INTRODUCTION
Think about the last time you truly needed to be at your best—a major presentation, a tough negotiation, a moment requiring decisive action. Did your mind support you, or did it sabotage you? Consider this common scene: You have a career-defining moment tomorrow. You know a sharp, rested mind is critical for success. Yet, the moment you lie down to get those crucial eight hours, a relentless voice starts its "unwelcome midnight meeting." 

• "You should have triple-checked that data. You're going to fumble the calculation. "
• "Remember that small, irrelevant detail your boss mentioned months ago? If you don't fix it now, it will be a catastrophic failure."
• "Look at all the time you're wasting just lying here. You should be rehearsing. You're failing to prepare, and thus, preparing to fail.”

Your logical, adult self knows sleep is the most productive thing you can do, but your anxious brain screams that inaction is a direct path to failure. This is the cruel irony: the part of your mind dedicated to protecting your success is actively destroying your ability to perform.

Introducing the Battle of Two Brains
This relentless internal dialogue is an example of how our minds often work against us instead of for us. We call this universal, internal struggle “The Battle of the Brains.” In this course, “Mental Fitness” , we are going to equip you with the perspectives and skills to finally make your mind work FOR you.

The Saboteur Brain: The Master of Survival
The first combatant in this battle is your Saboteur Brain. This is your primitive brain, the first part of your mind to have evolved. It resides in the Amygdala and Limbic System, housing your essential Fight, Flight, Freeze, or Fawn responses.

Its entire function is simple: survival by exaggerating danger. This is why your mind has a negativity bias—it’s Velcro for negativity, and Teflon for positivity. Think about your last performance review. You scored high on everything, but you focus on that one small area for improvement all night long. This part of your brain still thinks you're a tribal person living in the jungle. To our ancestors, tribal rejection meant death, and your primitive brain still treats rejection—even from someone
you don't care about—as a life-or-death scenario.

The Saboteur Brain consumes your attention by putting you on a relentless treadmill of mental time travel:

• Ruminating on the Past: When you endlessly replay past mistakes, your brain is attempting to "solve" a problem that is, by definition, unsolvable because the past cannot be changed. This only fuels depression and strengthens negative neural pathways. It leaves us feeling lost in guilt and shame.
• Ruminating on the Future: Excessive anxiety is simply worrying about the future. Instead of effective problem-solving, you become overwhelmed, constantly focused on detecting and preventing every possible negative outcome, leading to paralysis in the present, stewing in fear and dread.

The bottom line? This system of thinking was helpful in the jungle, but it is a major problem in
modern daily life, keeping us small and risk averse.

The Path to Clarity—Activating Your Wise Brain
The Wise Brain: Your Source of Power
The good news is you have another combatant, a powerful force you can learn to tap: your Wise Brain.
If fear, anxiety, guilt, and shame arise from your Saboteur Brain, then joy, contentment, empathy, peace, clarity, and focus arise from your Wise Brain.

Your Wise Brain is largely your Prefrontal Cortex. Evolutionarily, it was the last part of our brain to develop, representing the highest level of human functioning.

Your Saboteur Brain narrows your focus and clouds your thinking. Your Wise Brain expands your perspective, ignites your creativity and engenders profound clarity, leading to decisive action. Sounds good, doesn’t it?

The Objectives of Mental Fitness
The ultimate goal of this course is not to eliminate your Saboteur—it will always be part of you—but to win The Battle of the Brains. In this journey, you will gain the power to:

• Identify your Saboteurs: Learn to become acutely aware of when you are stuck in the grip of your Saboteur Brain.
• Quiet the Critics: Learn to quiet the inner voices that judge you, make you feel like an imposter, and hold you captive to guilt, shame, fear, and anxiety.
• Shift to Wisdom: Learn the practical skills to shift into your Wise Brain.

Your New Life: Peace, Clarity, and Joy
This is not a course about wishful thinking. It's about fundamental, measurable mental shifts,
rooted in neuroscience. By developing your mental fitness, you can learn to experience greater
peace, deeper clarity, and greater joy.
It’s about moving out of the paralyzing past and future and taking action in the present moment,
where all real opportunities for positive change exist. Are you ready for the journey?
Your life will never be the same.

