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Speaker 1: Hi, everyone, It's Carl Taylor here and welcome to Mojo

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Speaker 1: Monday on the Paul Taylor Podcast. So this week we

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Speaker 1: are diving into a topic that I have spoken about,

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Speaker 1: I think a few times before, but it's a topic

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Speaker 1: that you can't just listen to once. And I know

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Speaker 1: that this episode is going to resonate with most of you.

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Speaker 1: So we're going to talk about the gremlin in your head.

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Speaker 1: So this concept is not new. This inner voice has

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Speaker 1: been the subject of Eastern religion, stoic philosophy, personal development

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Speaker 1: and mastery experts, and now modern science. There's a lot

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Speaker 1: of research behind it now. But for me personally, my

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Speaker 1: gremlin often shows up as that voice that says you

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Speaker 1: don't belong or it will assume that that person won't

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Speaker 1: want to talk to you. And it's the same voice

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Speaker 1: that tells me I'm not good enough to do the

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Speaker 1: things that I really want to do, the things that

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Speaker 1: are important to me. And sometimes I can get so

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Speaker 1: entangled up in this voice that it's exhausting. It's like

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Speaker 1: trying to untangle a spider web. And the more we try,

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Speaker 1: the more sticky and stuck that we get. And I

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Speaker 1: have learned and I am still learning, and I will

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Speaker 1: continue to learn that if I give that voice my attention,

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Speaker 1: it's like handing at the reins to my life. I

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Speaker 1: become trapped in my head. I feel small, and I

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Speaker 1: can feel worthless. But what I have learned is that

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Speaker 1: I can't let the gretlin dictate how I live. So

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Speaker 1: today we'll explore how to recognize that voice, practice accepting

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Speaker 1: it without giving it power, and turn to our inner sage,

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Speaker 1: that wiser, calmer part of ourselves to guide us. So

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Speaker 1: how do we recognize when the Gremlin's in control? So

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Speaker 1: eckhark Toli, who I'm sure most of you will be

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Speaker 1: familiar with, he wrote a book called The Power of Now.

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Speaker 1: He describes this voice in that book as a tormentor

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Speaker 1: that drains us of energy and keeps us locked in

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Speaker 1: this repetitive, negative thought pattern. He calls it the thinker,

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Speaker 1: and one of the first steps to liberation is to

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Speaker 1: simply notice it. So let's break that down. There's the

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Speaker 1: thought or the gremlin or the tormentor or whatever you

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Speaker 1: want to call it, and then there's you, and you

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Speaker 1: are the noticer of those thoughts. So stop now, just

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Speaker 1: try this, stop now, and just notice your thoughts and

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Speaker 1: maybe you're just noticing that you're thinking about thinking, and

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Speaker 1: so you can just notice that and echo. Tolly writes,

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Speaker 1: listen to the voice in your head. Do not judge

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Speaker 1: or condemn what you hear, for doing so would mean

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Speaker 1: the same voice has come in again through the back door.

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Speaker 1: And I just think this is so powerful because when

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Speaker 1: we judge or fight that in a critic, when we

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Speaker 1: fight our gremlin, we're actually feeding it more. Attention loves attention.

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Speaker 1: It thrives on us trying to resist it. So the

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Speaker 1: key is to watch the gremlin, notice the gremlin, acknowledge

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Speaker 1: it without judging it, and then recognizing for what it is.

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Speaker 1: It's just a voice. It is not the truth. So

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Speaker 1: let me share with you kind of a personal story.

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Speaker 1: So my gremlin shows up a lot, and I don't

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Speaker 1: think I'm alone here. This can be in the form

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Speaker 1: of doubting myself. It can show up in so situations

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Speaker 1: might tell me that you know you don't belong here, Carli.

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Speaker 1: Everyone else is smarter, more interesting, better looking, or a

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Speaker 1: big one is they're judging you. And that voice used

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Speaker 1: to be really powerful because I didn't have that skill

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Speaker 1: of noticing it, of observing it as a separate part

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Speaker 1: of my mind. I just went with it as the truth.

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Speaker 1: It was just me, and it certainly didn't get me

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Speaker 1: very far. And I actually told a friend about this,

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Speaker 1: and he was so surprised because he had this perception

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Speaker 1: of me that I had my shit together and that

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Speaker 1: I was this calm and friendly, ambitious, all those words

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Speaker 1: that we describe when we're talking about other people. So

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Speaker 1: when I told him that I have this in a

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Speaker 1: gremlin and you know what the gremlin sometimes says to me,

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Speaker 1: he was actually quite shocked. So don't think you're alone

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Speaker 1: on this one. Don't think that others who might look

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Speaker 1: like they are living this amazing, carefree, confident life don't

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Speaker 1: have this in a gremlin, because we all do. It

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Speaker 1: is a natural part of being human. It's part of

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Speaker 1: what makes us human. It's just that some people are

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Speaker 1: able to live their lives because they don't allow this

