You Are Not Your Thoughts

What is your problem right now, in this exact moment? Not the one you're bracing for. Not the what if. Right now. Most of the time the honest answer is nothing, and that question is the spine of this episode.

Sam has plenty she could spiral about. Her mom's health is uncertain, and her son Max is heading into his last year of college. She still made the back to school run to Target, picked-over shelves and all, and got him a few things for his backpack. When the sad crept in, she caught it. Life is a series of moments. Dance in this one.

Christine road tested the same idea on the side of a highway. Two blown tires on the electric car, a hundred degrees out, kids and dog in the back, two and a half hours waiting on a tow. A year ago that would have been a meltdown the whole way through. This time she noticed the panic, named it, and moved through it in about fifteen minutes. Safe, air conditioned, help on the way. No actual problem in the actual moment.

They also get into the flip side: what it feels like when presence isn't optional. Sam spent a week in LA helping her husband through a trial, and the rest of the world simply switched off. No headlines, no scrolling, no fifty small emergencies. Her new favorite sentence came out of that week, and it works on everything from a buzzing phone to adult kids: I can't care about that right now.

If your brain loves to sprint ahead to the next disaster, this one is a good anchor. The worry is optional. The moment is not.

In this episode:

• Back to school shopping for a college senior, and catching the sad before it takes over

• Why we steal the present by worrying about the past and the future

• Two blown tires, and noticing the spiral instead of riding it

• Reaction versus response, and why the gap between them is the real work

• A week in trial with room for nothing else, and what full presence feels like

• Being your kids' backstop, not their standby

Quotes from this episode:

"Life is a series of moments. You gotta dance in those moments of life, and you can enjoy it as long as you live in the here and now." - Samantha Bauer

"It's a Tuesday and you're in your bathing suit watering your lawn. You have the time off right now. It's okay to enjoy this." - Christine Goforth

"If you're in that moment, there are no problems. You have simply what is in front of you. The only problem is something your brain has created about a fear of what's gonna happen next." - Samantha Bauer

"A reaction is the history of how you've behaved and done things. Your response is who you really are now, and it takes a lot more practice for that to become automatic." - Christine Goforth

Listen and subscribe:

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sisters-in-law-of-attraction/id1848757802

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4OngsZM3ofSq3xTUgpChfc

All platforms: https://linktr.ee/sistersinlawpod

Episode page: https://sistersinlawofattraction.com/episodes/episode-34-you-are-not-your-thoughts.html

Sisters In Law of Attraction is hosted by Samantha Bauer and Christine Goforth.