The Toddler in All of Us
We all have a TODDLER living inside our brain.
There are two of the “main parts” of the brain: the Adult Brain and the Toddler Brain.
Most of us our functioning with our Toddler Brain.
Our Toddler Brain is all about functioning in the moment, and getting immediate gratification.
It is reactive and just wants to do what feels good in the moment.
It doesn’t like to wait for things or reason things out.
It wants what it wants and it wants it NOW!
Our Toddler Brain is really good at throwing really loud temper tantrums,
and it can whine like it’s going out of style.
It acts exactly like a 2 year old.
On the other hand, is our mature and logical ADULT BRAIN.
Our adult brain knows that food doesn’t fix our feelings.
Our adult brain is focused on our goals.
It’s rational, it’s patient, and it’s much quieter than our toddler brain
For most of us, our Toddler Brain is running the show.
Our adult brain has it’s eye on our goals, but our Toddler Brain doesn’t like change and is throwing a hissy fit.
It’s screaming “I want this and this and this! Give it to me right now.”
And it’s doing it’s brain-like version of whining and crying and throwing itself all over the floor.
And just like our two year old, we give in.
We’re like, “Fine just have it! Anything to get you to be quiet!”
Every time we attempt to change a habit or create a new one, our Toddler Brain does it again and again, because it’s learned that if it screams loud enough, we’ll eventually get frustrated and give in.
If we want to be successful, we must learn how to break this “in the moment, reward response cycle”, and start training the responsible adult brain to take over as the authority figure.
We need to start consciously choosing what we want most over what we want in the moment.
This is done by make a plan and sticking to that plan no matter how loud our Toddler Brain screams.
Stick with me and I’ll teach you more tools you can use to let your Adult Brain rule instead of that crazy Toddler living in your head.