The Path to Clarity—Activating Your Wise Brain
The Wise Brain: Your Source of Power
The good news is you have another combatant, a powerful force you can learn to tap: your Wise Brain.
If fear, anxiety, guilt, and shame arise from your Saboteur Brain, then joy, contentment, empathy, peace, clarity, and focus arise from your Wise Brain.

Your Wise Brain is largely your Prefrontal Cortex. Evolutionarily, it was the last part of our brain to develop, representing the highest level of human functioning.

Your Saboteur Brain narrows your focus and clouds your thinking. Your Wise Brain expands your perspective, ignites your creativity and engenders profound clarity, leading to decisive action. Sounds good, doesn’t it?

The Objectives of Mental Fitness
The ultimate goal of this course is not to eliminate your Saboteur—it will always be part of you—but to win The Battle of the Brains. In this journey, you will gain the power to:

• Identify your Saboteurs: Learn to become acutely aware of when you are stuck in the grip of your Saboteur Brain.
• Quiet the Critics: Learn to quiet the inner voices that judge you, make you feel like an imposter, and hold you captive to guilt, shame, fear, and anxiety.
• Shift to Wisdom: Learn the practical skills to shift into your Wise Brain.

Your New Life: Peace, Clarity, and Joy
This is not a course about wishful thinking. It's about fundamental, measurable mental shifts,
rooted in neuroscience. By developing your mental fitness, you can learn to experience greater
peace, deeper clarity, and greater joy.
It’s about moving out of the paralyzing past and future and taking action in the present moment,
where all real opportunities for positive change exist. Are you ready for the journey?
Your life will never be the same.

GROUP CONVERSATIONS (5 Minutes)
Last week I asked you to pay attention to your thinking:

• What did you notice?
• What did you learn?
• How often did your thoughts turn to the past or future? Was it positive or negative?
• How did your practice of labeling your Saboteurs go? When was this practice easy, and when was it challenging?
• What, if anything, surprised you this past week?

Your Unique Saboteurs - Small Group Conversations (10 minutes)
● Share your top two accomplice Saboteurs and describe them
● If your top accomplice Saboteur was a survival strategy you developed in childhood,
what was it trying to protect or provide? What was its original adaptive intent?
● How and when do your top two accomplice Saboteurs shout the loudest? What is their
impact?

Re-Group - 3 minutes
● What did you hear or what did you learn?

Group Two - 8 minutes
● How did your Saboteurs impact you this week?
● We tend to judge ourselves, others and our circumstances negatively. Which do you. struggle with most? What are the implications?
● Who would you be and what would you do if you didn’t get hijacked by your Saboteurs?

The Shift - 8 minutes
Remember that quieting your Saboteur voices and spending more time in the Wise Mind is the pathway to greater peace, joy, contentment and productivity. This is the essence of Mental Fitness and learning to help our minds work FOR and not AGAINST us. Our “workout” to get there is simple, but backed by neuroscience. It entails practicing 3 steps consistently:

• Become aware when your Saboteurs are chirping. (emotions as rumble strips)
• Label your Saboteur (creating distance and bringing it into the “light”)
• Practicing mindfulness exercise…or what I call “Embodied Presence” (explain what that is)

Options to Consider (lots of instruction on YouTube, or apps like Headspace and Calm)

• Walking meditation
• Mindful breathing
• Focused senses (brushing your teeth, etc)

Things to remember:

• 3 minutes, at least 5 times throughout the day is enough to begin to rewire your brain
• Attach this practice to something you already do habitually (like brushing your teeth)
• Consistency is the key!

Your Homework

• ● Keep a daily journal of your experience.

OVERVIEW
Add content

GROUP CONVERSATIONS (5 Minutes)
Last week I asked you to pay attention to your thinking:

• What did you notice?
• What did you learn?
• How often did your thoughts turn to the past or future? Was it positive or negative?
• How did your practice of labeling your Saboteurs go? When was this practice easy, and when was it challenging?
• What, if anything, surprised you this past week?

