What You Normalize, You Accept – How to Use This Brain Habit for Growth
Normalisation carves like a knife; it can be used to craft beauty or to butcher.
Our ability to normalise things is hardwired in us, a tool the brain utilises to process data. It’s something that usually happens unconsciously, but becoming aware of how your brain uses this “tool” gives you the power to choose how to wield it.
When the brain labels something as ‘normal’, it signals that there isn’t information to be gained from focusing its energy there. The brain only has so much energy to expend, so it often subconsciously selects what it thinks is important to focus on. Becoming aware of where your brain is focusing its energy can help you redirect your attention and rewire your mind!!!
How Normalising Your Struggles Might Be Quietly Holding You Back
- Dulling the magic and beauty surrounding you. When the brain labels something as ‘normal’, it creates a sense of knowing. This sense of knowing gestures to the brain that there isn’t information to be gained from focusing on these areas, so instead of witnessing them, we turn away from them.
- Blocking out pain and suffering. If the mind experiences something painful but can’t find a solution to the problem, it will often try to normalise the experience. Doing this creates a sense of safety for the brain but can perpetuate suffering in the long term. Normalising suffering can steer the mind towards complacency and away from action.
How Normalising Growth Can Help You Create Positive Change
- If you are unhappy with your current reality, labelling your circumstances as ‘normal’ will continue to perpetuate these realities into your future… a self-fulfilling prophecy. Instead of brushing off the things in your life that make you uncomfortable, acknowledge them with honesty and seek a growth-minded perspective.
- If you have big goals and dreams but feel judgy when you see these desires come alive in someone else’s reality? Don’t label these feelings as normal. Experiencing these feelings is common, but accepting or normalising them can push your desires further away. Instead, noticing these feelings arise gives you an opportunity to challenge your self-doubt and redefine what ‘normal’ means to you.
Don’t be afraid to challenge ‘your normal’.
The idea of anything being ‘normal’ is a construct of the mind. Nothing about existence is ‘normal’. We’re conscious chemical reactions living on a floating ball in outer space, spinning around a massive fireball.
Reality is subjective and created by your perspective.
Remember, your mind is like a garden, and you are the gardener. Weeds of doubt, fear, and uncertainty may sprout, but you hold the power to cultivate positivity, growth, and resilience.
Grounded growth. Practical strategies.
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