Believing something new on purpose

So, the good news is, this is a skill you can learn. It doesn't come naturally; you have to work at it. However, over time, thought by thought you can retrain your brain around your thoughts. This is a critical skill for all of us, but specifically our youth. Ever see someone post, “if I could go back and tell my younger self” … Well, this is the skill your younger self could have used. There is a difference in passively consuming encouragement and compliments from parents, teachers, and friends versus learning how to do the work to retrain your thoughts. Passively consuming it is also known as cognitive dissonance. Sometimes we hear things 108943 different times but it’s the 108944 time, said in a different way that resonates with us.

Why am I sharing this? I host workshops for youth regularly. I get feedback from parents nonstop and the common theme- “we just completed the workshop on self-esteem or self-confidence, anger management and he/she is still xyz”. Talking about a life skill once in a workshop DOES NOT provide the instant gratification, we all seek. We have to sit with the tool, the skill and learn it, accept it and understand it. This requires constant reminders from all those around us who support the change until it sticks. Instant gratification isn’t real when it comes to retraining our brains on self-awareness and change. I am sorry to say there is no such thing as a “quick fix” Believing something new ON PURPOSE is a critical skill we should want to learn, as soon as we can.