“Garbage in… garbage out.”
My client laughed and rolled his eyes as he said it.
“My wife tells me that’s why I’m negative all the time. She says that’s why I have no energy, no motivation, why I’m unproductive. She says I think about, listen to, and watch all the wrong stuff. That’s the garbage in. Then how I treat everyone is the garbage coming out.”
We both smiled.
But his face became more serious when I asked gently:
“Is it true?”
The smile faded.
After a long pause, he quietly confessed:
“Maybe.”
I’ve been writing recently about proximity.
How proximity is power… or poison.
We’ve talked about the people we surround ourselves with.
We’ve talked about the atmosphere we create in our homes.
(A pause. I say it a lot. “It’s that simple. It’s that complex.” Is it hard to change? I’ll let you answer that as we pause. Doing something that breaks the comfort of who we’ve become…to become who we desire…breeds anger and uncertainty…or maybe anger at the uncertainty. That’s where and the time to stand at the door of surrender.)
But today I’d like to talk about perhaps the most powerful proximity of all:
The proximity you have with yourself.
Because whether we realize it or not,
we are constantly exposing our brains to something.
Thoughts.
Conversations.
Music.
Television.
Podcasts.
Social media.
News.
Books.
Ideas.
And over time, those things begin shaping not only how we think, but…
how we feel.
What we believe.
The choices we make.
The lives we create.
And not just for ourselves, but for our spouses and our families.
Neuroscience has shown that our brains are remarkably malleable. The principle of neuroplasticity tells us that the brain is constantly rewiring itself based on repeated experiences, exposures, and repeated thoughts.
What does that mean?
Your brain becomes what you repeatedly expose it to.
That should give all of us a moment of pause.
A mic-drop moment — because every moment matters.
Carried out intention will eventually become you.
It’s both exciting and challenging to be alive at this point in neuroscience history. We can now see our thoughts and why we think that way. That’s the challenge.
The excitement?
That literally visiting and seeing what we want to change … actually begins the change. And simply continuing with that hope becomes the change.
Way too many people are spending hours every day consuming things that make them…
more anxious,
more fearful,
more angry,
more distracted,
more discouraged,
and more exhausted.
Then they wonder why they feel the way they do.
Proximity is never neutral.
Let me say that again: proximity is NEVER neutral.
What you expose yourself to is either empowering your mind and your life’s direction … or poisoning it.
Wouldn’t you rather empower yourself forward — toward fulfillment in relationships, career, finances, and life itself?
Our brains work for us (unless trained otherwise).
We don’t work for our brains.
1. Your Thoughts Become the Atmosphere of Your Mind
Most people assume thoughts simply happen,
then go away, and life goes on.
But thoughts are incredibly powerful.
What we think about repeatedly begins to shape how we experience the world … and who we become.
Our thinking happened without us thinking about it.
Years ago, I began teaching how trauma brands us.
It literally stamps beliefs deep into our brain tissue, where they take charge of how we think and what we believe. Just as a brand on an animal can only be removed with great effort, the same is true with trauma branding.
If you’ve ever watched Yellowstone, you’ve seen the awful branding scenes.
The writhing and pain of trauma branding is even more scarring.
When trauma occurs, powerfully branded beliefs get embedded deeply.
Then we get comfortable protecting what we want to discard, but don’t yet know that we do.
Trauma at its core is duplicitous.
The deeper the pain, anger, fear, and shame felt during the experience, the deeper the brand.
Things like:
“I’m not enough.”
“I’m not safe.”
“People can’t be trusted.”
“I’ll never be happy or the same again.”
“I always mess everything up.”
Those thoughts don’t simply pass through our minds.
They become part of our operating system.
More directly … they take over our operating system, like a virus.
It’s a “go to” default protecting the wall around our survival emotions.
Because the brain is designed to become efficient, it rehearses those thoughts automatically.
The more a thought is rehearsed,
the easier it becomes to think it again.
As the researchers say:
“Neurons that fire together, wire together.”
That’s why many trauma survivors unknowingly live inside a thought-life filled with criticism, fear, scarcity, resentment, or hopelessness.
The brands don’t just affect our thoughts.
They create our emotional home … the place we default to when things go wrong.
And the question is; do you want to do the work to rewire that?
If you do, know this.
Along the way your present default mode will wage a justification war
against the truth yet to be found. A truth that wants to become your new normal.
So let me ask you, with all the love in my heart:
What are you feeding your mind every day?
What questions are you asking yourself?
(Just like AI … it is only as good as the questions we ask it!)
Our branding almost always creates poor question-asking —
negative questions our branded brain will be glad to answer:
“Why does everything go wrong for me?”
“What’s wrong with me?”
“Why can’t I get ahead?”
You may be thinking, doesn’t everyone ask themselves those things?
Someone intentionally empowering their brain asks questions like these instead:
“What can I learn from this?”
“What’s possible here?”
“How can I grow?”
“What is God teaching me through this season?”