Your Unique Saboteurs - Small Group Conversations Group One - 10 minutes

• Share your top two accomplice Saboteurs and describe them
• If your top accomplice Saboteur was a survival strategy you developed in childhood, what was it trying to protect or provide? What was its original adaptive intent?
• How and when do your top two accomplice Saboteurs shout the loudest? What is their impact?

Re-Group - 3 minutes

• What did you hear or what did you learn?

Group Two - 8 minutes

• How did your Saboteurs impact you this week?
• We tend to judge ourselves, others and our circumstances negatively. Which do you struggle with most? What are the implications?
• Who would you be and what would you do if you didn’t get hijacked by your Saboteurs?

The Shift - 8 minutes
Remember that quieting your Saboteur voices and spending more time in the Wise Mind is the
pathway to greater peace, joy, contentment and productivity. This is the essence of Mental
Fitness and learning to help our minds work FOR and not AGAINST us. Our “workout” to get
there is simple, but backed by neuroscience. It entails practicing 3 steps consistently:
1. Become aware when your Saboteurs are chirping. (emotions as rumble strips)
2. Label your Saboteur (creating distance and bringing it into the “light”)
3. Practicing mindfulness exercise…or what I call “Embodied Presence” (explain what that
is)

Options to Consider (lots of instruction on YouTube, or apps like Headspace and Calm)
1. Walking meditation
2. Mindful breathing
3. Focused senses (brushing your teeth, etc)

Things to remember:
●
3 minutes, at least 5 times throughout the day is enough to begin to rewire your brain
●
Attach this practice to something you already do habitually (like brushing your teeth)
●
Consistency is the key!
Your Homework
●
your daily life?
●
Keep a daily journal of your experience.

OVERVIEW
Add content

GROUP CONVERSATIONS (5 Minutes)
1. Tell me something good that’s happened in the last week.
2. How did your practice (Notice, Label, Shift) go this past week?
○
What worked?
○
What didn’t work?
3. How did your Saboteurs show up?
○
What did you do in response?
○
Did it help?
4. This week’s focus was the Wise Mind’s superpower called Empathy.
○
How would you define empathy?
Empathy it's not just feeling for someone, but understanding with them. It involves:
●
●
●
Stepping into another person's shoes.
Understanding their feelings and perspectives without judgment.
Connecting with their humanity.
5. Empathy is the antidote to the Judge
○
Story of Steven Covey in the subway
○
Do you struggle more to empathize with others or for yourself? Why?
6. Picture the child
○
Did you try this exercise?
○
If so, describe your experience
○
How can you use this power game in daily life?
7. Practical Application - Experiencing Empathy: A short, guided visualization or reflection
exercise:
○
○
○
○
Think of a recent interaction where you felt challenged or misunderstood.
Now, try to see the situation from the other person's perspective.
What might they have been feeling? What were their possible motivations?
How might you have approached the situation with more empathy?
8. Identifying Opportunities for Empathy:
○
What are some common situations in which Empathy would be helpful?
○
Difficult conversations.
○
Team conflicts.
○
Giving and receiving feedback.
○
Personal relationships.

