Friday feelings (how grief rewired my brain)

 

It's Friday and I am really looking forward to this weekend with my family.

We are certainly feeling the emotional waves of the loss of my mother-in-law recently. The kids express it differently, and when they do, I stop everything to really be present for them. It's been perhaps the hardest time we have faced as a family, and yet on the day-to-day, we are all expanding into our creativity.

There's something profound happening in the midst of our grief that I need to share with you, because it's teaching me everything about how our brains actually work, and how we can consciously rewire them even during the most challenging times.

When Life Forces a Brain Rewire

Beautiful friends, what I'm learning is that grief has this way of stripping away all the surface-level programming and showing you what's really there underneath.

In the weeks since we lost her, I've watched my children's brains adapt in real-time. I've felt my own neural pathways shifting as I navigate being present for their pain while processing my own.

Here's what I'm learning: Our brains are constantly rewiring themselves based on what we focus on and how we respond to life's challenges.

The question is: Are we doing it consciously, or are we letting old programming run the show?

Your Brain's Hidden Operating System

Most of us are walking around with an inner voice that isn't even ours. It's a collection of programming from ages 0-7, voices of parents, teachers, society telling us what's possible, what's safe, what we deserve.

Your Reticular Activating System (RAS): think of it as the middleman between your conscious mind (5%) and your subconscious (95%) - is constantly filtering reality based on this old programming.

It's like wearing glasses with the wrong prescription. You're seeing the world through lenses that were created when you were a child, and wondering why opportunities feel out of reach or why you keep attracting the same patterns.

The Fashion Entrepreneur's Brain Rewire

For those of you building fashion brands, coaching, consulting, teaching or creating sustainable businesses, designing the life you love - this is everything. Your business will never outgrow your mental programming.

If your inner voice is saying:

• "Who am I to charge premium prices?"
• "Sustainable fashion is too hard to make profitable"
• "I'm not creative enough to stand out"
• "I don't have what it takes to build something big"

That's not your voice. That's old programming that can be rewritten.

Your 5-Step Brain Rewiring Process

Step 1: Catch Your Inner Critic in Real-Time
Start noticing when that critical voice pipes up. For me, during this grief process, I caught myself thinking "I should be handling this better" or "I'm not strong enough for my kids." The moment you notice it, you can change it.

Step 2: Redirect with Compassion
Instead of fighting the voice, speak to it like you would your own child. "I hear you, but we're going to choose kindness instead." I've been telling myself, "You're doing the best you can with an impossible situation, and that's enough."

Step 3: Use Your Prime Programming Times
Your brain is most receptive to new programming right when you wake up and as you're falling asleep. Use these theta wave states to visualize your ideal reality - your thriving fashion brand, your confident entrepreneur self, your creative flow.

Step 4: Get Specific with Your Vision
Your RAS needs clear instructions. Instead of "I want my brand to be successful," try "I see myself confidently presenting my sustainable collection to buyers who immediately understand the value and place large orders."

Step 5: Feel It in Your Body
Your subconscious loves images and emotions more than words. When you visualize your success, feel the excitement in your chest, the confidence in your posture, the gratitude for the impact you're making.

The Grief-Creativity Connection

Here's something beautiful I'm witnessing: In the midst of our family's grief, we're all becoming more creative. My kids are drawing and writing stories. I'm seeing my business with fresh eyes. It's like the emotional intensity is rewiring our brains for deeper expression.

Grief strips away the non-essential and shows you what really matters. It forces you to be present, to feel deeply, to question old assumptions about what's possible.

 

The Truth About Expansion

What I'm learning through this grief process is that expansion and contraction often happen simultaneously. We're feeling the deepest pain our family has ever experienced, AND we're accessing creativity we didn't know we had.

Your brain is designed to grow through challenge. Every difficult moment is an opportunity to rewire old patterns and choose new responses.

You are not stuck with the programming you inherited. You can literally rewire your brain by becoming conscious of your thoughts and consistently choosing new ones.

Your fashion or personal brand, your creative expression, your entrepreneurial journey, it's all a reflection of your inner programming.

Change the programming, change the results.

The Weekend Ahead

As I spend this weekend being present with my family's grief while also nurturing our creative expansion, I'm reminded that we can hold multiple truths at once.

You can feel scared about your business AND take brave action.

You can grieve what's not working AND get excited about what's possible.

You can honor where you've been AND consciously choose where you're going.

Your brain is more powerful than you know.

Your creativity is more accessible than you think. Your dreams are more achievable than your old programming wants you to believe.

This weekend, let's rewire together.

Would you be interested in the meditations I am doing in my personal practise? Do hit reply and say yes!  And, perhaps I will record and send it your way!

Love

Myrah & Robindra

www.myrahpenaloza.com