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You're Listening to the Transform your Life from the Inside Out podcast. This episode is titled How Your Brain Keeps You Unhappy. Now mind you, it's not all of your brain because your brain, you know, you need it to live and it's obviously to keep you alive, but there are certain parts of the brain that do not like change. And this part of the brain also likes predictability. And I wanna talk about that in this episode, why to some degree it's so damn hard to change, but I wanna talk about how your brain keeps showing happy. There's part of the brain that I'm talking about. And I wanna talk about the old phrase. If nothing changes, then nothing changes. Keep listening.

Hi, I'm Jim Fortin, and you're about to start Transforming your Life from the Inside Out with this podcast, I'm widely considered the leader in Subconscious Transformation and I've coached super achievers all around the world for over 25 years here, you're going to find no rah motivation and no hype because this podcast is a combination of Brain Science, Transformational Psychology and Ancient Wisdom, all rolled into one to take your life to levels. You've never thought possible if you're wanting a lot more in life to feel better, to heal, to have peace of mind, to feel powerful and alive and to bring more abundance and prosperity into your life. Then this podcast is for you because you're going to start learning how to master your mind and evolve your consciousness. And when you do that, anything you want then becomes possible for you. I'm glad you're here.

Okay so a couple of minutes ago I was talking about if nothing changes, we've all heard that before. If nothing changes, then nothing changes. What I wanna share with you is things don't change you change. And if you don't change, then guess what nothing is going to change. And that's what this episode is about. Einstein said something along the lines of the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over again and expecting different results. Hang on for a moment because you might be thinking, Jim, you know, that's simple and that's really, really, really simple. But let me ask you this, if it's so simple and you actually know it. As opposed to understanding it. How much have you changed in your life? The last three months, six months, nine months a year. And for some of you the last five years, three years, ten years. Look at your life, take the blinders off the rose colored classes. Look at your life. How much has really dramatically changed? In the last three months, you listen to the podcast, this one and other ones. And many of you, you think you're assimilating all of the content here and you're not you’re simply listening and I've heard people say before, they've said things like, and I find it kind of crazy in a joking way, but people have said, you know, I just found your podcast and I listen to every single episode in a week.

There are like 225 episodes here. You've listened to 225 episodes in a week. Trust me when I tell you that serves you in no way, none, it might give you a little bit of information, which you will have forgotten most of it. You had no time to assimilate it. No time to practice it. No time to integrate it. For the most part, you are filtering every bit of it through your limitations, which you have, which is why you're here in the first place. So as I was saying, you might be thinking, well, Jim, okay. You know, if nothing changes, nothing changes. And if I don't change, then nothing will change. Jim I understand you. Yep. Yep. Yep. I get it. But then I went back to how much have you actually changed? You know what I've noticed over the years. And there was a student yesterday that prompted this episode, a student in my Transformational Coaching Program, and he was doing something extremely counterproductive, but he won't change it and he wants change.

And I'll talk about that in just a moment, but most people want change. I mean, many of us want more things in our life and better things in our life and different things in our life. And a higher quality of life. I mean, who doesn't want a higher quality of life right. But here's the thing. And I'm just being transparent and, and actually I'm being candid, most people. And I'm using that word most because I've done this for a lot of years. I work with thousands of people. Most people want a change in their circumstances, but what they do not want, no matter what they say. Is, they do not want the change in themselves, meaning they don't want to change their behavior. And unless you change your behavior, nothing will change. And to change the behavior, you have to change your ways of being, which are your internal traits and characteristics. Now what prompted this episode was a guy in coaching with me. He wanted to change his finances. And I think probably many people listening, probably 70% of people listening, want to change their finances for the better, obviously.

And here's the reality that I see. And honestly, I'm, I'm 57. My hair's coming out and I want to just pull it out because after a while I'm like, you know, I wonder if people will get tired of banging their head against the wall. They do the same thing over and over and over again. It's kind of like banging their head on the wall, going Aw that hurts Aw that hurts Aw that hurts. And I'm like, well change. And they changed to the other side of their head, Aw that hurts. Ow. That hurts Aw that hurt. Stop already stop, but we don't. And this person wants to change their money circumstances, their financial life. But what they will not do. And they were pretty adamant about it. This money comes from their work. They're still working from the old paradigm. That money comes from work. Money comes from their work, from what they do from how they trade their time and their energy for dollars.