NEW
Mental Fitness | Session Three
The Wise Mind & Empathize
1. Tell me something good that’s happened in the last week.
2. How did your practice (Notice, Label, Shift) go this past week?
○
What worked?
○
What didn’t work?
3. How did your Saboteurs show up?
○
What did you do in response?
○
Did it help?
4. This week’s focus was the Wise Mind’s superpower called Empathy.
○
How would you define empathy?
Empathy it's not just feeling for someone, but understanding with them. It involves:
●
●
●
Stepping into another person's shoes.
Understanding their feelings and perspectives without judgment.
Connecting with their humanity.
5. Empathy is the antidote to the Judge
○
Story of Steven Covey in the subway
○
Do you struggle more to empathize with others or for yourself? Why?
6. Picture the child
○
Did you try this exercise?
○
If so, describe your experience
○
How can you use this power game in daily life?
7. Practical Application - Experiencing Empathy: A short, guided visualization or reflection
exercise:
○
○
○
○
Think of a recent interaction where you felt challenged or misunderstood.
Now, try to see the situation from the other person's perspective.
What might they have been feeling? What were their possible motivations?
How might you have approached the situation with more empathy?
8. Identifying Opportunities for Empathy:
○
What are some common situations in which Empathy would be helpful?
○
Difficult conversations.
○
Team conflicts.
○
Giving and receiving feedback.
○
Personal relationships.
9. What situations can you anticipate in the coming week when you’ll have the opportunity to
use the Sage power of Empathy?
●
●
What makes this situation challenging for you?
What’s your strategy for using empathy in this situation?
Questions?

OVERVIEW
Add content

GROUP CONVERSATIONS (5 Minutes)

1. Tell me something good that’s happened since we last met?
2. How did your Three-fold practice go this week?
a. What challenges did you face?
b. What successes did you experience?
c. What insights did you gain about yourself and this Mental Fitness
process?
3. Share an experience of utilizing the Wise Mind’s superpower of Empathy.
a. What happened?
b. How did Empathy change things?
c. What did you learn or what insight did you gain?
d. What might you do differently next time?
Introduction to the Power of Wonder
This week focuses on the Wise Mind’s second superpower - the power of Wonder. Our
Saboteurs narrow our focus. As a survival mechanism, that’s helpful. If you’re walking in
the woods and a bear crosses your path, you NEED to be hyper focused on the danger
before you.
But as we’ve discussed, these survival instincts become maladaptive when we aren’t in
any real danger. Wonder opens our eyes to possibilities. Here's a silly example, but one
I used to deal with often.
I’d be preaching and someone would get up and walk out of the sanctuary. Without fail,
my Judge would immediately say, “You offended them. They don’t like what you’ve said.
They ticked off and they’re leaving. You suck as a preacher.” That train of thought is
detrimental to effective communication! The power of Wonder would open me to
consider other possibilities…like maybe they’re just going to the bathroom. And sure
enough, almost without fail, that person is back in their seat in a few minutes.
Small Group Session One: Unmasking the Judge
Focus: Noticing how our "internal defense system" actually blocks our progress.
1. Redefining Wonder: We often think of Wonder as something reserved for grand
sunsets or art. In your daily life—whether in a meeting or a difficult
conversation—how would you describe the "superpower" of choosing curiosity
over certainty?
2. The Price of Presence: When your Judge and Accomplice Saboteurs take the
wheel, you experience a "narrowing of focus." In that exact moment, what is the
personal cost? (e.g., Do you lose your creativity, your ability to listen, or your
peace of mind?)
3. The "Story" We Tell: Think of a time you didn't get a text back or were passed
over for an invite. What is your Judge’s "default" negative assumption? If you
believe that assumption for even 60 seconds, how does it change your physical
energy and your next interaction?
4. The Cost of "Being Right": Reflect on a recent disagreement where you "won"
the argument but felt a disconnect afterward. In hindsight, what opportunity to
learn about the other person did you sacrifice just to be right? What could you
have asked instead?
What did you hear in your conversation?
What common experiences?
Small Group Session Two: The Power of Perspective
Focus: Using Wonder as a "De-escalation" tool for the self.
1. The Wonder Lab: In what specific area of your life—a project at work, a fitness
goal, or a parenting struggle—would the power of Wonder be a game-changer?
How would "not knowing the answer" actually help you find a better one?
2. The "What Else?" Filter: Think of a current challenge that feels like a dead end.
If you set aside your "expert" mind and asked, "What else is possible here that
I haven't seen yet?", what three brand-new paths start to appear?
3. The Trigger as a Teacher: Think of someone who consistently "pushes your
buttons." If you viewed your reaction to them as data about yourself rather than
a flaw in them, what is the "hidden lesson" your irritation is trying to teach you?
4. From "Pest" to "Puzzle": Like Sophia in the audio story, identify a recurring
"nuisance" in your life (a chore, a commute, a difficult neighbor). How could you
shift your perspective to see this not as a problem to be solved, but as a source
of fascination to be explored?
What insights of “aha” moments did you glean from your conversation?
Questions, Concerns or Challenges?
Homework
1. Continue your three-fold practice: notice, label, shift.
2. Practice the Fascinated Anthropologist role at least 3 times this week and jot
down your observations and discoveries.
3. Choose one relationship that tends to trigger you.
a. Do the three-fold practice.
b. Exercise empathy by seeing the other person as a child.
c. Employ the superpower of Wonder
d. Write down what you learn about yourself

