Are You Standing in Your Own Way?

Our human brain is the pinnacle of evolution. It is our greatest gift. It also exerts astounding control over our individual and collective destinies—and it’s not always helpful.

Several years ago, I published BodyWHealth: Journey to Abundance. Based on cutting-edge science, this first major work is a simple guide to unlocking our best possible selves. “WHealth” goes beyond just physical health, representing the potential for health, happiness, and prosperity that lives within each of us to allow us to live abundantly.

As its name suggests, the book starts with three foundational keys for unlocking physical WHealth beyond simple health, because the body should be the starting point for every journey of self-discovery and self-actualization. In the middle of the book are two powerful chapters that guide readers toward mindsets that guarantee success. The book concludes with two keys that unlock emotional WHealth (that is, happiness)—the ultimate prize we all desire and deserve.

BodyWHealth was inspired by my own personal transformation.

Despite achieving substantial professional success, I was headed for personal catastrophe. I was working hard, with my eyes focused on important goals (like promotion and financial success) when I abruptly realized that I had put my most cherished assets—my health and happiness—at grave risk.

Over the period of a year, I drew on my deep scientific insight into the human condition to reboot my own life. As I tasted success, I realized for the first time that abundance is not only an attainable state but a condition for which Mother Nature has designed us…perfectly.

This phenomenon was too good to keep to myself, and so I wrote the book to share the insight I had accrued on this spectacular leg of my journey.

Since then, my journey has continued.

I have advanced my knowledge of the science of peak performance. In particular, I have deepened my insight into our brain—the ringmaster of our individual performance, or underperformance as the case may be.

Thanks to ongoing self-exploration, highly impactful work with my clients, and expanded knowledge of the rapidly evolving field of neuroscience, I now have a more profound perspective on abundance and the pathway to get there.

This will be the subject of the new book I am writing.

Central to this new work is an alarming irony regarding the relationship we humans tend to have with our magnificent brains.

All our other organs dutifully serve our interests. When we want to go to work, we command our muscles to get us there. Because we want life-giving oxygen to reach our tissues, our lungs dutifully breathe in and out 12 times every minute.

But, if you’re brutally honest with yourself, you will acknowledge that you wake each morning to serve your brain.

If your brain says you’re hungry, you head for the kitchen.

If your brain says you’re sad, the day becomes gloomy.

If your brain says somebody else is trying to undermine you, you retreat into painful paranoia.

But who is this brain? And who or what authorizes it to exert so much control over your life?

You do!

Yes, each and every one of us have fallen into the trap of surrendering authority to our brains. Have you heard the expression “you’re standing in your own way”? It may feel painfully familiar. More often than not, when we empower our brain as the supreme leader, our thoughts and emotions end up being a barrier to our own success. Rather than enabling us, our brain becomes an obstacle. We stand in our own way, restricting our own performance and limiting our own success.

My new book will help guide readers to get out of their own way by understanding the construct of their minds and the complex cognitive, emotional, and spiritual forces that impact their happiness on the journey.

In order to make the book highly relevant to readers, I will be including a broad range of examples of how we stand in our own way. Some of these will probably come quickly to your mind: social anxiety that prevents community engagement, self-doubt that undermines the ambitious entrepreneur, and the impatience or quick temper that hampers the best efforts of a committed spouse.

What else?

Think of ways that you, your friends, your family, and your coworkers stand in your own way. Each of us delivers less than our best on most days. This is a source of immense stress and stands firmly between us and abundance.

As I write, I invite you to help me address this deep-rooted self-sabotage, so we can strive for abundance together. As you think of ways your brain stops you from being your best self, write them down. Then reach out to me through my website, www.roddycarter.com, to share your list, and we’ll find specific methods to push through those self-imposed barriers to live your best life.