And I said, you know, you can always quit. You can always get a different job. You can always, you know, change jobs. and I got resistance. No, I can't do that. Let me tell you why, X, Y, Z. A B C reasons, you know, I want this change, but you know what, Jim, I'm not going to change what I'm doing to get the change that I want, because I'm going to tell you why I'm going to making excuses about why I can't change something. Oh. But yes, I really, really, really want change in my life. And as you're sitting there listening, you might be inclined to judge thinking those fools, what are they doing yet? But you listening right now? I don't care. And I know because I've coached at all levels. You're making a hundred thousand a year, a million a year, 10 million a year, a hundred million a year.

And I know because I coach people at those levels. Many people think that what I'm saying, they're immune too . Because they think, oh, I've got it all figured out. I made $4 million last year or seven or 10, but they're still wanting to create more, but not recognizing what got ‘me here won't get 'em there and they still have to change, but they won't do it. And people listening. I know you guys, I know you listening right now. You may want healthier relationships and better relationships than a better career. Living in a better house and a better town and a better job and better money, but you know, what many people hit that old stall button I'll, wait, I'll wait till later. And because they don't change then guess what? There are circumstances don't change. Reminds me of an old parable. I heard many years ago, an old story. These two guys are working construction, and this is a really old story. And. Bill opens his lunch box, little bad. I can't talk. Bill opens his lunch box. There we go. Bill opens his lunch box and he's like, oh man, a ham and cheese today. And then he eats his ham and cheese sandwich. And the next day he and Bob, which I meant to say Bob, just a couple of minutes ago, he and Bob were sitting down having lunch and he opens his lunch box and he goes, are, are you kidding me?

Really? Really ham and cheese again. And then the next day he sits down and he opens his lunch box and ham and cheese again. And he is like, this is ridiculous. I am so sick and tired of ham and cheese. And Bob says for crying out loud, why don't you have your old lady make you something different? And he goes old lady. I'm not married. I make these myself every single day. Now, couple of things. That's how most of us live our lives. And I'll talk about why that is. And secondly, the phrase old lady, it's just a parable, it's just a story. Get over your bullshit that I used that phrase. I mean, that used to be a very common phrase, even back in the seventies with people that are married and, and many perhaps more rural for an example, living in a rural part of the country, from where I grew up, that was a common phrase. And it was meant with no disrespect. It was simply just a common phrase.

Basically, we make our lunches every day and there's simple wisdom in life that we missed. You know, you've heard the old phrase before you made your bed now lie in it or lay in whichever it is. I always get those two mixed up, basically. That's your bed. That's where you go. We forget that we make our own bed when it comes to our wealth and our finances and our relationships and our homes and our cars and everything in our life, we make our own bed. And then we can plan about the bed that we made. Let me ask you, don't you find that a bit crazy that you're the creator of your. Then many people, bitch and moan and complain about the life they created and they want it to be something different, but they won't do anything different or be anyone different, be honest. How much of that can you relate to?

Okay. Let me segue from the episode at hand for just a moment. And I wanna talk about money. If you feel like you're trapped with money issues, I have an exclusive event coming up on July the 14th it's free and you're going to want to be part of. On this online event, I'm going to share with you an ancient process that I've learned from the Shaman that I work with Don Xavier. And I'm also going to be talking about your invisible money trap. And that is what has kept you stuck. Why? Because you can't change what you can't see. My goal is for you to start having your best money year ever. The program is free in terms of monetary charge. All it's going to cost you is a few hours of time. Join me on this call and we are literally, and I do mean literally going to burn your old money stories. So let's burn your past money stories and the way that we do that, your next step is go to jimfortin.com/letgo and join me on the 14th. See then back to the episode.

