Awakening Your Inner Hero

We have been training our brains from the day we arrived, both for better and for worse, consciously and subconsciously. Our brain, inarguably the most important part of us, is a miraculous gift. The older we get we can realize its endless value and our responsibility to care for it.

Our brains run the show, from learning of every kind, to our breathing, vision, balance, digestion, all the way to our most critical life decisions, and so much more. We are focusing today on our ever-bothersome negative thoughts, that I am calling “dragons.”

Researchers tell us that 75 to 95 percent of our thoughts are negative! These dragons are generally liars and they bring us down when we listen to them. Every one of us has them. This doesn’t make us crazy, we’re human! Dragons come along with all the other gifts we’ve been given. And possibly, some of us are just a little bit crazy. I am.

You know some of these critters that never seem to rest. “I’m not good enough.” “She doesn’t like me.” “This _(fill in the blank) is going to last forever.” Dragons show up in a variety of clever ways and too often, we provide them a home. We forget our brain is our home, not theirs. Some of their more common categories are: catastrophizing, overgeneralizing, blaming, fear of the future, negatively comparing ourselves, holding on to the past, and our seemingly endless judging ourself and others.

In order to dampen their toxic impact on us, I have a helpful list of practices to add to your busy agenda:

1. Begin with a proclamation that goes something like this:

I will to do whatever I have to do to minimize the negative impact of dragons.

2. When you notice a dragon enter your mind, smile and say, “Hi, I see you. You didn’t sneak by this time.” This is our conscious awareness of the intruder.

3. Now, pause and take a gentle breath through your nostrils and into your belly. Not your chest and not your shoulders. This helps slow things down. Take a few more. This activates the higher brain and moves away from our reactionary flight, fight or freeze, lower brain. Practice this breath pattern all day long. No one ever can, but we can aim in that direction. The benefits are beyond imaginable.

4. You are now in a more mindful state of consciousness and ready for this healing life-dance.

5. Now, joyfully go to a positive place in your mind. Gratitude is a good one and there are many others. Be repetitive, just like your dragons are. Thank you, Mom, Dad, my dear wife, husband, my partner, coach, teacher, friend, my feet, our air, water, food, the stars, love…whatever or whomever you’re grateful for, repeat it to yourself. Flood your being with passionate gratitude or deep prayer. This is a practice and you may be a beginner today. But you are now speaking truth rather than listening to toxic lies, and you will get better at it. Life improvement takes time and effort. Be patient and persistent.

If you want to have a healthy mind, you must feed your mind with truth.”

—Rick Warren, pastor

6. Do this practice every day for the rest of your life.

You deserve it and it is well worth your effort.

Our dragons never quit, we simply become better able to speak the truth that we feel deeply in our hearts and souls.

And these dragons eventually become our friends?!

Yes! Like bumps on the edge of a highway. They remind us to get back to center– the truth. They become our helpers.

The result: There will be less negativity in your world. Trust me. I’ve been learning and doing versions of this practice for well over 30 years.

Also remember, we are not always able to do this life-changing life-dance by ourselves. Courageously reach out to a trusted friend, minister, rabbi, doctor, mental health practitioner.

All of us need help in this lifetime.

And blessedly, we are not alone!

Breath. Gratitude. Joy. Discipline. Patience.

Safe travels.

—Burt Gershater is a local counselor, leadership trainer, speaker and writer. He can be reached at info@burtgershater.com

This article appears in Source Weekly July 3, 2025.