OVERVIEW

Review
Let’s take a quick moment to review where we’ve been. We’ve talked about two control
centers between our ears. Our Saboteurs, located in our “lizard brain” , seek to protect
us by constantly scanning for and exaggerating danger. They tend to keep us small,
risk-avoidant, and stuck in emotions like guilt, shame, fear and anxiety.
Our Wise Mind, located in the pre-frontal cortex, is where clarity, peace, joy and focused
action are located.
We are naturally and neurologically wired to default to the Lizard Brain. That’s where the
phrase, “Our minds are Velcro for negativity and Teflon for positivity” comes from. But
we’ve learned how to quiet those Saboteur voices and Shift to the Wise Mind. We do
that through a three-fold process:
●
Awareness - we quickly become aware when we’ve been hijacked by our
Saboteurs.
●
Label - we label which Saboteur(s) are chirping, creating a healthy distance
between ourselves and those negative thoughts.
●
Shift - through mindfulness or embodied presence, train our brains to dwell in the
present moment and Shift the control to our Wise Mind. 15 minutes a day of
practice has been shown to literally rewire our brains.
And then we explored what we’re calling the Superpowers of the Wise Mind and the
“power moves” that help us to utilize those powers.
The first superpower is EMPATHY, the ultimate antidote to our Judge. Empathy is
feeling with another person. We access empathy by visualizing the child—either
ourselves or someone else. Doing so moves us from judgment to seeing the beautiful
essence and innocence beneath the flaws. This "power move" stops us from being
so harsh and allows us to see the good stuff in ourselves and others, even when things
are difficult.
The second superpower is WONDER, the antidote to jumping to narrow, negative
conclusions. While the Saboteur brain tries to lock us into a "this or that" mentality—like
staying in a miserable job or quitting with no plan—Wonder opens up the field of
possibility. We access this power by asking, "What else is possible here?" and
challenging ourselves to find three or even five hidden opportunities within a
difficult situation. Doing so moves us from the restrictive "reptile brain" to a state of
expansive curiosity, ensuring we don't settle for the first fear-based option that
appears.
Today, we’re focusing on the third superpower: DISCERNMENT, the choosing step that
provides us with a compass for navigating uncertainty. While our Saboteurs scream for
immediate security and the approval of others, Discernment connects us to an internal
compass based on our core values and life’s purpose. We access this power through
"Flashing Forward"—vividly imagining ourselves at the very end of our lives looking
back at the choice at hand. Doing so moves us from fear-based paralysis to a place
of deep-seated clarity and fulfillment, allowing us to choose the path that resonates
with our highest integrity rather than the one that simply feels the safest in the moment.
To connect with this Superpower I asked you to come today with a situation, a
decision…past or present…that had or has you feeling stuck, unsure about what
direction to go. In your small groups today I’ll ask you to briefly explain that situation and
then dive into the questions.

