We all want to become better versions of ourselves: happier, thinner, calmer, whatever fits into your personal definition of “better.”

But actually transforming from the person you are now into the person you wish to become is easier said than done. Transformation takes a lot of work in multiple areas of your life, but arguably all the work takes place in your mind.

And that’s why it’s so freakin’ hard.

Your mind, your consciousness, resides in your brain.

Your brain is a computer, and your brain is programmed with two goals in mind:

1. Keep you safe.
2. Keep you alive.

The purpose is not to keep you healthy and happy. While it would seem as though being healthy is imperative for you to be alive, your brain prioritises safety over everything else, including long term wellness, your overall longevity, and definitely over your happiness.

Your brain is always making decisions in the moment that will keep you safe in the moment.

Sure, your brain’s programming will also make decisions that will affect you in the short term — the coming days and weeks, and those decisions can and do have long term ramifications, but that’s not what your brain is concerned about.

Are you safe right now? If your brain interprets that you’re not, your subconscious programming will start making decisions and taking actions to ensure that you are safe right now.

When you embark on a journey of transformation and growth, your mind has to actively overcome your brain’s subconscious programming.

Growth and transformation is hard because your brain’s subconscious safety-oriented programming is very, very strong.

This programming says doing what you’re doing is comfortable. It may not be the healthiest thing for you; it may not be the happiest thing for you. But, your brain knows that what you’re doing right now is safe.

 After all, it hasn’t killed you yet, so everything’s fine.

The more you stay in your comfort zone, the more you’re reinforcing that belief with your subconscious programming.

Thanks to a lifetime of reinforcing the programming, the programming is much, much stronger than your will.

In order to grow, in order to change, your mind has to work against your brain’s primary objective to keep you safe.

Even if you hit rock bottom and decide, “Screw it. Today’s the day I get my life together” you still have to battle your subconscious programming until you successfully prove to your brain that the new way of doing things isn’t going to kill you; it’s safe.

Every step of the way you have to advocate for your transformation and growth to your brain. Which, again, is easier said than done, because your brain is a tricky bitch.

Your brain is really good at justifying your behaviour, your habits, your attitudes. Beyond that, your brain is great at making up excuses every time your mind starts question things.

This, dear one, is why divination is such a powerful tool for transformation.

When you start exploring divination, your mind is going beyond your brain’s programming. Your mind is burrowing through the programming that’s keeping you safe and uncovering the reasons, the stories, the histories, the trauma, that made your brain go into protector mode.

Armed with this information, your mind can start the hard work of battling your mind as you go through your transformation.

Divination like tarot cards, runes, tea leaf reading…is a great tool to get insight into why you’ve been programmed to do what you do, and also uncover what you’d rather be doing instead. Once you have this information, you can start rewriting your brain’s programming instead of letting your default programming run you.