Let's go here for a moment is I know every one of you listening, and this is built into the brain. You all want to go to a higher state, a higher emotional state, let's say a better emotional state of existence and living, but like the ham sandwich I mentioned earlier, most people won't do the behaviors to create the higher state. Why not . Well, there's a couple of things about the brain. The brain really enjoys. I'm gonna keep this really simple, but the reason we're not changing is it's brain based, not mind based, not mental based, but brain based. So there's a certain part of the brain that likes predictability. I'll explain in a moment. There's another part of the brain that likes what's called identity confirmation. So even though we might have a Psychological Prefrontal Cortex analytical desire to create change so we can have more, oftentimes it's parts of the brain holding us back. Let's talk about predictability for a moment. Your brain, my brain, it's a survival mechanism built in likes predictability. And I mentioned this before.

But saying it here, you might hear it in a different way or a different context. And I've also noticed, like I said, I've done this a long time and I've also noticed, and this applies to me in my own life. When I'm listening to my brother-in-law Don Xavier, I can listen to things that I heard 10 years ago. And I'm like, you know, 10 years ago, I didn't hear it like that. Why? Because I wasn't that person 10 years ago, my brain filtered it out 10 years. So many things that I say you might have heard before, but be careful that you're not filtering it out or ponder it and see if you can hear it in a different way. So why not change? Number one is predictability your brain part of your brain, not the entire brain, but part of your brain thrives on predictability. Now, when I use the word, like that's just colloquial. It's not like your brain's running around saying, Ooh, I like this. I like that. And it does, but not in kind of like the human language, you know, the, the colloquial, the vernacular that we use every day in everyday talk. But part of your brain likes predictability, which is a survival function.

I knew, I mentioned before about this research with monkeys. They were showing these monkeys, they would have it hidden behind the piece of cardboard, I believe. And they would show the monkeys banana and they'd remove the cardboard and the monkeys would, they were conditioned to know that, okay, when that cardboard is removed, I'm gonna see a banana. And honestly, I don't know if monkeys love bananas or not. We all hear that monkeys love bananas. I don't know. That could be, you know, you ask a Researcher, they might say monkeys, hate bananas. I don't. What they did in this research is they would literally, as I just said, they would hide the banana behind something and they, then they would remove that obstacle and the monkey could see the banana and the the monkey began to predict that, Hey, there's a banana there.

And then what happened is they stop putting the banana behind the, the, the divider, the thing that was hiding. And they put lettuce. And when they remove the divider and the monkeys saw lettuce, the monkey went, no pun intended, went ape. When bananas, why they became angry, they became irate because they were predicting when the partition was removed, they would see a banana, but they didn't see a banana. They saw lettuce and that's what sent 'em off the deep end and that's why they got bent outta shape is, and that's what sent them off the deep end is the banana wasn't there, which they had come to predict. There is a part of your brain that likes predictability predictability, as I alluded to early is a survival mechanism. And the reason that we have that is because many, many years ago in our evolution, if you had to go out and hunt for food, Predictability would, would allow you to predict, okay, here's a good time of day to go out. And if I go out this time of day to search search for food, I can predict there are going to be no saber tooth tigers because they sleep between the hours of 7:00 AM till 4:00 PM. Now, I don't know what it is, but I'm just giving you you an example there. And that's how the brain, you know, is a survival mechanism and it thrives on predictability. To keep us safe, but also in the modern world that we live in, it basically keeps many of us trapped, which I'm getting to.

Next is identity confirmation. You probably you've heard me say before is that you cannot operate outside the context of your subconscious identity. You cannot operate outside the context of your subconscious identity. Even though you think you might want to change and you might want to do things to create more money and a better life and a better girlfriend and a better boyfriend, or a better both whatever you're into or a better car or a better home or better money or whatever it is. But if your subconscious identity, which is so important, it drives you. This is why the BE DO HAVE series that I do twice a year is so vital when we do things that are consistent with our identity. That confirms the identity. And that is a safety zone for us in terms of our survival. This is why we can look at a couple, let's take a male and female and we can say, you know what? I am so glad Susan is out of that relationship. She deserves so much better and Mike just would abuse her. I'm so glad she's out. And then guess what? Susan gets out and she starts healing. And then guess what? Three months later, Susan has a new boyfriend. And what does he do? He abuses her.

