Transform Your Life - Just Count Me In

#30 Forgotten Wings: Rediscovering Your True Potential

• Sari Stone • Season 1 • Episode 30

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This episode explores what happens when we forget our innate power-through the story of a brilliant bird who forgot how to fly-and how neuroscience subconscious reprogramming, and Rumi's wisdom can help us remember our forgotten potential, and rise.

• Alex, a bird who spoke three languages but forgot to fly after a storm, mirrors our human tendency to forget our capabilities
• Many of us crawl through life not by conscious choice but because our brain's survival wiring makes us believe it's safer
• The brain creates neural pathways that become default responses when we experience pain after taking risks
• Our Default Mode Network (DMN) reinforces limiting beliefs whenever we're on autopilot
• Chronic stress hijacks our prefrontal cortex, literally preventing us from seeing new possibilities
• Neuroplasticity means our brains can change at any age through visualization, identity work, and embracing novelty
• Try journal prompts to identify where you've forgotten your wings and what soaring would look like for you
• Use the guided meditation to reconnect with your innate potential to fly

Download the guide "Remember Your Wings: Three Steps to Rewire Your Mind for Possibility" in the show notes. Please subscribe to the podcast and sign up for the email list to stay connected.

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Thank you for joining me!

Speaker 1:

Welcome to Just Count Me In, a podcast designed to help you break free from your limitations and step into the life that you actually were meant to live. I'm Sari Stone and I'm a holistic coach with a background in education. For the past six years, I've been guiding people to transform their lives from the inside out. My journey, to be honest with you, was not always clear. Side out, my journey to be honest with you was not always clear. For years, I actually felt like I was living someone else's life, checking all the right boxes but never feeling quite truly fulfilled. That all changed when I experienced a few miracles, met some incredible teachers and had a major wake-up call that forced me to shift my entire perspective. And had a major wake-up call that forced me to shift my entire perspective. Wayne Dyer once said when you change the way you look at things, the things that you look at change. And that is exactly what this podcast is about Helping you see your life in a new way so that you can start living with authenticity, purpose and passion. Each week, I'm going to bring you 30 minute episodes filled with insights, practical strategies and inspiring interviews to help you uncover what truly lights you up and identify what's been holding you back. Eventually, this is going to ignite your motivation and create real change. Are you ready to step into the life you were meant to live? Then just count me in, hit, subscribe and join me on this journey. If this episode resonates, please share it with a friend who needs a little inspiration today. Let's do this together. I hope you're having a great week this week. I'm actually recording this on the weekend. It's my dad's birthday today, so a little bit of an emotional day for me, and I do want to dedicate this episode to him, because he showed me that it is never too late to remember your wings and reclaim your power to soar. Have you ever met someone or something that reminded you of your own forgotten potential? Today, this episode is about the story of Alex, a bird who inspired me beyond words. He spoke three different languages, outsmarted most creatures, yet he forgot how to do the very thing that birds do he had forgotten to fly. I'm going to give you the backstory on how we met Alex.

Speaker 1:

We were staying at a place in Costa Rica, a VRBO, and this particular place was really just not a good vibe for us. That had never happened to us before, but it just didn't feel good. We stayed there a couple nights and we were so upset because we only got one week off a year together to go on a vacation and here it was staying in substandard conditions with leaky plumbing, and it just didn't smell good. We later found out I think it was built on a burial ground. There was just all kinds of things. So we were going for a walk and I was talking about it pretty upset, and I found a piece of driftwood had a blue butterfly on it, and I love blue butterflies. That's the symbol for Costa Rica and I just love them.

Speaker 1:

We decided to go down that road and keep talking. Well, it turned out that there were these cottages built on a beautiful hillside, and one of them was vacant. We met the owners, pierre and Renee. They were lovely and it was like a French, a small French cottage. It was just charming is the only word I can think of for it and adorable and immaculate and the plumbing worked and it was perfect and it was vacant and we decided to just take the sunk cost factor. We had already lost money on this other place, spend the extra money and book ourselves here. We could not have made a better choice.