GROUP CONVERSATIONS (5 Minutes)

Welcome
●
●
Tell me something good that’s happened since we last met.
How was your Three-Fold practice this week?
○
What worked?
○
What challenges did you face?
○
What are you noticing?
The Wise Mind & Wonder
●
In what circumstance(s) did you use the power of Wonder?
●
How did it go? What was the outcome?
●
What did you learn?
Small Group One: Deconstructing the "Stuck" (Empathy & Wonder)
These first three questions focus on lowering the Saboteur's defenses and opening up
the field of possibility.
1. Exposing the Judge: Looking at the situation where you feel stuck, what is your
Judge (or another Saboteur like the Pleaser or Controller) whispering to you
about why you can’t move forward, and how is that "static" making you feel
small?
2. Essence Empathy: If you were to visualize the "child version" of yourself (or the
other person involved) in this stuck situation, what beautiful essence or need do
you see beneath the struggle that your Judge has been ignoring?
3. The Power of "What Else?": Saboteurs love a "this or that" trap. Using the
power of Wonder, what are three "out of the box" options or wild possibilities for
this situation—even if they seem impractical right now?
Gather everyone back to share insights before shuffling groups for the final push.
●
●
Saboteur Patterns: What did you notice about the tone of the Saboteur voices in
your group? Did you find that different "stuck" situations were being driven by the
same types of fear-based lies?
The Shift: How did your physical or emotional energy change when the group
shifted from discussing the "problem" to using Empathy and Wonder?
Small Group Two: The Path Forward (Discernment)
After moving to new groups, participants will apply the "Flash Forward" technique to
make a value-aligned choice.
4. Flashing Forward: Imagine yourself at age 95, looking back at this exact "stuck"
moment. From that perspective of ultimate wisdom, what advice does your
future self give you about which path leads to the most fulfillment?
5. Alignment Check: Which of the possibilities you brainstormed earlier resonates
most deeply with your True North (your core values), even if it feels riskier than
the "safe" path?
6. The Wise Mind Action: What is one calm, clear-headed, laser-focused action
you can take in the next 48 hours to step out of survival mode and toward your
purposeful choice?
●
When you shifted to the perspective of your 95-year-old self, what was the
biggest 'lie' or fear your Saboteur was telling you that suddenly lost its power?
Homework
●
Continue your Three-Fold Practice
Saboteur "Safest Path" Interception
This exercise targets the specific Saboteurs that block clear discernment, such as the
Judge or Controller.
●
The Task: Reflect on a situation where you feel "stuck" or paralyzed by a
●
decision.
The Impact: Create a "Discernment Map" with the following four columns:
○
The Saboteur’s Advice: Describe the "safest" path your Saboteur is
pushing you toward and the real fear (like loss of status or security) hiding
behind that choice.
○
The Flash Forward: Vividly imagine yourself at age 95 looking back at
this moment; from that peaceful vantage point, which path leads to the life
of greatest meaning and least regret?
○
The Wise Mind’s Insight: Using that end-of-life clarity, if you viewed this
current challenge as a gift or opportunity, what path would you truly
choose?
○
The First Step: Identify the single first action step on the path you’ve
discerned and write down exactly what you will say to tell your Saboteurs