The atmosphere inside your mind matters.
More than you may realize.
And much of it isn’t your fault.
It was trauma branding.
Recently a client asked me if I’d ever seen the billboard for “Dr. Tattoff.”
I told her I had.
She smiled and said:
“Well, I think you’re the Dr. Tattoff for trauma branding.”
I’ll take it.
My brain works for me.
I don’t work for my brain.
And you can make this happen … for you!
2. What You Watch and Listen to Is Shaping You
Many of us trauma survivors marinate in things,
that quietly deepen the very brands we’ve been working to remove.
We wake up and check social media.
Then the news.
Then more social media.
Then more news.
Then endless scrolling…
videos,
opinions,
arguments,
outrage,
fear,
comparison.
And then we wonder why we feel…
anxious,
exhausted,
discouraged,
and overwhelmed.
Research has consistently linked excessive news consumption with… increased stress,
anxiety,
pessimism,
and emotional fatigue.
Heavy social media use has been linked with…
comparison,
loneliness,
depression,
and reduced life satisfaction.
I’m not suggesting we stick our heads in the sand or never check social media.
We should be informed.
But there’s a difference between information and nourishment.
I love how Tony Robbins puts it:
“We are drowning in information and starved for wisdom.”
Information isn’t power.
What you do with good information is power.
Most of what we consume informs us. Very little of it nourishes us.
Imagine eating fast food for every meal.
You’d survive … but eventually your reflection in the mirror,
and your health, would show the truth.
Unfortunately, after trauma, we often seek “comfort” in unhealthy foods … and we also seek “comfort” from things that do not empower us mentally and emotionally.
(From my AA friend. “Addiction is something that ‘partially’ takes you from the moment, not entirely. But if you’re partially in the moment you’re not. Because you’re not giving priority to being present. You’re just biding your time till you can have what you’ve given your impulses to. Addiction trains your will…that it and it alone brings satisfaction…not moments that matter.”)
If your brain spends hours every day consuming…
fear,
outrage,
conflict,
criticism,
and comparison…
eventually your emotional life starts reflecting those inputs.
Especially for us as trauma survivors.
The inputs we choose either reinforce the branding that’s held us captive or help us break free and rewrite them.
Proximity is never neutral.
Because our mental consumption is NEVER neutral.
And what you repeatedly expose your brain to eventually leaves fingerprints on your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.
This is not intended to be an overload.
Simplify and intensify.
Change what you know you should.
Keep what you know you can.
3. Feed Your Brain Things That Create Powerful Proximity
If all we do is remove unhealthy influences,
we’ve only solved half the problem.
The real adventure begins when we ask:
What should we feed our minds?
If you wanted to create powerful proximity within yourself,
what would you intentionally expose your brain to?
Consider things like:
· Encouraging books
· Growth-oriented conversations
· Scripture
· Worship music
· Life-giving podcasts
· Time out in nature
· Gratitude journaling
· Meaningful relationships
· Stories of courage, hope, and transformation
Notice the common thread.
These are all things that move us toward growth.
Toward peace.
Toward wisdom.
Toward purpose.
Toward becoming more fully alive.
I’ve often said trauma healing isn’t a destination.
It’s supposed to take us somewhere … somewhere great.
The same is true for what we feed our minds.
The goal isn’t simply to avoid negativity.
The goal is to intentionally create an internal environment where healing, wisdom, purpose, and fulfillment can flourish.
Because your brain becomes the environment you repeatedly expose it to.
One of my favorite writers, Ben Campbell Johnson,
offers these guidelines to build our thought life:
Worthwhile thoughts
Honest thoughts
Clear thoughts
Loving thoughts
Praiseworthy thoughts
Whatever has integrity and deserves admiration … these should dominate your thinking.
I couldn’t have said it better.
*****
Please hear my heart.
This isn’t about trying to be perfect.
It’s about awareness.
About becoming intentional.
Most people are consuming things every day,
that are quietly shaping their emotional lives,
without them even realizing it.
The good news?
You have far more influence over your trauma branding than you think.
(An honest question…do you believe…I mean REALLY believe, that those traumatic moments in your life…strained the wiring in your brain and changed some of your bents and wonder toward life? That’s what I’m about! And it’s as simple as the desire you’re feeling to change it. When you decide to and do … that’s when your brain works for you and not you working for your brain.)
You can choose what enters your mind.
You can choose what receives your attention.
You can choose what you rehearse.
You can choose what you feast upon.
And over time, those choices begin changing the atmosphere within you.
So, I invite you to pay attention to your proximity.
Not just the people around you.
Not just the atmosphere in your home.
But the atmosphere inside your own mind and heart.
I want you to have a great life. And a great life begins with rebranding
your mind and heart with things that’re life-giving.
When there’s enough life in you… you’ll want to share it.
That’s the 7th step of trauma healing.
And when you take that step, bits of healing become…
a Niagara Falls of healing…
and you’ll have more than enough to pour out.
Let’s do this!