Why? Because at the identity level to be abused, confirms her lack of self worth of self value. And something really interesting here is we couple up with people and we actually confirm each other's identity. What I mean by that if a person believes they deserve to be abused, they will seek out abusers that will abuse them to confirm their identity. They believe they deserve to be abused and if they're attracting someone who really gets off and believes, for example, the ill phrase, women need to be slapped around, or people need to be hit every so often. When the person who believes that other people need to be abused, they will attract people who want to be abused and they're confirming each other's subconscious identity. So the identity confirmation is what keeps you trapped along with the predictability. And these are brain based survival mechanisms, but we can override these with our thinking, but to do that, we have to get out of our comfort zones. You've heard me say before. We have to get out of our comfort zones because you can think all day long about, Ooh, okay. I have to get outta my comfort zone. Hmm. Analytically. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

But that's intellectual learning. The only way we learn adaptively means the only way we be, we become someone who gets out of our comfort zone is to get out of our comfort zone. But one of the reasons we stay in our comfort zones is because it creates. The illusion of predictability because people don't act and they don't do things in life because people are afraid of the unpredictability of uncertainty. People will not act when they're uncertain about the outcome. You think about the examples I gave you earlier. You think about walking across a bridge. If you're gonna walk across a bridge that you've never walked across before, and I don't mean the Brooklyn bridge or the George Washington bridge or the golden gate bridge. I mean, let's say you're out in the jungle somewhere and you see a, you know, a bridge. The first thing you think for the most part is not, Oh, Whoopie, this is a, this looks daring. This looks challenging. No. The first thing you think is, Hmm, is this safe? is this safe? Is this gonna hold me up? And then notice what's driving that the uncertainty, why for preservation? So the uncertainty principle. Is what keeps many of us from taking action, which keeps many of us on our comfort zone.

And you know, the irony here, you have no certainty in life. Certainty is an illusion. You have no certainty. This is why you might save for retirement and save all this money and do all these things. And guess what? The person gets smacked by a bus or they say for the certainty of retirement and all this money and the golden years in blonk, they have a heart attack the day they retire or whatever, as an example, but certainty is an illusion it's brain based, but it's an old vestige of your evolution. It doesn't entirely serve you when it comes to preservation and survival. Yes. It serves you. But when it comes to creating change in your life to getting more things that certainty principle driven by the, by the brain, your brain hurts you. So the only way to create change in your life is not thinking it because how many of you have you listening right now? Thought? Hmm. Okay. I want to become healthy and trim and fit. I'm gonna think about all the ways and all the things I need to do. Oh, okay. That was tiring I'm gonna sit on the couch now and I'll get to it later. Well, guess what? That's your brain. Believe it or not protecting you.

The only way to create what you want in life. If you don't have it because you can't create it from where you are and you've already proven because where you are emotionally, psychologically, and in terms of behavior, doesn't fricking create it. The only way to create it. Hello is to change. But then for many people, no, I won't change that job. I won't change that city. I won't change that relationship. Hell no, I'm not changing that comfort zone. And then we complain about what we've created. Can you relate, so a question for you or a couple of questions get specific. What, what do you want the change? That's the first thing what do you want to change? And it doesn't matter what it is, because guess what? There's a part of your brain that does not know the difference between real and imagined. That's not an opinion. It's not woo woo. It's not psychological mumbo jumbo. This is neurology. There's a part of your brain that doesn't know the difference between real and imagined. All I'm asking you right now. Doesn't even, doesn't even matter, at least for this podcast, if you even know how to do it yet, I just wanna start moving you in that act. And you know, in that direction, So you have to answer the question. What change do I want? And then next I'm gonna ask you think about a big change that you've wanted in your life for let's say the last year. Think about that seriously. Think about, take your time. What change have you wanted in your life the past year? And you still don't have it. Ponder, I'll give you 10 seconds here, ponder.

