Hey friend—have you ever noticed how one small moment can send your whole day (or week!) spiraling? Maybe we miss a workout, snap at our kids, or eat something we said we wouldn't… and suddenly our mind jumps straight to, "Why do I even bother? This is just how I am."
If that sounds familiar, you're not alone. That all-or-nothing thinking is more common than we realize—and if we're not careful, it can send our mindset rolling straight into the gutter.
In this week's episode, we're talking mindset, self-awareness, and how to stop the spiral before it takes over—using a powerful (and surprisingly fun) analogy inspired by a client: bowling with bumpers 🎳
We imagine our mind as the bowling lane, our thoughts as the ball, and self-awareness as the bumpers—the gentle guardrails that keep us from veering into victim mentality, self-sabotage, doom scrolling, or that familiar "why bother" place.
Instead of shaming ourselves for not being perfect, we explore how building mental bumpers helps us notice when we're spiraling, pause with compassion, and gently reroute our thinking back toward truth and grace—especially God's truth.
🎳 In this episode, we unpack:
- How the Reason Cycle (mind mapping) works—and how unchecked thoughts turn into emotional spirals
- Why self-awareness isn't about perfection, but about staying in the lane
- The bowling bumpers analogy that will change how you see mindset forever
- Three practical steps to build your mental bumpers:
- Name the pattern without shame
- Pause to slow the spiral
- Reframe with God's truth, not "positive vibes only"
- How to invite God into your thinking so your mindset aligns with who He says you are
As we reflect together, we'll ask:
- Where does our mind tend to "lose the lane"?
- What does our personal "gutter" look like?
- And what would it look like to gently engage a bumper—a pause, a prayer, a moment of awareness—the next time we start to spiral?
We don't have to bowl a perfect game. But we can set up the guardrails that keep us moving toward God's best for us.
Tune in to Episode 101 and let's keep growing—one aware, grace-filled moment at a time. 💛
P.S. If this episode resonates, consider sharing it with someone who might need a reminder that they're still in the game.
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Hey friends, have you ever noticed how fast your mind can
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spiral out of control? Like one small thing goes
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wrong or a comment from somebody lands weird.
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Maybe you miss your workout or you snap at
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your kids, or maybe you eat something that you said you
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shouldn't or couldn't or wouldn't have. Or maybe your day
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just didn't go as you planned and suddenly your brain goes from
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that was hard to I'm failing. Why
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do I even bother trying? Or one of my favorites,
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this is just how I am. I know that sounds familiar
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for a lot of you, but here's the truth. You're not broken and you're
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definitely not alone. And so today on the Nourished Balloon podcast,
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we're going to be talking about mindset and how it is the key
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for everything. And we're really going to get dig deep
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into self awareness and we're going to use something that I call
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mind mapping. I've also called it the Reason Cycle, but we're going to do it
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through the lens of an analogy that was inspired by one of my clients
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recently. And we're going to look at self awareness as bowling bumpers.
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Because self awareness doesn't keep your life perfect, but it
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definitely helps keep your mind out of the gutter.
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Welcome to the Nourish to Bloom podcast where your faith meets your
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health. I'm your host, Kara Trochta, a registered dietitian and
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certified Catholic coach, and I'm here to help you cultivate a deep coach deeper connection
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with your body, your spirit and the nourishment that sustains them
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both. In a world filled with noise and
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confusion about food, health and body image, this podcast
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offers truth and healing from a Christ centered perspective.
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Together we'll untangle the deep roots of diet culture and discover
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what it means to truly care for ourselves through joyful
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nourishment of mind, body and soul. We're here to dive into
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the transformative power of intuitive eating coupled with the rich teachings of
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our Christian faith. With every episode, I'll be cheering you
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on, offering insights, inspiration and practical tools to
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help you heal your relationship with food and embrace the
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beauty of your body as a temple of the Holy Spirit with
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confidence and courage that can only be found in Christ.
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Join me as we journey together towards a more holistic approach to wellness,
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one that honors the wisdom of your body as God's creation,
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the teachings of our faith, and the unique purpose you're called to fulfill.
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You were made to bloom, to come into
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full beauty and health in order to bear good fruit for the Lord, with
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your life. So if you're ready to nourish your body, feed your soul,
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and bloom into the best version of yourself, then you're in the right place.
