This week I’ve started thinking about what it takes to reprogram the beliefs I developed as a kid, I was taught, or that I created to function in the world. Most of the techniques and beliefs made sense at the time, at least to my child’s perspective, but carrying it with me for decades clearly doesn’t make sense now. Removing all that armor is often scary and painful, but it is also liberating. What I’m finding is the solutions I developed as a kid are either not helpful at all now, or there are so much easier and better ways to deal with things.

I recognize that the MKE process is designed to reprogram us to be self-confident, purposeful, focused, and intentional. What I’ve come to realize is reprogramming must be repetitive, tedious and challenging in order to work. Decades of habits that need to change, beliefs that need to be corrected, and the development of new beliefs and habits to replace the old ones takes time and persistence – and a will to overcome the resistance our mind creates to protect the armor we’ve built – no matter how badly it’s serving us. Our mind, to protect us, fights this process tooth & nail.

My mantra to combat this is: if it’s not harmful, I will do exactly what I’m told to do, and I will not judge. (In other words, “hello mind, I hear you, and thank you for trying to protect me, but we are going to do this anyway. It’s ok”)