Okay. For most of you, it's pretty easy. Something comes to mind very, very quickly. But the next question is what action have you taken on creating that change in the past year or. What sustained action. Have you taken? That's a better question. What sustained action. Have you taken to create the outcome that you want? Next question. What things specifically have to change? You definitely wanna know that you can't just say I want change and I won't change because I want money. Yes, that's a start, but what things must change in your thinking, your behavior and things that you do overall, and even what I call your ways of being your characteristics and your ways of being, do you have to change to become a committed person? Do you have to change to become a disciplined person? Do you have to change to become a person who has self integrity? Think about that.

And then I look at, okay, so X, Y, Z specifically has to change. Now to what degree does it have to change? Does it have to change a little bit? Does it have to change a lot now? What I wanna point out there also, if you said a lot and many people will say a lot, the biggest mistake that people make is when they want big change, they try to do a lot of different things in a big way. That's not the way to create massive change in your life. The way to create massive change is in baby steps. People often think if they've got a big problem, they need a big solution and yes, maybe, but you know what big problems were not created overnight. And basically, and generally big solutions are not gonna be created overnight for the most part, not a hundred percent. What I've found over the years is that little changes consistently made lead up to the big changes. So when I say to what degree do you want the change? Even if you say a big degree, start at a small degree, just start with something. That's the most important thing. Just starting with something consistently.

Also something I want you to examine. I'm gonna use these words carefully. What fears are you choosing? What fears are you choosing? Think about that many of us don't ever think about, oh, I'm choosing my fears. Now, what I wanna point out is fears are all, not all many fears are survival based and brain based. However, you have free will you have reflective thinking? You have analytical thinking. If you hold onto the fear provided you're not running away from a tiger or something, that's gonna harm. If you hold onto the fear, you're choosing that fear. And you're choosing that fear. Why? Because of what I talked about earlier is identity confirmation and predictability. This is why many times people that are abused will go back into that relationship again. And they're choosing, choosing to go back in that relationship because they can predict what's going to happen to them in that relationship.

So what you have to do, and I'm gonna simplify this, but I just want to get you to start thinking you've gotta start taking aligned action with the identity you want to create, because the identity which I alluded to earlier, you cannot operate outside the context of your identity and you can never outperform your identity. So what I wanna look at right now is instead of just trying to change the identity psychologically, what aligned smaller actions can you take, when I say aligned the actions align with the identity you want to create, which creates the outcome that you want to create? Hopefully I explain that well, enough, what I'm basically saying is instead of reading all the books and listening to all the webinars and this person simply what actions need to happen, what actions will get me, the results that I want.

Okay. Let me break that down and let me make it small because if I make it big, guess what? I'm probably gonna fall off track pretty quickly, which is what most people do, what aligned and small actions can I take that will align with the identity, with what it is that I want to create. So for example, the identity of a wealthy person, meaning if you think like a wealthy person. Okay, what actions can you take right now today? Little actions to, to actually start creating in you little things that you would do, if you were wealthy, what's little things that you would do. If you were wealthy, this is what I mean, smaller aligned actions that you do them over time. They start to change your self image and identity by doing them. Why? Because they become brain based habit. You know, when it comes to change, let me keep on going here.

I'm gonna share with you, and this is gonna apply to a whole lot of you, and it may apply to you. If you think that the same static job that you do day in and day out, and you do it for the illusion are predictability and security is gonna get you what you want in life and you don't have it. You are lying and you are fooling yourself plain and simple. You're lying to yourself, you're in self deception, but you actually don't even recognize you're in self deception. Why are you in self deception again, brain based survival, because at least I can predict, you know what, I'm making 47,000 bucks a year and I really wanna make, and I deserve to make 80, but you know what? I don't know if I can get a job, make making 80 and I'm making 47,000 a year. And at least, you know what sigh I'm settling. At least I can pay my bills and I can predict that. But you know what, even that's an illusion because how many times and how many of you listening, maybe even you have, you had this employer bloke, they shut the doors. They closed the doors on you. And if you don't believe me on that go all the way, all the way back to 2009, when there were millions of people that lost. Air quote, secure jobs.