Speaker 1:

Because of that, not only did we have a great rest of our vacation and we so enjoyed their company, but I met the bird that I will never forget, and he definitely changed my life. So what does Alex's story have to do with us? What does that have to do with us as human beings in general? It has everything to do with us. Many of us have wings that we've forgotten. At the point that I met Alex, my life looked great on the surface and it looked like I was really successful and had met all my goals, and I just kept feeling this overwhelming feeling that I hadn't. I was just going to die with my music in me if I kept going, because I had so much more to offer than I was giving and I had to shrink and contain myself so much to be successful in my place of employment that it just was killing me inside in a way, and I felt like I couldn't fly. So he really hit home. We're going to learn about what happens in the brain when we forget our possibilities and how the subconscious keeps us grounded, and how you can remember your possibilities, your wings, through neuroscience and practical steps. I'll share some of the things I did, because I'm at a much better place now and there'll be a little wisdom from Rumi. At the end, by popular request, I'm going to do a five-minute meditation to help you feel your wings again, so let's dive in Picture.

Speaker 1:

This A gorgeous, intelligent bird. He's on the cover of this episode, living in Costa Rica. His name is Alex. He spoke three languages fluently. He understood humor, commands, tone. He was conversational. He was charming. He was conversational. He was charming. He was clearly a genius of a bird. I've never met a bird like him. But here's the twist After surviving a massive storm, alex was rescued.

Speaker 1:

He had injured wings and he had forgotten how to fly. Yep, you heard that right. A bird who spoke three languages could not remember the most natural thing for him spreading his wings and soaring through the sky. When the storms passed, he stayed grounded, walking and hopping from branch to branch. The only time he flew was when a storm hit, which in Costa Rica they do have tropical storms and a lot of rain. He would panic and fly really high up in trees. They would have to get somebody to rescue him and every time he would forget again, once he got up there, how to get down. It was sad and also fascinating. He had everything the wings, the strength. He definitely had the intelligence, but his experience of fear and survival had rewired his instincts.

Speaker 1:

Here's the question how many of us are living the same way? And here's what I asked myself what is Alex here to teach me and why is it like this for us? As humans, we are all born with wings not the physical ones, but we've got the capacity for creativity, for courage, heartbreak, failure, disappointment, rejection, sometimes trauma. We start to believe it's safer to crawl. The truth Most of us don't really stop flying because we can't. We stop because somewhere deep down, our brains decided this isn't safe anymore. Rumi said you were born with wings. Why prefer to crawl through life? Our brains decided this isn't safe anymore. Rumi said you were born with wings. Why prefer to crawl through life? And I really don't think that I ever preferred to crawl through life and I don't think we prefer to crawl through life consciously. It's our subconscious and the brain's survival wiring that makes us believe crawling is safer.

Speaker 1:

We're going to talk about brain science, because I dove into this, trying to figure out why I had forgotten my possibilities, why we forget our possibilities, I learned that our brain is wired first for efficiency and survival. So when something is dangerous or painful, the brain encodes that memory really strongly because its job is to keep us safe and alive. If you once tried something big like starting a business, dancing on stage, loving fully, trying out for a job or a promotion, and it ended in pain, your brain creates a warning system don't do that again, because it's wired for efficiency and survival, not endless exploration. The brain loves predictability and our brains form neural pathways that become default responses. This is called learned helplessness when the brain predicts that your effort is not going to matter and it stops trying. We then have habits of thought. We know that we can need that. These thoughts, these repetitive thoughts, can carve a path to depression. Rewiring creates paths to resilience, where we can actually unlearn these false, negative beliefs. So I work with people. We rewire our brains. The neural pathways sound like I can't. That's too risky. Just play it safe, stay small. That's for other people. I'm not good enough to do that.

Speaker 1:

Next, the default mode network DMN comes into play and that's the part of your brain that gets active when you're not focused on a task, when you're driving, daydreaming, reflecting or just looping a thought. It's where your sense of self lives, your identity narrative. This says I'm not good enough, I'm just going to fail. They're never going to give this to me, I'm not going to get that break. Then the DMN will reforce you every time you're on autopilot. It's like playing the same record over and over again. Eventually you forget that there's another song. Time you're on autopilot it's like playing the same record over and over again. Eventually you forget that there's another song. And stress don't even go there. Stress shrinks all of your possibilities because when we're under chronic stress we know that the amygdala, the brain's fear center, hijacks the prefrontal cortex which is responsible for your vision, for your creativity, for your problem solving. So you honestly can't see new options. So the role of that default mode network is active when we're resting. So it is sneaky.

Speaker 1:

And because it's responsible for identity in our narrative self, and because it's responsible for identity in our narrative self, it's really hard to overcome those old beliefs unless you go in and reprogram consciously your subconscious. In Alex's case, the storm reprogrammed his instincts to prioritize safety, which it's there to keep you alive. For us, storms like heartbreak, disappointment, failure, rejection they do the same thing. We stop flying, not because we can't, but because the brain convinces us that it's safer on the ground. Because it is safer on the ground, how do we remember our wings? The magic word is neuroplasticity. Your brain, thank God, can change at any age.

