Today we're going to talk about that pound and a half of gray matter between your ears. Yes, your brain. And specifically about how that brain holds you, often without you realizing it, completely captive to stories that are long past their prime.
You know the drill. You wake up, the sun is shining, you're looking forward to the day. You feel good, you've been listening to a shatterproof podcast and that bright smile is on your face. And then ... boom.
Twelve seconds later, something small happens. An email, a glance from the neighbor, or a thought about yesterday. And gone is your good mood. Suddenly you are back in that old insecurity, that irritation or that feeling of "is this it?".
How can that be? Why does your brain keep pulling you back into that mudhole? Today I explain to you exactly why your brain is a repeater and how you can finally override that antiquated software.
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The biology of lazy thunder
Let's look at biology first, because that's where the trouble starts. Your brain weighs about one and a half pounds. That's only 2% of your total body weight. But consider this: that tiny clump of cells consumes a whopping 20% of all your energy[1]. That's a bizarre amount!
Because your brain is such a huge bulk consumer, nature has come up with a trick: energy conservation. Learning something new, walking a new path or changing your behavior takes tons of energy. Your brain then has to physically make new connections. That's like cutting a path through a dense jungle with a blunt knife. That sweats, that hurts, that costs fuel.
But repeating an old story? That's like driving down a paved six-lane highway. It costs next to nothing. And that's why your brain, that lazy bugger, always chooses the path of least resistance. In fact, research shows that people prefer to choose courses where they expect to have to think as little as possible[2].
Your brain doesn't care about your happiness or your success. It only cares about survival and saving energy. So if that old story of "I'm not good enough" or "I should always be careful" proved safe in the past (because you're still alive, right?) then your brain will keep repeating it into eternity. Purely because it takes fewer calories.
The logic levels: Why the gym doesn't always help
To understand why change is so difficult, we need to look at Bateson's so-called logical levels. There is a hierarchy in how we function as humans. Let's go through them from the outside in:
- Environment: Where are you? Who are you with?
- Behavior: Specifically, what are you doing?
- Capacities: What can you do? What are your skills?
- Values and Beliefs: Why do you do what you do? What do you believe about yourself?
- Identity: Who are you? What role do you play?
- Mission: Who or what are you doing it for? The bigger picture.
Many people try to change by tinkering on the outside. Imagine this: you feel insecure and you decide to go to the gym. You change your environment (the gym), your behavior (you start lifting) and you develop new abilities (you get stronger). After a while you look physically different and you feel like "the man" in that gym. Your identity at that level has changed to: "I am an athlete."
But here comes the joke, ladies and gentlemen: that old story is not gone. It hasn't been overwritten; there's just a new scroll next to it. As soon as you walk out of that gym and find yourself in an environment similar to the old days (your childhood home, for example, or a meeting with a domineering boss), you'll suddenly shoot right back into that little, bullied boy or insecure girl. Even though you now have muscles from here to Tokyo, inside that old software is still running at full speed. Your brain recognizes the context and immediately switches back to the low-energy, old program.
You'll be running on Windows 95 (in 2026 (or beyond)!)
I myself am 50 years old at the time of telling this. Born in 1975. That means my main "software" was installed between 1975 and 1980. That is the so-called imprint period. In those first five years, you are a sponge. You don't have a critical mind yet. Everything your parents said, everything your teachers did and everything you picked up from your environment went straight into your unconscious as absolute truth.
Just think: we're trying to live a modern life, run a business or have a relationship in 2026, while running on software from 1980! That's like trying to Skype on a computer running Windows 95. That's going to chafe. That's going to clash. That's going to give blue screens in your head.
And then what happens? Then you become such an "acid mat." You start complaining about youth, about modern times, about how everything used to be better. But actually you complain about the fact that your internal operating system no longer understands today's world. You still want Madonna and Michael Jackson, when the world has long been somewhere else. And there is little you can do about that at will. It's simply the code running in the background.
How do you escape the code?
Okay Edwin, nice story, but how do we get rid of it? There are really only two ways to really overwrite those old stories.
Way 1: The way of the long haul (Repetition)
The first way is: do, do, do, do and do again. Science says it takes an average of 66 days for a new behavior to truly carve a new pathway in your brain[3]. Every day into that jungle with your machete. Every day telling that new story to yourself and acting on it.
It's intense. It takes tons of energy and you need iron discipline. Because we all know: on a rainy Monday when you've slept badly, your willpower battery is empty. And that's when that old, low-energy program always wins out. That's why most good intentions fail even before the second week of January.
Way 2: The Highway (hypnosis)
And then there's the method I'm a big fan of, of course: hypnosis. Why does this work so ridiculously well? Because we simply give pause to the "critical mind," the guard that says "I can't do this" or "this is nonsense."
In your daily state, you produce Beta brain waves. This is the state of analysis and logic. But in hypnosis, we descend to Alpha and Beta waves[4]. These are the same waves you have when you daydream or right before you fall asleep. In that state, the back door of your unconscious is wide open.
In that state, we can modify the code while the computer is still on. We don't have to struggle for 66 days; we simply install the update. We remove the script "I am not good enough" and we put "I am powerful and capable" in its place. Because the unconscious doesn't know the difference between reality and a vivid suggestion, it accepts that new software immediately. And suddenly that new behavior doesn't cost energy; it produces energy.
My advice for the next generation
Before I close, one more thing. I always recommend putting kids on a martial art. And by that I mean oriental sports such as Karate, Judo or Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Why? Because there is a huge focus on discipline and respect there .
When a child learns at a young age that they can defend themselves, but that they also have the discipline to use that power masterfully[5], you create an identity of self-confidence. That's a story they take with them their whole life. Then they don't have to come to me at 40 to hypnotize that old insecurity away. Prevention is better than cure, ladies and gentlemen.
Don't become a victim of your own machine
Your brain is a wonderful machine, but if you don't program it yourself, your past will do it for you. Don't get stuck in those old stories from 1980. Don't become an acid mat stuck in Windows 95.
You have a choice. You can take on the 66 days of struggle, or you can use the power of your own unconscious through hypnosis to make that update today. But do something. Because if you do nothing, the repeater will just keep playing the same song until the battery runs out.
Learning hypnosis to change programs
Do you want to free yourself and others from their brain? Then knowledge of hypnosis is incredibly useful, come to the free online master class for an introduction.
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