So many times we want change, but because of the lack of uncertainty or the identity verification, we won't pay the price of discomfort to create the behaviors, to create the change that we want. And I'm gonna tell you right now, as simple as it is, and every one of you have heard it from mom and dad and grandma and grandpa. Ain't nothing free in the world. And oftentimes we asso, you know, we associate getting something in that phrase that ain't free to money. No, every single thing in your life must be earned. Every single thing in your life must be paid for. And that doesn't mean money. It means stepping out of your comfort zone. Because everything you want, you've heard before, everything you want is on the other side of fear. I wanna share something else with you is when you're in your comfort zone, you have very little power ponder that when you're in your comfort zone, you have very little power.

Why? And you don't believe me. The reason why is because you're not doing anything differently. You're staying in that world of certainty. And you're not changing. You're not creating new things and there's no power in that. There's no power in creating money. You know, I think I'd mentioned I did many episodes ago is that I I'm gay and I have never been shy when back when I was trying to figure things out, when I was much younger, I've never been afraid to approach women. And a lot of guys are. And candidly, when I was much younger, I had the looks, I could pull it off seriously. I mean by most people's standards, I was off to getting compliments on my looks don't have 'em anymore, but that's what happens when you get older. But I remember one time I was in this upscale bar in Dallas called ADO. It was a, it was a very trendy, upscale, upscale bar. And there was this stunningly beautiful girl, and there were guys standing around her. And I could tell that none of them were her boyfriend just by, by the body language. I could just tell they were buddies and I wanted to talk to. And I, I walked up to her and I actually, I bought her a drink because she was drinking and it was early in the night. I mean, it's probably six, 7:00 PM. It wasn't like people were drunk at 1:00 AM in the morning. I walked up and I started talking to her and I bought her a drink and I got shot down. I got shot down hard by her. And what's funny is one of the guys came over and he brought me a beer and he goes, dude, what you did. I could never do that. I could never do that, man. She shot you down hard and what you did takes courage. And I wanna buy you a beer because I couldn't do what you did.

The whole point of that ridiculous story is, is nothing's guaranteed to me. Nothing is free and I'm not gonna get Jack shit. If I stay in my comfort. And that applies to most of you guys there ain't Jack shit gonna change in your life. If you stay in your comfort zone, and if you think any differently, you're fooling yourself. And the only way to create change for what you want is to get out of your comfort zone. And in this episode, we talked about your Transformational Takeaway. It's a part of your brain. That's keeping you in the comfort. Override that part of the brain with your mind and your mind can tell you, Hey, you know, Hey, bucko put one foot in front of the other. Your brain can tell you that. Or as an example, keep on going. But your brain, you can, you can talk yourself out of your comfort zones. But if you go right back into your old self-talk haul also, which is brain based, ain't nothing gonna change. So your Tansformational Takeaway. Is, it's not you, you're not a coward. You're not a chicken. You're not lazy. You're not all this kind of things. You've been conditioned to think that you are, it's part of your brain, keeping you safe. It's part of your brain doing its job as a survival mechanism. It's part of your brain keeping you in your comfort zone, but you know what? There's no power there and that's why nothing changes.

Okay, thank you for listening to this episode. And if you would, please, if you could value here in these episodes, please share them with other people. That's all that I ask. Please share the podcast with other people. The reason why is I wanna make a difference in the world. I am making a difference in the world and the more people that I touch and the more people that I impact. The bigger difference that I can make in the world and I cannot do it alone. I'm requesting your help. Okay. Make it a great day today. Bye.

Thank you for listening to this entire podcast. If you're the kind of person who likes to help others, then share this with your friends and family, you know, if you found value, they will too. So please share via your social media channels also. If you have questions I'm here to assist, you can email me questions to support@jimfortin.com. And I may even use your question for a future podcast episode. Also, if you want transformational content like this daily connect with me on Instagram, my Instagram name is @iamjimfortin. Finally, I do have a personal request. I believe that we're all here to help others and to grow and evolve ourselves. Together you and I let's help more people. If you would, please leave a review on iTunes and a good one, by the way. , I'd be grateful. And through your assistance together, we can transform more lives. Thanks for listening.

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