- Bradley Woods
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- Who is actually driving the bus?
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Hello friend,
Yesterday we talked about the loop—how the same thoughts lead to the same life. But why is it so hard to stop? Why do we say, "I’m going to stop eating sugar," and three hours later we are covered in donut crumbs?
It is because you are not the one driving the bus.
Here is a staggering statistic: By the time you are 35 years old, 95% of who you are is a set of memorized behaviors, emotional reactions, and beliefs. You are running on autopilot. You are a subconscious computer program.
The Body Has Become the Mind
Think about when you first learned to drive. You had to think about everything. "Hands at ten and two. Check the mirror. distinct pressure on the gas." It took a lot of conscious energy. But now? You can drive home while thinking about dinner, talking on the phone, and worrying about bills. You arrive home and don't even remember the trip.
Who was driving? Your body was. It knows how to do it better than your conscious mind.
The same thing happens with your emotions. If you have spent ten years feeling frustrated, impatient, or guilty, your body has memorized those states. It has become the master.
So when you (the 5% conscious mind) say, "I am going to be happy today!" your body (the 95% subconscious mind) says, "No, we don't do that here. We do guilt. We do stress. That is what I know. That is my chemical fix."
The Chemical Addiction
This is not a metaphor. It is biology. The hormones of stress—cortisol, adrenaline—are highly addictive. When you live in survival mode, your body gets hooked on the rush.
If you don't have a reason to be stressed, your body will actually push you to create a problem just to get its fix. You will pick a fight with your spouse. You will obsess over a noise the car is making. You will doom-scroll the news. You are using the external world to reaffirm an internal addiction.
It is like the body is a disgruntled employee who has locked the CEO (you) in the closet and is now running the company into the ground.
But here is the good news: As you continue to read these emails, you will find yourself gaining more success in taking back the keys. You are the rightful owner of this vehicle.
The first step to evicting the hijacker is understanding how he got in. And the second step is learning the language of the brain so you can reprogram the GPS.
You are likely grateful you clicked these links, because understanding this separation—that you are not your body, and you are not your past—is the beginning of freedom.
Tomorrow, I am going to show you how to build a completely new brain. And the best part? You don't even have to get off the couch to do it. It sounds like magic, but it is pure science.
Question for you: If your body could talk, what emotion would it say is its favorite "drug" of choice? (Anxiety? Anger? Victimhood?)
Reply and let me know.
Your partner in change,
Bradley Woods
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