The Mountain Is You – Transforming Self-sabotage Into Self-mastery – Brianna Wiest

This book is like a precious little treasure chest, full of wisdom and inspiration. I read it last week, on the plane, in one go. Since then, I have been rereading and embodying my favourite parts. As with all my articles in this newsletter, I capture some of my favourite sentences, the rest you’ll have to find out for yourself 😉

• Human beings often need to be faced with no other option but to change before they really do. Change translates to something dangerous and potentially life-threatening. No wonder we build our own cages and stay in them even though there is no lock on the door.
• We are not really wired to be happy. We are wired to be comfortable, and anything outside of that realm of comfort feels threatening or scary until we are familiar with it.
• Our feelings, while valid, are not always accurate reflections of reality. They are, however always accurate reflections of our thoughts. Our thoughts change our feelings, but our thoughts do not change our instincts. What you naturally gravitate toward or away from is your instinct.
• Your gut instinct can only respond to what’s happening in the present. If you have an instinct about the future event you’re projecting. Your gut instinct is quiet. It does not scream. It does not panic or pump your body with adrenaline to get your attention. It is not angry. It is the wave of clarity that overcomes you in the middle of your darkest moments, your gut instinct functions to make things better, whereas your imagination can often make things worse.
• If you want to change your life, you need to take tiny, nearly undetectable decisions, every hour of every day until those choices are habituated. To shock yourself into a new life isn’t going to work and that’s why it hasn’t yet. All you need is to make one microshift at a time, and then let the energy and momentum build.
• You must mourn the loss of your young self, the person who has gotten you this far but who is no longer equipped to carry you onward. You must envision and become one with your future self, the hero of your life who is going to lead you from here. The task in front of you is silent, simple and monumental.
• Becoming the best version of yourself is your natural inheritance. Healing is simply releasing the sickness of limiting beliefs and fears that are holding you back from doing exactly that.
• The quality of your relationships determines the quality of your life experiences. We become most like the people we spend time with, and our happiness is directly correlated with the quality of each relationship.
• Beware what you give your energy to. You need to be extremely careful of what you allow yourself to think, it will soon become what you do, what you feel, then what you believe, then how you behave, and sure enough, the way you live.

I hope this book helps you understand how our brain and gut function, why we humans have certain thoughts and behaviours, and finally, I hope it inspires you to go and do great things with your life