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And I'm so happy you're here. Welcome to Nourish
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to Bloom, where every day is a sacred invitation to
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thrive. Hey there. Welcome back to the Nourish to Bloom
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podcast. So happy to be here with you this week
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and really sharing, I think a fun episode that was
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inspired by a client recently. I also do
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some wellness coaching for a Catholic nonprofit.
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And in a session recently, I was talking to one of the members and
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he was talking about how he had really been
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struggling with the victim mentality. And in one of our
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previous, previous sessions, we really went through this
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mind mapping or this reason cycle kind of
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blueprint. And I helped him see, you know, things
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about his thoughts and his emotions and how all of this was leading to him
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being stuck in that victim mentality. And he said that ever since we went
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through that, he has really seen a shift. He, he can
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be aware of when that's happening and he kind of chooses this different
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path. And he gave this really cool analogy is
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like, it's like when this happens, these
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bumpers go up like on a bowling lane, and it keeps his mind from
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going into the gutter. And I thought that was one of the
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best analogies I've ever heard for how
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mindset and self awareness can really be so
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helpful. So that's what we're going to explore a little bit today. I took
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this whole idea of bowling bumpers and
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mind in the gutter and all of that and kind of expanded upon it to
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really talk about mind mapping and the reason cycle to help
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you understand that your mindset is key.
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It is the foundation for
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everything. And so once you see this, once you
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understand this mind mapping or this reason cycle,
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you'll never unsee it because. Because this is really how
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your mind is working. So
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let's dig in. First, something happens, right?
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There's a situation, a circumstance, a trigger or a
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stressor, and then you have a thought about
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whatever it is. And then that thought that you
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have creates a feeling. And then
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that feeling is driving your action or your behavior.
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And then what happens is you use that outcome as proof
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for the original thought. And then you just get stuck in this
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cycle over and over and over again.
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And so sometimes this cycle works to our advantage. It helps us have
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that healthy mindset. We have strong self awareness
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and we can, you know, really move past
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limiting beliefs other times. And I think this is where a lot
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of us get stuck is that we kind of get
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trapped in this site, this reason cycle, or this mind mapping
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in a really negative way. And so we'll go through a couple of
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examples. One, you know, maybe you have a
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goal around, you know, trying to engage in joyful movement
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daily, but you are exhausted.
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You have been doing all the things for the family. Maybe you
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are battling a cold or allergies or whatever.
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And you think, like, I just, I can't keep up
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with this. Like, I can't do this. And then you feel
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overwhelmed. And then, you know, a couple
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of days go by and you kind of just are like, whatever, it's not even
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worth it. So you just stop trying to get
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back to moving, right? So you stop taking your care of yourself in
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that way. And then you just say, see, I knew you couldn't do
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this. And that's that mind mapping, that reason cycle
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and action. Maybe you are,
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I don't know, building a business or you're really trying to follow
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the Lord's calling. And maybe that looks like establishing
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a ministry. And it's challenging and you come up
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against an obstacle. Maybe it's a tech thing or
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it's a financial thing, whatever. And
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it's that you have this thought about it of like, I just don't know how
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I'm. How I'm going to do this. And you feel that
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overwhelmed. You feel like this is never going to work.
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So then you just kind of stop taking action because
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you're, like, fearful of this. And then you're just like, see,
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I knew I couldn't do this. The thing
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is, and the key to all of this is that the problem
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isn't the situation or the circumstance
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or the goal. And the problem really isn't your
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feeling. The problem is
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your thoughts. And when they
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go unchecked, when you are not taking
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every captive, every thought captive, when you are not putting on
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the mind of Christ, when these things pop up,
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it leads to just
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things feeling out of control. These things stay unchecked. And so
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we can use this idea of bowling to help us visualize this, right?
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So I want you to stop and think. Your mind is a bowling lane,
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and your thoughts are the bowling ball, okay?
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And life, well, we know that life is loud and it's
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unpredictable and it's full of distractions.
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And you are, you know, you have your bowling ball and you step up to
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the lane and you release that ball down the
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lane and you're bowling without bumpers. And what happens?
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Well, sometimes you bowl that ball Straight into the gutter. And it's just the
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worst attempt at bowling you could ever have, right?
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Or sometimes you, you know, release the ball and it's going and
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it just slightly veers off the lane. And so it was,
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it was, it was going the right direction for a while, right?
