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Today’s blog post is inspired by prosperity guru Randy Gage.  He writes about the “self-preservation instinct” in his blog. 

This is the mechanism which keeps us stuck in the status quo.  It interprets any “change” in our behaviour as a threat, and is designed to get us back in line – quickly!

Here is an excerpt from Randy’s post today:

“If your self-preservation instinct can rationalize you out of trying something, it can guarantee you that you can’t fail.  And after a while you convince yourself not that you’re not trying great things, but that you were smart enough not to chase after silly or impossible goals.  Then you have a life with the herd, watching CSI and Law & Order, and playing Farmville every day.”

He is so right.

What’s cruel is… that our self-preservation system stays dormant while we are in the visioning stage. It let’s us dream the dream. Because it doesn’t really believe that we’ll take action on it. It will even let us get excited about it!

“Look at her dreaming again…isn’t she cute?” It says to itself.  

But the moment we step forward into growth, its defense alarm gets activated. “Whoa, boys looks like she means this one, let’s get to work!”

And its devious, conniving, insidious methods kick into gear.

It starts subtly…sending you conscious thoughts of self-doubt. And will use your own logic against you.

It will present to you completely rationale thoughts about why what you are about to do, cannot or should not be done. These thoughts will make complete sense to you.  After all, it knows you. And it knows exactly what buttons to push. 

And God forbid that while all this internal chaos is going on, you also happen to have a “dream stealer” in your life… who simultaneously is feeding your self-doubt with their own fear.  Their emotional and/ or logical arguments combined with your own self-sabotage system is NO match for your dream. 

It’s enough to stop most people dead in their tracks.  After all, who can deny the logic of it?

And so the dream dies…again… at the corner of Bliss Road and Dead End Street : (

But, if you understand its methods. If you know what is happening, you can stop it.

“Nice try” is how I respond when I catch it. It actually makes me chuckle. It’s deviousness amuses me.  Then I release the ridiculousness and get back on track.

Sadly, our self-preservation mechanism is not done with us yet.  The big battle is just about to begin.  If you keep moving forward, it will “release the hounds“!  And you had better be prepared for what’s coming next!

To be continued….

Your Turn

What happens when you try to make a change?  Do you encounter resistance? Comment below : )

Success coach and speaker Deb Stewart teaches people how to build a mindset of success and indestructible self-belief, so that they can create the success they deserve. Learn more about Deb here http://debandjohn.net

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