You are listening to the Take a Break podcast with Rachel Hart episode 138.

Whether you want to drink less or stop drinking, this podcast will help you change the habit from the inside out.

We're challenging conventional wisdom about why people drink and why it can be hard to resist temptation.

No labels, no judgment, just practical tools to take control of your desire and stop worrying about your drinking.

Now here's your host, Rachel Hart.

Well, hello everybody.

So listen, the last couple episodes I have been talking to you guys about what is really necessary if you want to take a successful break from drinking.

So we've been talking about full proof resolutions. We've also been talking about one of the worst pieces of advice that I ever got around changing my drinking.

I know a lot of you are using this month. You're using September as your new new year instead of waiting for months for January 1st to roll around and decide, okay, now I'm ready to change my drinking.

You're actually using September as a fresh start so that you can take a break and learn what's really behind the habit and because of that, because so many of you are using September in this way, I want to talk to you about a concept called obstacle mirages, which is really going to build on what I have been teaching you about how to set a goal and really help ensure that you meet it.

If you are not yet taking a break from drinking, there's still time September is still new. You can still get on the September is a new January bandwagon. Don't ever tell yourself too late.

And in fact, if you are telling yourself right now, I don't know, it's not the right time already a week has passed in the month.

Today's episode is going to be especially important for you. But listen, even if you're not setting a resolution around your drinking this month, you have got to understand the concept of obstacle mirages because they are going to appear with every single goal you have in your life.

If they don't just appear in the realm of drinking, obstacle mirages are simply an obstacle that your brain believes is standing in your way. It's blocking success.

And you will swear up and down that the obstacle is real and it's holding you back. But in reality, that obstacle isn't there. It isn't blocking your way at all. It is simply a mirage.

Just think of mirages that you see out in nature. So everyone has seen a mirage before. Think of a time when you're maybe driving down a road, it's really hot and in the distance.

You see a shimmering pool of water across the road. Now you aren't hallucinating. Your brain really does see this image of a pool of water.

But it's a mirage. There isn't any water spilling across the road. It's simply the result of something called a light refraction, which is just a fancy way of saying that the image that you see the mirage is the product of rays of light that are bending.

So normally a ray of light travels through the air in a straight line. But sometimes when the conditions are right, that ray will bend and curve.

And the result of that is a mirage will be produced. That's what your brain will see down the road.

So that pool of water, that lake of water that you see up ahead is actually a refracted image of the sky.

So you see the sky above you, but you also see a refracted image of it on the ground, which is why it looks like you're going to drive your car into a pool of water.

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