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And then sometimes, and I think this is like the worst one ever, you, you
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let go of that bowling ball and it like gets all the way
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to the end and then veers off right at the very end
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into the gutter. And it's just so
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devastating, right? This is
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what happens, right? This is this, this, this gutter, right? Like we,
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this is how our mindset works. We're
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working towards something, right? And that, that something is whatever that
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goal is, whatever we're trying to, to achieve whatever
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habit we want to build. And sometimes, you know, things are going
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really of a sudden something happens and we veer off
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into the gutter, right? And, and maybe we get a little
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bit further and we veer off into the gutter, right? And
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you're just like, why, why is this happening? But what happens is, is when
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we, we, when our mind goes into the gutter, it looks like
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victim mentality, it looks like self sabotage. It
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looks like all or nothing thinking, shame
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and guilt. This like, why bother energy.
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And what we know with bowling is like, once that ball is in the gutter,
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the frame is basically over, right? But the
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cool thing is, is that we can use self awareness
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to help us, to help us get that ball
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all the way down the lane to knock some pins over,
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right? Because we're going to use self awareness as the bumpers.
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So we're going to activate our bumpers like we would in bowling.
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And self awareness as the bumper is not control,
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it's not perfection. It's not things like, ooh,
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positive vibes only. It is building awareness.
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And awareness is something that comes from within
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you. Like self awareness doesn't mean that you'll
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never have negative thoughts, that you'll never experience a
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spiral, that you'll always respond calmly or you're going to get it
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right every time. It doesn't mean that there are times that your
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ball will not end up in the gutter. Doesn't
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mean that you're going to bullish strike every time either, right? But self awareness does
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mean that you're going to notice this spiral
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sooner. You're going to be able to name what's
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happening, what it is that you're experiencing and then you can
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interrupt the cycle. You can course correct, right? You can hit that
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Bumper and you can get it back on the lane.
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You can give yourself another option.
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Bowling bumpers don't force the ball to bowl a strike every
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time. They're just there guiding your ball,
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basically saying, nope, we're not going in the gutter today,
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right? It, it gently nudges your ball in a
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different direction. It's the same thing can
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happen with our mindset when we start to
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build self awareness. So let's
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talk about what happens without self awareness, right? One
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thought sneaks in. I always mess this up and
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you don't have that bumper in place and that thought turns into like,
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why even try? You still don't have a bumper in place.
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And this leads to things like avoidance, emotional eating,
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doom scrolling, snapping at people, just
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quitting and giving up. And then that
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gets to that most dangerous part of where you just believe this is who you
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are. And the thing is, that's not truth.
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That's just the gutter talking.
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But when we put our bumpers in place using self
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awareness, it sounds gentle, but it's firm.
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It's saying things like, okay, I'm noticing this
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familiar thought pattern in this particular situation.
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Or this feels uncomfortable, not unsafe,
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I'm tired, but I'm not failing
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or I don't need to decide anything right now or
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this moment doesn't define me, y'. All. The
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bumper doesn't shame the ball, it just redirects it.
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And so we can build self awareness in a
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compassionate way. So I want to just kind of give you three simple ways
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that you can start to strengthen your self awareness or also
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known as your mental bumpers. The first one is to name the
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pattern. Awareness grows when you can label
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whatever is happening to you without judgment.
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When you can recognize, okay, this is my all or nothing thinking
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happening, or you can recognize that this is my inner critic
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talking. Or you can recognize this is a stress response
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because naming helps create space.
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And so one of the ways that I think you can help start to realize
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that this is happening really comes when your emotion, when you can recognize
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your emotions, that all of your emotions have this physical manifestation
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in your body. So you feel something and it's going to have a physical
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sensation in the body. And so when we start to build this
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mind body connection of self awareness, it helps us to be
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able to point back to our mindset of like,
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curiosity of, huh? Is this a
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distorted belief? Is this a distorted mindset? Right? And so
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we can start to name these patterns of thinking and get curious about
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them. And when we can do that, we can then start to slow
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the cycle, which is number two, because you don't
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have to immediately fix the thought. Your deep
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rooted beliefs, AKA your mindset, your
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operating procedure, the way that you,
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the way that you were doing things come from this set of beliefs. And
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they are like a Jenga tower. They're made up of all these different
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thoughts. So it's almost impossible to fix the thought
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immediately. And that's not what I'm saying or asking
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you to do. I just want you to create a pause. And
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that looks like taking a deep breath, maybe
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grounding yourself somehow in prayer, in journaling, in
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saying a rosary, in just simply, you know, putting your
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feet on the floor, recognizing what it, like what
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you can physically tangibly touch, and then just
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asking yourself, you know, what am I reacting to?