Speaker 1:

Here's three powerful ways that I actually used and I use with my clients. One, and we probably talk about this in every episode visualization the picture in your mind. Mental rehearsal. Visualization the picture in your mind, mental rehearsal. So close your eyes and see yourself doing the thing you fear or desire. Feel the feeling, feel the emotion that you want to get from that experience and memorize that emotion. Every time you do this, the DMN rewires with repetition and emotional change and you're going to make more of those neural connections Because remember, your brain doesn't know the difference. Your brain is lighting up in the same places as if you were actually doing it, so it's actually as though you are practicing. Number two I did some identity work. I started telling a new story. I started telling remembering that I was born to soar, and we know that that default mode network rewires with repetition and emotional charge. So you can take charge of your brain and go into your subconscious and totally change your story, totally flip the script for what's going on in there.

Speaker 1:

Novelty and curiosity are the third way. Try something new every day. New experiences create new neural connections, making your brain more flexible. I do something and I call it neurobics instead of aerobics. I think I forget who it was, but there was a coach who had coined that phrase, so I don't want to say that it was my original. But even if it means going up the stairs with your right foot instead of your left if you usually go left first or brushing your teeth with the other hand, anything that's a little bit different will help. And remember, you are not broken. You're just human and you're wired to survive. But now, if you're listening to this podcast, I think by now you realize that you were born to thrive.

Speaker 1:

Here are some journal prompts that you might want to try this week. Where in my life have I forgotten my wings and what storm made me believe that I couldn't fly? How am I repeating that? How am I still living that out? Is the tail wagging the dog here? If I spread my wings now, what will soaring look like for me? If I spread my wings now, what am I afraid of? So repeat after me. I was born to rise above fear. My wings are strong. I trust the air beneath me. Every day, I remember more and more of who I am.

Speaker 1:

So now, if you have time, we're going to do a short meditation. If not, if you're driving, cut this and come back to it when you can. So first I want you to sit comfortably and close your eyes and inhale deeply for four, hold for two and exhale for six. Again, inhale for four, again. Inhale for 4, hold for 2 and exhale for 6, dropping in, inhale for 4, dropping in. Inhale for four, hold for two, exhale for six, exhale for seven.

Speaker 1:

So, sitting comfortably, feeling the light streaming in from the top of your head, above your head, about 200-300 feet, just connect. You can have your eyes closed and roll them up, or you can have your eyes open and look up and feel your body supported by the earth beneath you, feel the center of the earth, coming up through those areas that are supported and meeting with that light streaming in from above. Notice your thoughts as clouds in the sky. Your thoughts come and go and remember I am not my thoughts, I am the sky. I am not the movie on the screen.

Speaker 1:

Now imagine that you're Alex, perched on a branch. You've weathered the storm, but the sky calls you. Feel the sunlight warming your wings. Spread them wide, stretch further than you ever have before and let the wind lift you. You rise higher, freer, weightless, whisper. I was born to fly. Feel this. What? What do you see? Look around, what do you see on the horizon? What's underneath you? When you're ready, place your hands over your heart and say softly I remember my wings, I choose to soar. You were born with potential. You were born with goodness and trust. You were born with ideals and dreams. You were born with greatness. You were born with wings. You are not meant for crawling, so don't you have wings? Learn to use them and fly. You are free. You always were. Open your eyes when you're ready.

Speaker 1:

Alex didn't stop being a bird when he forgot to fly, just like you don't stop being limitless when fear makes you forget. Your wings are always there. The question is will you use them? My dad didn't really spread his wings until after he retired. Luckily, he lived a really long time after he retired and he retired young. My mom was just getting to spread her wings and she didn't even have a year of it and she died. So I've had two different lessons in my life very powerful teachers, and right at the time in my life when I met Alex, I realized that, even though I took my mom's lessons with me, I still had more. I still had more in me, and if I didn't spread my wings, I was not about to really fly.

Speaker 1:

If today's episode spoke to you, share it with someone who needs to remember their wings. And if you want to go deeper, download the guide in the show notes. Remember your Wings Three Steps to Rewire your Mind for Possibility. Remember your Wings Three Steps to Rewire your Mind for Possibility. Please remember to subscribe to the podcast and you can click on the link to sign up for the email list. I'd love to be in touch with you and until next time, keep soaring and just count me in. Thank you.