OVERVIEW

Review
Let’s take a quick moment to review where we’ve been. We’ve talked about two control
centers between our ears. Our Saboteurs, located in our “lizard brain” , seek to protect
us by constantly scanning for and exaggerating danger. They tend to keep us small,
risk-avoidant, and stuck in emotions like guilt, shame, fear and anxiety.
Our Wise Mind, located in the pre-frontal cortex, is where clarity, peace, joy and focused
action are located.
We are naturally and neurologically wired to default to the Lizard Brain. That’s where the
phrase, “Our minds are Velcro for negativity and Teflon for positivity” comes from. But
we’ve learned how to quiet those Saboteur voices and Shift to the Wise Mind. We do
that through a three-fold process:
●
Awareness - we quickly become aware when we’ve been hijacked by our
Saboteurs.
●
Label - we label which Saboteur(s) are chirping, creating a healthy distance
between ourselves and those negative thoughts.
●
Shift - through mindfulness or embodied presence, train our brains to dwell in the
present moment and Shift the control to our Wise Mind. 15 minutes a day of
practice has been shown to literally rewire our brains.
And then we explored what we’re calling the Superpowers of the Wise Mind and the
“power moves” that help us to utilize those powers.
The first superpower is EMPATHY, the ultimate antidote to our Judge. Empathy is
feeling with another person. We access empathy by visualizing the child—either
ourselves or someone else. Doing so moves us from judgment to seeing the beautiful
essence and innocence beneath the flaws. This "power move" stops us from being
so harsh and allows us to see the good stuff in ourselves and others, even when things
are difficult.
The second superpower is WONDER, the antidote to jumping to narrow, negative
conclusions. While the Saboteur brain tries to lock us into a "this or that" mentality—like
staying in a miserable job or quitting with no plan—Wonder opens up the field of
possibility. We access this power by asking, "What else is possible here?" and
challenging ourselves to find three or even five hidden opportunities within a
difficult situation. Doing so moves us from the restrictive "reptile brain" to a state of
expansive curiosity, ensuring we don't settle for the first fear-based option that
appears.
Today, we’re focusing on the third superpower: DISCERNMENT, the choosing step that
provides us with a compass for navigating uncertainty. While our Saboteurs scream for
immediate security and the approval of others, Discernment connects us to an internal
compass based on our core values and life’s purpose. We access this power through
"Flashing Forward"—vividly imagining ourselves at the very end of our lives looking
back at the choice at hand. Doing so moves us from fear-based paralysis to a place
of deep-seated clarity and fulfillment, allowing us to choose the path that resonates
with our highest integrity rather than the one that simply feels the safest in the moment.
To connect with this Superpower I asked you to come today with a situation, a
decision…past or present…that had or has you feeling stuck, unsure about what
direction to go. In your small groups today I’ll ask you to briefly explain that situation and
then dive into the questions.

GROUP CONVERSATIONS (5 Minutes)

Tell me something good that’s happened since our last session.
How did your three-fold practice go this week?
●
Which part of the practice are you finding most difficult?
●
Which mindfulness activity are you finding most helpful?
●
What cues are you using to remind you to practice?
●
What are you noticing about your mental fitness?
Homework
Your homework was to engage the Wise Mind’s powers of Empathy, Wonder and Discernment
throughout the week.
●
Share an experience in which you engaged in those powers.
●
How did your practice impact your circumstances?
●
What worked and what didn’t work?
●
What would you do differently next time?
The Wise Mind and Unleash
●
How would you describe the Unleash power?
●
When you know the best course of action but don’t take it, what is the first lie or
fear your Saboteur tends to whisper to derail you?
●
Beyond high stakes, where in your daily routine do your Saboteurs cause you to
"choke," creating a gap between your insight and your action?
●
Name one action that aligns with your core values but is currently being
paralyzed by fear.
●
What wisdom does your older, wiser self offer about the fear of failure versus the
regret of inaction?
●
If you remove the pressure for a specific result (like reconciliation), what is the
single, highest-integrity action you are now free to take?
●
How do you notice, label, and use a mindful breath mid-action to intercept a
Saboteur attack when your pulse is already racing?
●
Describe the physical feeling—the sensation of freedom—when you've
successfully intercepted a Saboteur and acted decisively. How can you
intentionally generate that feeling?
●
The path to Unleash is to be at your best with the things you can control. What is
one small element of your current challenge that is entirely within your control?
●
The Judge will try to make matters worse. What specific instruction must you give
your Judge before your next difficult conversation to keep it silent and focused?
Course Wrap Up
●
●
●
What have you learned about yourself through this course?
What’s been most impactful for you…and how have you been impacte

