Your brain is an incredible thing…
Since the moment you were born, your brain’s main function has been to keep you alive.

And in order to do so, one of the first things it learned was to adapt to its environment.

Because if it didn’t, it knew it wouldn’t last long in this world.

After all, you were completely dependent on your environment to survive.

It’s not like you could just walk off and live without your caretakers.

And because adapting to your environment was so crucial to your survival, your brain’s entire structure was built around it.

While the positive events in your early childhood may have played an important part in your life…

…it’s moments where you experienced anything less than nurturing than had the most profound impact on your development.

Because those were the moments your brain had to adapt to in order to survive. 

If you didn’t learn from these difficult events, they were more likely to happen again.

And unfortunately, this is what likely became the foundation of your identity.

If your parents were often critical, you most likely internalized that you were not good enough.

If your parents didn’t take care of your needs, you likely learned that you didn’t matter, or that you
couldn’t rely on other people.

If your parents split up, you may have thought it was your fault, and internalized that if you didn’t act properly, you would lose the ones you loved.

Those are just a few examples of how this can play out.

But those lessons made you adopt strategies and patterns of behaviors that you are likely still using today.

Let me say that again.

As an adult, you are butting head against the same issues again and again because, more likely than not, you are consciously or unconsciously still using strategies and behaviors that you developed when you were still a young child in order to survive the environment you grew up in.

And that’s what’s preventing you from reaching the level of success you’ve always dreamed about.

Your coping mechanisms, beliefs, and patterns of behaviors are outdated.

But the reality is that you’ve been using them for so long you’ve probably made them part of your identity, and you use them to filter how you see yourself, your place in the world, and how you believe the world works. 

“I’m like this,” 

“I can’t change,” 

“This is who I am,” 

“This is how life works.”

“I’m not good enough.”

“I can’t go after what I want.”

But none of that is true.

The reason you’re so attached to those beliefs is that, at one point in your life, you needed them to 
survive.

If your very life depended on adopting these beliefs, it makes sense that you wouldn’t want to stop believing them.

You might DIE.

Or at least, that’s what your brain wants you to think.

This fear is literally hardwired into your unconscious mind.

And that’s why it’s so difficult to move past it.

But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.

Just imagine for a second…

If you didn’t let your beliefs, your fears, your shame, and your emotions stop you from pursuing the things you want – and I mean the ones you really want, the things you may even be afraid to admit that you want…

What could your life be like?

Would you be working in a different field?

Dating different people?

Building stronger relationships?

Reaching for incredibly ambitious goals?

Asking for what you want, whether it is a raise, a date, or a promotion?

Starting a business from your passion?

And what if it could become a reality?

If you’re serious about letting go of your old patterns and ready to create the life you always wanted, join me at the Deep Inner Growth Intensive on June 21-23, in Los Angeles.

We’ll take you on a deep dive into your unconscious mind, identify the places where you have been getting stuck, and learn to move past them for good.
The way most people go about dealing with their inner issues is by booking expensive therapists for an indefinite period of time, never quite knowing when they’ll finally be done.

But the truth is, while therapy is great to maintain the work you’ve already done, it’s not as good to create a transformation.

And that’s because traumas aren’t stored in your rational brain.

As you go through difficult experiences, your body is designed to cycle through a series of phases.

Phase 1 is about mobilizing energy. It gets you more aware of your surroundings and prepares you to react to whatever may be coming your way.

Phase 2 is where the difficult event happens, and you unconsciously pick a defense mechanism: Fight, Flight, or Freeze.

Phase 3 happens after the threat has been taken care of – you get rid of the excess energy and your body goes back to its regular rhythm

And lastly, Phase 4 is where you go back to your pack, tribe, family of choice, or friends, and can feel safe again.

At least, that’s the natural cycle.

And it’s supposed to happen over and over again over the course of a single day.

But what likely keeps you stuck is that, as a child, your cycle was interrupted.

Maybe you never moved out of the first Phase, and you’ve become hypervigilant, always waiting for something or someone to come and attack you.

Maybe you got stuck in Phase 2, and are constantly picking fights with people, avoiding others, or simply dissociating from your body.

Or maybe you never learned to get rid of your excess energy, and now feel like you’re always on the verge of cracking under the pressure, even when things are going perfectly well in your life.

And this is why talk therapy isn’t the best way to move past trauma.

Because trauma isn’t in your head.

It is literally programmed into your nervous system.

And in order to move past your issues, you need to have a way to rewire your nervous system to that it can finally leave those outdated automatic survival mechanisms and beliefs behind.

Talk Therapy can do that.

But it’s a slow process that can take several years.

And likely thousands and thousands of dollars.

Experiential events are what’s best.

Because it doesn’t just make you think about your issues and talk them through.

It heals by involving your whole body.

You don’t just face your fears and wounds and traumas with your brain, but with your entire being.

And that’s when real transformation happens.

I hope to meet you in Los Angeles,

Neil Strauss
© 2019 Neil Strauss. All Rights Reserved.