Dawn Damon 0:07

Hey beautiful women. This is Dawn Damon, the Brave Heart mentor and you're listening to the brave hearted woman. This is a podcast designed to help you find your brave so you can live out your beautiful vision. I have been working with women for years. And now I want to help you too. I'm here to awaken the brave heart inside of you so you can ignite the flame of your vision you can reach your goals and achieve your dreams. Come on. Let's get brave

I love me some brave hearted women love talking to you specifically today. I'm so glad that you're with me. You're listening to the brave hearted woman and it's your opportunity to become brave again today. Yes, you brave. Oftentimes we dismiss that word, don't we? We think Brave is for someone else. It's for the disruptors, the innovators, those courageous woman, those courageous women who do incredible daring feats. It's not for me. But yes, it is. I like what Marianne rad maker says. She said, Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes it's a quiet voice at the end of the day that says, I'm going to try again tomorrow. And I think of Brave is a persistent voice at the dawn of each day that says, I will fully face this day and take the next right step. Today, I will think I'm going to act brave. In fact, brave requires feelings of fear. Did you know that that's what makes it what it is? It's the readiness to face pain, danger, the unknown to look at it right in the face and say get out of my way I'm coming through. And isn't that what we have to do every day as women, so you are brave. You have to be brave to live, you have to be brave to flourish in your god dream, you have to be brave. And it's not a trait. It's a skill, you can learn to be brave. Sure, some people have maybe a little bit more courage in their temperament. But Brave is a skill, it's action, and you can develop it. So today I want to talk to you about that I want to talk to you about living brave or living authentic. That's what I really mean. Are you living authentic, my brave hearted woman? Do you know who you are? I mean, like, like for real things? Like do you know what you really like? Not what you have accepted as things that you like, just to have peace? Do you know what you're good at? Do you know what your unique fingerprint to the world is? Do you know what your wiring and giftedness and talent and passion is? Those things that interest you? Because that is your created core? That is who you are authentically. And if you're going to really get to know who you are, then it means that you have to unknow who you are. Right? Yeah, you heard me right. You might be saying Wait, what? Yes, you have to know and know who you are. You have to be willing to challenge your assumptions about yourself. Because so many of us have been believing disempowering stories, what disempowering story maybe have you been believing about you? Things that you thought were true? Things that you thought were permanent, things that you thought were just this is how it is? This is just how I am and I can't change? Really? Are you? Sure? Maybe if you think about it, you've been living a fib, a false identity belief?

Yeah, maybe those things that you are thinking are just who you are, is just an excuse. Or it's just kind of a belief that you think it's always going to be this way, I can't make changes. This is my lot in life. That fixed mindset will keep you trapped. So what is it that your true identity really is? Well, let me talk to you about this. Your identity you have to kind of elements about your identity. And what I've learned so far in life is that the one identity is what we perceive ourselves to be what we've accepted ourselves to be. It's what we believe about ourselves in this part of your identity has been shaped by the things that you've seen and experienced, the things that you have encountered the things that have been spoken over. You, again the things that you've learned as you've navigated your way through life, because life did indeed bring you evidence. There were things that happened. And as these things happened in our lives, we begin to interpret that so called evidence. And we develop a functioning identity. Again, maybe a false identity belief system, I call it fibs. We've been shaped all of these elements that equals something that now I have a functioning operating system, I believe this about myself, I have a philosophy about the world, I believe this to be true about the world. And this is how I live. But again, let's challenge those assumptions. Let's challenge our philosophy. Let's challenge just for a moment, ask this question. What if that's not really true, because the second part or element of your identity is that core identity, that part of you that's authentic. And often there's a space between how I'm operating and what's really true. And in that space, there's fractures and fissures and flaws. Those are things that keep us from living out the true identity. And so now we're going to confront our insecurity, about who we really are maybe our insecurity and our reluctance to accept who we really are, that unstained innocence of the child before the wound happened before the pain came before that terrible experience of life that it brought me and you have to act brave, in order to accept this new identity. In fact, let me say this. Never say another negative thing about yourself, ever. Never say, I'm dumb. I'm an idiot, oh, I don't lose weight, I have a slow metabolism. I'm not really smart.