OVERVIEW

Review
Let’s take a quick moment to review where we’ve been. We’ve talked about two control
centers between our ears. Our Saboteurs, located in our “lizard brain” , seek to protect
us by constantly scanning for and exaggerating danger. They tend to keep us small,
risk-avoidant, and stuck in emotions like guilt, shame, fear and anxiety.
Our Wise Mind, located in the pre-frontal cortex, is where clarity, peace, joy and focused
action are located.
We are naturally and neurologically wired to default to the Lizard Brain. That’s where the
phrase, “Our minds are Velcro for negativity and Teflon for positivity” comes from. But
we’ve learned how to quiet those Saboteur voices and Shift to the Wise Mind. We do
that through a three-fold process:
●
Awareness - we quickly become aware when we’ve been hijacked by our
Saboteurs.
●
Label - we label which Saboteur(s) are chirping, creating a healthy distance
between ourselves and those negative thoughts.
●
Shift - through mindfulness or embodied presence, train our brains to dwell in the
present moment and Shift the control to our Wise Mind. 15 minutes a day of
practice has been shown to literally rewire our brains.
And then we explored what we’re calling the Superpowers of the Wise Mind and the
“power moves” that help us to utilize those powers.
The first superpower is EMPATHY, the ultimate antidote to our Judge. Empathy is
feeling with another person. We access empathy by visualizing the child—either
ourselves or someone else. Doing so moves us from judgment to seeing the beautiful
essence and innocence beneath the flaws. This "power move" stops us from being
so harsh and allows us to see the good stuff in ourselves and others, even when things
are difficult.
The second superpower is WONDER, the antidote to jumping to narrow, negative
conclusions. While the Saboteur brain tries to lock us into a "this or that" mentality—like
staying in a miserable job or quitting with no plan—Wonder opens up the field of
possibility. We access this power by asking, "What else is possible here?" and
challenging ourselves to find three or even five hidden opportunities within a
difficult situation. Doing so moves us from the restrictive "reptile brain" to a state of
expansive curiosity, ensuring we don't settle for the first fear-based option that
appears.
Today, we’re focusing on the third superpower: DISCERNMENT, the choosing step that
provides us with a compass for navigating uncertainty. While our Saboteurs scream for
immediate security and the approval of others, Discernment connects us to an internal
compass based on our core values and life’s purpose. We access this power through
"Flashing Forward"—vividly imagining ourselves at the very end of our lives looking
back at the choice at hand. Doing so moves us from fear-based paralysis to a place
of deep-seated clarity and fulfillment, allowing us to choose the path that resonates
with our highest integrity rather than the one that simply feels the safest in the moment.
To connect with this Superpower I asked you to come today with a situation, a
decision…past or present…that had or has you feeling stuck, unsure about what
direction to go. In your small groups today I’ll ask you to briefly explain that situation and
then dive into the questions.

GROUP CONVERSATIONS (5 Minutes)

Opening Check-In (5-10 minutes)
1. Looking back over the last three months, where have you noticed Mental Fitness
showing up most in your life?
2. What Mental Fitness concept has been most useful to you so far?
3. What has been harder to maintain than you expected
Saboteur Awareness (10 minutes)
6. Which of your Saboteurs has been showing up most frequently lately?
7. What are the early warning signs that tell you a Saboteur is taking over?
. 8. What situation at home or at work consistently activates one of your Saboteurs?
9. Which Saboteur do you think has the greatest impact on your leadership
effectiveness?
10. Which Saboteur do you think others notice before you do?
Follow-up Question
"Can anyone share a recent example where you recognized a Saboteur in real time?"
Application to Fire Service Leadership (10-15 minutes)
12. Think about a difficult leadership conversation you've had recently. How might
your Wise Mind have approached it differently?
13. Where do you find it hardest to access Sage during your workday?
14. How has Mental Fitness influenced the way you respond to mistakes made by
others?
15. How has it influenced the way you respond to your own mistakes?
16. What leadership challenge currently requires more Sage and less Saboteur?
17. When you're operating under pressure, what does your leadership look like when
you're operating from the Wise Mind?
18. How does a leader's Saboteur impact the culture of a station or shift?
Peer Learning Question
"What is one practical strategy you've discovered for catching yourself before a
Saboteur takes control?"
Commitment and Growth (5 minutes)
24. What is one situation you know you'll face in the next week where you want to
be more intentional about using Mental Fitness?
a. Which Saboteur do you think is most likely to show up?
b. What's your plan for shifting to the Wise Mind?
Closing Question
"Three months from now, what would tell you that Mental Fitness has become
more than a program and is actually changing the way you lead and live?"