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And really, when you slow this cycle and you create this pause, it's
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allowing those bumpers to come up on your bowling lane.
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It's, it's putting that, that, that bumper up so your mind doesn't
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go automatically to the, to the gutter. That pause is what's
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going to allow that redirection. And that's where
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number three comes in. And this is where you start
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that reframe. And maybe it's just one thought at a time,
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but the whole idea behind this is to anchor your
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thoughts to truth, to take those thoughts captive
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and hold them up to God's truth. To put on the mind of Christ
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when these things are coming up. And so that's
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like, you know, asking, you know, what does God say here?
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Inviting his perspective into the situation.
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What is, what is God's words? And what are the words of, you know, this
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mindset or this, this worldly mindset that I have,
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you know, what is actually true? Not just
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loud, is this thought that I have true
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100% of the time? Or could something else be true?
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And then being able to recognize grace in that moment,
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right? Because when we can anchor to the truth, when we can invite God's perspective
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into this, that is that redirection that
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realigns us back down that lane.
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And so if you've been bowling in the gutter lately, I want
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you to hear this. This is not about trying harder.
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It's not needing more discipline. It's not needing
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to fix yourself. It's just about
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building awareness with compassion.
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Because I promise, if you start to build this awareness where you can just
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create this pause and you start to really
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understand this pattern, these patterns of thinking
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that you have, it's going to really change
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the way that you approach life and the way that you're living it
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naturally, building better
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habits, being healthier physically, mentally,
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emotionally. So just think about awareness as, you know,
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engaging those bumpers. And the thing is, bumpers aren't
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childish if we think about it. They're actually
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pretty wise, especially because they
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help us get closer to whatever it is the Lord is inviting us
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to. And the goal isn't about
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bowling a perfect game. It's really about
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staying in that lane long enough to be able to grow, to
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get further and further and closer and closer to that
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goal, to that habit change, to what the Lord is calling you to,
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instead of veering off into the gutter, going
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down self sabotage, going down into that victim mentality
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and just believing that this is really what the Lord
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has for you. Because that's not true. He wants you to get down
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to the end of the lane. He would love for you to bowl the strike.
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But even if you don't, he's so excited that you are just
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taking those steps to being
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more of the woman that he created you to be.
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And so this week I want you to spend some time in reflection and just
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ask yourself, where do you tend to lose the
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lane? How far down that lane
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do you get before you end up in the gutter?
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What does your gutter look like when your ball goes into
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the gutter? When your mind goes into the gutter? What are you doing?
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Is it a victim mentality? Is it doom scrolling? Is it emotional
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eating? And then asking, what would
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a bumper look like in that moment? What's that
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pause? What's that that. That time
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that you can engage that bumper and what does that look like?
00:19:21
Because mindset isn't about, you know, forcing yourself to have
00:19:25
better thoughts. It's not just this snap your fingers and you're automatically
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thinking something, something else. It's just really
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about having that opportunity to
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not believe every thought that you have, to not let
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every thought that you have create an
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emotion and create a behavior, especially one that leads to
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being stuck in this negative cycle.
00:19:51
And self awareness, is that that guardrail, that bumper that's
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just there to keep you moving forward, that gentle redirect
00:20:00
even when the throw isn't perfect? Right.
00:20:04
It's just allowing you to stay in the game, to
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grow, to surrender to
00:20:11
being more of who God created you to be. And I think that that is
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so beautiful. So I am so grateful to
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my client who had this analogy pop into his head. We can go
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back and we can thank God for that gift of that visual that he
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gave this client. And I'm so happy to be
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sharing this with you because I think it's just such a really, really good visual
00:20:33
to understand our mindset, how it
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works, and to be able to build self awareness. So I hope that you have
00:20:41
found this episode beneficial. It was really
00:20:44
fun to kind of tease out these different things
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about what using our bumpers and how we can keep our
00:20:51
minds out of the gutter would look like. I hope you have a beautiful and
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blessed week. Don't forget, beauty held is a seed, beauty shared
00:20:59
is the flower. It is your time to bloom. I'll see you next week.
00:21:03
Take care and God bless.