Unknown Speaker 7:05

I'm not really a good reader. You know,

Dawn Damon 7:09

those things can stay true as long as you believe them, and long as you say them. But I have a sneaky suspicion that they're not as true as what you think what if you said, I'm accepting, I'm loving, and I'm growing in my new identity. I'm embracing a true me. Because you are stronger than you know, you are more capable than you believe. You have more influence than you've ever understood. And you're probably more adventurous than you've experienced. So but the point is, you're not aligned. Because who you truly are, is not aligned with what you believe or what you're speaking. David Ramos, he's a great author that I enjoy reading. He says everything in your life is the product of the identity you've accepted to be true of yourself. We might not like the way that sounds. But once we distill it all down, we're recognizing that this principle is true. Everything that life throws at us every experience, whether it's good or bad, everything life offers us demands really, it tells us we have to give it meaning. And so everything that you've experienced, you have attached meaning to it, and the meaning that you give comes right out of your identity. Coming soon, January 2022. At the top of the year, I have an exciting opportunity for you my uncovered your brave vision coaching journey course is launching again, it's brand new, and I can't wait for you to experience it. If you want to say goodbye to unfulfillment leave average behind and launch into the best life possible for you where you're living your dreams. You're not just dreaming anymore, actually. It's your reality. Then head on over to my website done damon.com. There you can register for the course and hurry because the first five people are going to receive an exclusive one on one coaching session with Yes, yours truly, the Braveheart mentor Don Damon, I can't wait to see you. Hurry soon.

So let me say it like this, for example. If you believe yourself not to be very valuable, because life brought some evidence to you that something painful happened and you began to give it meaning. You now will continue that same behavior. So let's say mom is late to picking you up at school, or mom does didn't even come at all, she sends someone and you're sitting there on the bench waiting one by one, all the other kids are getting picked up. And so mom is late, or Momsen, somebody else. Now what does it mean? Well, it could mean that traffic was bad and she was late. It could mean that just as she was leaving the mailman stopped her and said, Hey, I've got a letter for you, you have to sign it. Or it could mean that she doesn't care enough about me to pick me up on time, it could mean that I'm not important to her, it could mean that I'm the last thing on her mind. And she forgot about me. As you're sitting there, as a little girl, you might not have the maturity to give it the right meaning, or a generic meeting. But if you already have a damaged identity, you're going to subscribe, a negative meaning to a painful meaning. And if it has a painful meaning, if mom being late means she doesn't care about me, how does that affect how I think about me? How does that affect my mood? When mom finally gets there to pick me up? How do I look at life? Or how do I enter class the next day embarrassed that I sat there, we give meaning we give interpretations to the events surrounding our life all the time. And from these we begin to gather the data or the evidence or the proof, conscious or unconscious. And these meanings begin to shape our identity over and over and over. Kind of like is it DECA pies where you dip the piece of material into a paste and layer upon layer upon layer, you shape the thing that you're making, or identity is being shaped layer upon layer with these things that we believe to be true. And now, as a 3040 5060 year old women, we say I'm not smart. I'm not valuable. I'm not athletic. I'm not coordinated. I'm not popular. All of the I'm knots of life. I'm not this, I'm not that. So today, are you willing to and become? Are you willing to let the layers that have shaped you be stripped away? Are you ready to shed those false identities, those fibs that you've been believing and living with? And will you be willing to live from a new identity and authentic identity, a true identity? Can you align with who you already are, I believe that our Creator put within us take this girl, for instance, this one girl, she was born into poverty. She was born down south in a rural area that was very impoverished to a single teenage mom. She was later raised in the inner city of a thriving community of big city like Chicago, Milwaukee, she stated that she was molested during her childhood. And during her early teens. And then at 14 She became pregnant. And then our son was born premature. And he died in infancy. I mean, how tragic. And then she started to think about getting a job. And she was told she would never be good at this and never could be good at that and that she needed to just accept her place in life. Aren't you glad that Oprah Winfrey didn't decide to believe that? Look it, she could have accepted the evidence of life and said, This is all I'm supposed to be? This is all I can ever do. But she decided to resist that she decided to become brave and say I'm not going to settle for that. I'm not going to believe that. I'm not accepting that to be true about myself. And don't you know that she probably took some hard knocks along the way. You bet she did. Because when it comes to identity, guess what we have the power to shape and mold who we want to become. Because we already have all of the qualities that we need within us. I was going through a time in my life where I was losing weight and I had a vacation coming up and historically I know what happens to me when I go on vacation. And I was talking to my coach and I said you know when I go on vacation, I just throw out the diet. I eat whatever I want. And I said I don't want to do that this time because I've it's taken me a lot to shed these few pounds and on vacation. I could just gain them all back overnight. And she said well, you're you're choosing that identity you're you're talking as Though you are a victim, and powerless over what you put in your mouth, and she said, you know, you have a coach and a trainer right now, right? And I said, Yes, I do. And she said, Well, when you think about a coach and a trainer, what kind of name would you give? Like, if you think about a coach who's just gonna hold your feet to the fire? I said, I, I would think about, I think I think I'd colors Zelda. And she said, Okay, tell me about Zelda. I said, well, well, Zelda is disciplined. And she's a little bit mean. And I'm a little intimidated by her. And I do exactly what she tells me if she tells me to drop and give her 10 I'm gonna do it. She said, All right, that identity is within you. Let's put Zelda in charge of your eating program while you're on vacation, and live from that identity? Why not? We can live from this identity being a victim, we can live from the identity of being less than why don't you just choose to live from an identity of being very powerful and very disciplined? Well, I got what she was saying, I understood the principle that I could decide what kind of person I wanted to be I could, I could live out of an identity that is stronger than what I believe myself to be. So I had to be willing to and know myself, instead of saying, Well, I'm just not that kind of person. Well, why not? Who says I'm not that kind of person, I can become that kind of person. If I choose to be, I can learn, I can train my brain and all of the neuroscience that we know to be true today. And I can start making new pathways, I can build a new mental highway, if you will, I can learn to say no. And one of the things that I discovered is that it's okay to be uncomfortable. I can say no, I'm not going to put that in my mouth. Oh, but I really want it. Well, there's a lot of kids that are hungry. There's a lot of people who want things in life. And sometimes you say no, to that immediate gratification for a long range, goal or dream or desire. So just find

