The power is in today: your brain believes what you tell it most
- Anna Axisa
- 6 days ago
- 4 min read
There’s a moment in many of our lives when the momentum that once kept us moving forward suddenly becomes too much. Each day feels faster, louder, and more demanding. The very rhythm that once gave us purpose begins to push us off balance. For me, that moment came when I found myself constantly running, but never arriving anywhere that felt like home.
As the noise of life built around me, I began to feel increasingly disconnected and overwhelmed by everything that was happening. My mind was full but unfocused. I was trying to manage a chronic illness, keep up with work, relationships, and responsibilities, and somehow still be the version of myself I thought I “should” be. It was exhausting. And more than that, it was disorienting.
When you live with an illness, the uncertainty can be relentless. I didn’t know what my future would look like, or how I would manage my health long-term. Every day became a juggling act between fear and determination. I put the fear of the future to the side and told myself to “just keep going,” but all that did was push me further out of alignment.
What I didn’t realise at the time was that my mind was feeding my body a story of constant threat. I was teaching my brain to live in survival mode. Each thought of worry, each unfinished list, each “what if” kept my body locked in a state of stress. My nervous system didn’t know the difference between a real danger and a mental one. It simply believed what it was told.
And what I was telling it most often was that life was too much.
The more I ignored my body’s signals, the more loudly it spoke. My illness became more active, my energy lower, and even the smallest daily tasks began to feel impossible. I was stuck in a cycle of overthinking, overdoing, and under-resting.
That was when I realised something had to change.
I began a slow process of unlearning. I began teaching my brain a new story about safety, calm, and presence. I wanted to learn what it meant to live with my body, not in constant battle against it. I wanted to find peace in the now, instead of fearing the next wave of exhaustion or pain.
This journey became the foundation of my book and the community I’m now building on Facebook. Through both, I share the practices and insights that have helped me deal with overwhelm, reconnect with myself, and support the people around me in meaningful ways.
The work is not about perfection or endless positivity. It’s about gentle awareness. It’s about understanding that the power is never in what we can’t control. It’s in the stories we tell ourselves every day, and the small actions that back them up.
In the Mindfully Aware chapter of my book, I explore the practical tools that helped me rebuild that connection with myself.
Building your mantra – Crafting personal affirmations that retrain your brain to look for calm, possibility, and strength instead of fear.
Understanding types of meditation – Finding an approach that suits your personality and rhythm, from simple breath awareness to guided visualisation.
Creating manifestation vision boards – Using visual cues to remind yourself of what matters most, and to bring focus back to what you truly want to grow.
Smudging rituals and making your own smudge sticks – Turning self-care into a sensory experience that grounds you in the present moment.
Making your own herbal eye pillow – A gentle, nurturing ritual for relaxation and nervous system regulation.
Practical guides to self-care – Little reminders that caring for yourself doesn’t have to be elaborate or expensive; it just has to be intentional.
Each of these practices became a way of telling my brain, “You are safe. You are enough. You can rest now.” Over time, the more I practised them, the more my body began to respond. My energy returned. My focus improved. My sense of calm became something I could access, rather than chase.
And perhaps the biggest lesson of all was this: healing doesn’t come from doing everything right. It comes from meeting yourself with compassion in the moment you’re in, not the one you wish you were in, or the one you’re afraid of facing.
The power really is in today.
When we pause long enough to notice our thoughts, we begin to see how deeply they shape our bodies and our choices. The brain believes what you tell it most, so tell it something kind. Tell it that you are learning. Tell it that you are trying. Tell it that today is enough.
If you’re ready to start that journey, to reconnect with yourself, calm the noise, and build new habits that nourish rather than drain, then you’ll find practical, heartfelt guidance in my book and in our growing online community.
Because the power to change your story isn’t waiting somewhere in the future. It’s already here, in the words you whisper to yourself today.