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Speaker 1: voice to stop them doing what's important. And I have

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Speaker 1: learned from years of studying this, both formally and informally,

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Speaker 1: that I can't give that voice my full attention, because

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Speaker 1: if I do, I'll spend my life dictated by it. Instead,

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Speaker 1: I've had to practice and practice and I keep practicing

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Speaker 1: every day, turning my attention towards my sage, that wiser

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Speaker 1: part of myself, and I ask, what would my calmer,

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Speaker 1: more compassionate version of me say right now? My sage

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Speaker 1: reminds me to focus on what is important to me,

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Speaker 1: that I do the best job I can in that presentation,

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Speaker 1: if I'm working towards something, or I'm as good a

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Speaker 1: friend as I can be, or a good person to

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Speaker 1: be around. So I focus outwards being curious about others,

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Speaker 1: and then I act. I do whatever I do is

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Speaker 1: aligned with what is important, rather than doing what is

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Speaker 1: aligned with the self defeating, unhelpful gremlin. And as I said,

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Speaker 1: this struggle is universal. If we don't practice accepting our gremlin,

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Speaker 1: we get stuck fighting with it, and we become reactive

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Speaker 1: instead of responsive to life. And totally suggests that we

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Speaker 1: accept the present moment as if we had chosen it.

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Speaker 1: And this doesn't mean that we agree with everything the

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Speaker 1: gremlin says. It means we acknowledge its presence, but without

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Speaker 1: resisting it. And of course disc comfort is part of

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Speaker 1: this process, and I think this is the part that

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Speaker 1: people struggle with the most. Accepting that voice doesn't make

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Speaker 1: it disappear, but it does take away its power. And

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Speaker 1: in that space of acceptance, we can choose to turn

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Speaker 1: to our sage, that part of us that is grounded

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Speaker 1: and wise and aligned with what is important to us.

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Speaker 1: And then we do what we need to do. We

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Speaker 1: get up, we get dressed, we look after our body,

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Speaker 1: we eat nutritious food, we calm ourselves through breath work,

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Speaker 1: we strive to be good citizens, and we show gratitude

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Speaker 1: to this amazing world in which we all live in.

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Speaker 1: So here's a challenge for this week. Notice your gremlin.

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Speaker 1: The next time you have a negative, self defeating thought,

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Speaker 1: just pause, notice it and name it and say to yourself, ah,

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Speaker 1: my gremlin again. And this creates that space between you

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Speaker 1: and the voice. And then comes the hardest part, and

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Speaker 1: that is accepting it. It's really hard to do this

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Speaker 1: because when we have these voices in our head, what

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Speaker 1: we want to do is get rid of it or

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Speaker 1: fix ourselves. So the skill here is not to fight

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Speaker 1: that voice, to allow it to be there without judgment,

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Speaker 1: and to not allow it to dictate what we do.

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Speaker 1: So acknowledge it with curiosity. You know, you can notice

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Speaker 1: it and go, ah, that's interesting, my gremlin thinks I'm

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Speaker 1: an idiot, and they just allow that thought to be

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Speaker 1: there from a distance, And then you turn your attention

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Speaker 1: to your sage. What would that calm wise version of

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Speaker 1: me do? Right now, we all have a calm wise

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Speaker 1: version of us, and shift your focus from the gremlins

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Speaker 1: chatter to the present moment and then do what needs

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Speaker 1: to be done. So this practice isn't about silencing the gremlin.

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Speaker 1: It's about choosing where your attention goes. And as totally says,

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Speaker 1: all negativity is caused by denial of the present. So

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Speaker 1: by bringing yourself back to the now, you're weakening the

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Speaker 1: gremlin's grip and strengthen your connection to the Sage. I

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Speaker 1: know that if you put in the work, if you

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Speaker 1: practice this like you would practice a piano, or train

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Speaker 1: in sport, or study for an exam, or develop any skill,

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Speaker 1: what you do is you develop this skill of living intentionally,

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Speaker 1: and you never stop. We're never exonerated from this work.

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Speaker 1: So every day I keep practicing, and I know from

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Speaker 1: my personal experience and from my clients that practice this themselves,

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Speaker 1: that it can change the way you live. So this

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Speaker 1: week I invite you to practice. Listen to your Gramlin

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Speaker 1: with compassion and curiosity. Notice how often it shows up,

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Speaker 1: and remind yourself that you don't have to let it

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Speaker 1: dictate your actions. Instead, turn your attention to your stage

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Speaker 1: and take small, intentional steps forward, And remember you are

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Speaker 1: not your thoughts, and you are so much more than

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Speaker 1: what that voice tells you. It's not about relying on

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Speaker 1: others to tell you how amazing you are. Discover it

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Speaker 1: yourself by getting out of your head and then doing

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Speaker 1: what's important to you. So thank you for joining me

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Speaker 1: today on Mojo Monday, and I will catch you next week.