Using Your “Super Brain” to Get Rid of the Nerves

In his new book “ Super Brain” Deepak Chopra explains how our brains create our individual worlds.

Whatever you do today- have  a great meeting with a new client, be anxious at the thought of giving a presentation, get frustrated by a lack of response from a colleague- the experience is customised for you by your brain.

The key concept of Chopra’s book is that

You are not your brain, you are the user of your brain.

So how are you using your brain today?

Are you using it with maximum effectiveness so that you get exactly the results you want in your life?

Or are you at its mercy- operating on autopilot, letting your brain lead you?

Your brain can only do what it thinks it can do, what you train it to expect. Our expectations drive our outcomes so when you say to yourself “ I always get really nervous whenever I have to present” you are training your brain to meet that expectation. The result? You are really nervous every time your present.

But what would happen if you trained your brain to expect something different?

As Deepak Chopra says ” Developing your “Super Brain” begins with increased self-awareness…..self reflection….and by realising that your perceptions of your world are shaped by yourself and your brain”.

Think about  those nerves about presenting. The nerves are based on a fear- a fear of  failing, or of feeling foolish, or of being embarrassed, or of drying up, or of not being able to connect with the audience, etc. This fear is about imagining future “pain” and we anticipate the “pain” because we remember past presentations where we did fail, or feel embarrassed, or dry up etc. These thoughts stick and they keep repeating which makes the fear and the nerves response stick in the brain. Then the fear becomes convincing and we have become stuck in a pattern of behaviour that continues.

When you develop your “Super Brain” you question the fear and develop new, alternative responses and patterns of behaviour that  are more empowering rather than debilitating.

So if you suffer from nerves when you present ask yourself the following questions…

1. Why are you nervous about presenting?
2. What specifically are you nervous about?
3. Is this true?
4. How is this belief limiting you?
5. Who would you be if you didn’t have this belief?
6. What is the opposite of feeling nervous?
7. What happens when you imagine feeling the opposite of nervous? Try it on…. imagine going into your next presentation feeling like this instead and notice the difference it makes for you.

If you keep practising this kind of self awareness and reflection then you will become more confident and more self assured.

And you can use the same questions for getting rid of other anxieties too. That’s the power of the “Super Brain” in action.

Until next time,

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