2392: Emotional Concussions by Steve Pavlina on Comparison between Physical and Emotional Trauma

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[00:00:18] Hello everybody, and thank you so much for joining another weekly bonus episode of ORD with me, Greg Audino.

[00:00:24] This time I'll be sharing a previous airing from Optimal Living Daily, our personal development show that started it all and what our network is named after.

[00:00:33] It's a great show that I highly recommend you check out. You can do so by typing it into whatever podcast feed you enjoy.

[00:00:39] But for now, let's hear OLD narrator Justin with the post and his commentary as we optimize your life.

[00:00:51] Emotional Concussions by Steve Pavlina of StevePavlina.com

[00:00:56] This morning, while listening to the audiobook, League of Denial, which is about the NFL's attempts to downplay and deny the serious links between football and degenerative brain damage,

[00:01:08] It struck me that the athletes themselves were in an untenable position.

[00:01:13] Imagine trying to defend yourself while suffering the many problems of a dysfunctional brain, including memory loss, severe mood swings, and an inability to concentrate.

[00:01:24] And imagine doing this when you've been part of a macho culture that teaches everyone to just suck it up and deal with the pain.

[00:01:32] Yet people are still playing football, and their brains are still getting permanently damaged, along with those playing many other contact sports.

[00:01:40] And they'll continue to suffer the predictable consequences.

[00:01:44] Our brains are not battering rams.

[00:01:46] This got me thinking about the emotional equivalent, whereby people subject themselves to doing long-term damage to their minds through emotional neglect.

[00:01:56] For instance, people deliberately take heartless jobs to pay their bills, subjecting themselves to a form of long-term emotional abuse.

[00:02:05] They overwork themselves and refuse to make sufficient time for play and relaxation.

[00:02:11] They neglect their health.

[00:02:13] They fail to practice good stress reduction methods.

[00:02:17] Again and again, we see the pattern where emotionally concussed people put themselves in situations where they'll clearly be subjected to further emotional concussions.

[00:02:26] Like the football player who takes a hard pounding, sees stars for a moment, and goes right back out on the field again.

[00:02:34] Deep down, I think many people know this will take a toll on them.

[00:02:38] But what they don't necessarily see is that their damaged and neglected emotions are making it worse for them.

[00:02:45] Their concussed hearts are inviting further emotional concussions to occur, because the heart isn't aware enough to say no to that.

[00:02:54] When your emotions are functioning well and you consider taking a heartless job, your feelings will scream at you.

[00:03:01] What are you doing?

[00:03:03] No way!

[00:03:03] We're not doing that!

[00:03:04] You'll feel the intense wrongness of an idea that isn't heart aligned because your emotional intelligence is working properly.

[00:03:13] Hence, if you seriously consider taking a heartless job, consider that there may be something very wrong with your emotional intelligence.

[00:03:20] If your feelings weren't functioning properly, they wouldn't steer you down a path that's likely to invite further emotional concussions.

[00:03:28] Just as a rational and fully functioning brain wouldn't encourage you to bash your head around.

[00:03:34] But when you subject yourself to long-term emotional neglect and abuse, or if you've been subjected to this by acts not of your choosing, the damage accumulates slowly over time.

[00:03:46] You can't trust the advice your mind feeds you any more than a brain-damaged athlete can trust that drinking antifreeze is a good idea.

[00:03:55] Recognizing that you can't trust your feelings is a hard realization, but if you've suffered the equivalent of repeated emotional concussions, then your emotional intelligence could be severely lacking.

[00:04:07] I fell into this trap when I was younger, as my emotions kept generating passion and excitement around illegal activities.

[00:04:15] I sabotaged myself academically and got expelled from college.

[00:04:19] I got arrested four times in 18 months and barely avoided a prison sentence.

[00:04:24] By trusting my erratic emotions, I was led astray into major irrational behavior.

[00:04:31] The safest thing I could do at the time was bury myself in video games.

[00:04:36] Part of my recovery process was to stop trusting my feelings and letting them run my life.

[00:04:42] Another significant part of the process was that I started cleaning up my diet and exercising regularly.

[00:04:48] That helped rebalance my feelings, and the further I went down that path, the more I was able to rebuild trust and stability with my emotions.

[00:04:57] Now, I trust my feelings implicitly.

[00:05:00] They're a tremendously valuable guide, especially in business and relationships.

[00:05:05] I naturally find my head and heart agreeing on a wide variety of decisions.

[00:05:10] I feel more emotionally resilient these days, and my feelings naturally steer me away from situations that would predictably invite emotional concussions.

[00:05:20] But the toughest part of recovery was to admit and accept that I was doing the equivalent of concussing myself.

[00:05:28] I was ruining my own life, and I absolutely needed to stop putting myself in situations that were going to invite further self-damage.

[00:05:37] I feel lucky that I was able to turn around and go a different direction.

[00:05:41] Not everyone is so lucky.

[00:05:43] If there is to be any kind of recovery, facing the truth is the first step.

[00:05:48] Denial must stop for healing to be possible.

[00:05:53] When you look at your life and the situations that you invite and accept, do you need to make some kind of admission to yourself about a pattern of emotional self-concussion?

[00:06:02] Are you repeatedly showing up to situations that will predictably lead to more emotional concussions?

[00:06:08] Do you imagine that a fully functional heart-brain alliance would advise you to do what you're currently doing with your life?

[00:06:15] Self-trust is wonderful, but it needs to be rooted in rationality.

[00:06:22] If you're inviting physical or emotional concussions through your decisions, admit to yourself that this isn't rational behavior, except that it's time to embark on a journey of healing.

[00:06:34] That journey may or may not succeed, but there are countless stories of people who have recovered from great physical and emotional trauma.

[00:06:43] And a common starting point was deciding that healing must finally become a priority.

[00:06:53] You just listened to the post titled, Emotional Concussions by Steve Pavlina of StevePavlina.com

[00:07:00] Thank you to Steve.

[00:07:02] I believe a really interesting parallel there between American football players, or I'd also think rugby players, ice hockey players, UFC fighters, boxers, and so on.

[00:07:13] Them getting hit in the head repeatedly and basically thinking, well, it comes with the territory, which we might think is pretty crazy.

[00:07:21] But then in a way we do it to ourselves on a different scale.

[00:07:25] And in this case, emotionally.

[00:07:28] And I can see that point.

[00:07:29] Emotional issues like anxiety, depression, mental illness, these things aren't always easy to talk about or bring up with friends and family or teachers and coworkers.

[00:07:41] It's easy to think that it's just part of life or part of who we are.

[00:07:45] Just like a sports professional would feel that way about physical harm.

[00:07:49] But what we don't want to happen is realize too late that a lot of the damage could have been prevented with a bit of time and attention.

[00:07:58] The question Steve asks in this article could be a great place to start.

[00:08:02] So if it hit home with you, definitely think about it a bit more today and see what you can do to start healing.

[00:08:09] And with that, have an emotionally healthy day.

[00:08:12] Hopefully a physically, mentally, and spiritually healthy day as well.

[00:08:16] And I'll see you tomorrow where your optimal life awaits.

[00:08:19] Bye-bye.

[00:08:20] .