that Zelda within you and do it, I have to report that I went very well, actually, I was able to do it. And I came home, feeling so empowered, and so good about myself versus the guilt, the shame, the disappointment in me, I didn't keep my promise to me, I broke my word to me. So how about you, we're talking about all things identity today, life gave you some evidence, it showed you some things you went through some hard times, some difficult times, I don't mean to be dis delicate and delicate, if you will, right now. But we've all experienced pain. And I really, truly believe that the meaning that we give, the interpretation that we have given to those experiences are what really have kept us in bondage have really taught us to live small, you are more adventurous than you know, you are more talented than you believe. You really are able to create wealth and live a dream and be a confident, brave hearted woman, you truly can do it, you have a Zelda inside of you, you have all of the traits in seed form. You can grow them, you can nurture them, you can water them. My question to you today is will you be brave? Will you be a disrupter of sorts? Will you interrupt your patterns and say, No, I'm not going to do what I've always done. I am going to challenge my assumptions, I am going to question these beliefs. Who said this was true? Is it always true? isn't even true at all? Can I change it? Do I have the power to modify? Is it a trait? Or is it a skill I can build? Well, you decide. That's what I'm here to do. challenge you and help you. I hope you'll make the right decision because I believe in you. You can do this. Take 100% 100% responsibility for your life. Do something brave today. I hope you will. Hey, and while you're doing brave things, stop by my website, Don damon.com. In January, I'm going to start my new brave hearted coaching course. I want you to be a part of that. Drop me a line. Send me an email, let me know what you're thinking about. And I really think you should stop by my website and take the quiz. What kind of brave heart are you? It'll let you know where you are. If you're ready to do some daring things, or if maybe you got one foot still stuck in in need a little help. You need a little shove. I'm here to give it to you All right everybody, I believe in you. That's what I have for you today I'm cheering you on and like I always say, I want you to find your brain and live your business

thanks for hanging out with me today and becoming brave. If this has helped you, be sure to share it with someone and subscribe so you never have to miss another episode. For more about me my books, my coaching or online courses, visit Don damon.com and as always be brave and live your vision.