine having those four moments of self-reflection. And on the fifth one you reflect on how that experiment went. So that's my introduction. Let me know what you think.

Let me Keep You Accountable

Speaker 1 11:29

Share your self-reflection meaning you don't have to share with me your diary notes unless you want to, unless you want to, but just share your experience and what you felt and what you learned from yourself doing this self-reflection, what you learned about yourself, your life, maybe people and things in your life.

Speaker 1 11:53

Share. You can share that on my Instagram Angela at BrainBodyCoach. On my Instagram Angela at BrainBodyCoach Angela BrainBodyCoach. One word, not at AngelaBrainBodyCoach on Instagram. Just send me a DM or maybe comment on one of my posts, because that way your message is not going to be lost in my other DMs. So connect with me there. So connect with me there. Connect with me on LinkedIn Angela Shurina, s-h-u-r-i-n-a. Or connect with me on X. Or send me an email Angela at brainbreakthroughcoachcom. Angela at brainbreakthroughcoachcom. So give it a go. See how your self-awareness rises at the end of the month and see how many things you'll change and make them more aligned with who you want to become, making your whole life experience a lot more fulfilling. Thank you for listening, thank you for your time and attention and happy self-reflection time, and see you in June.