Hey there, it's Dr. Susan Peirce Thompson, and in this week's vlog, I'm going to share with you one of my very, very favorite sayings ever, and I think it's one that I came up with. I mean, I'm not a hundred percent sure about that, but I do think it is. How could I not be sure? Well, because most of what I pass on, I got from somewhere like I heard it somewhere. I mean, we're all standing on the shoulders of giants here, right? I've been doing my inner work and in 12-step rooms and reading books and going to seminars for 31 years, striving to improve myself on this path of life. So, I've heard a lot of things from a lot of places, but I do think I came up with this and here's the saying. You ready? Oh my gosh, you ready? When you become aware, you become responsible. Now, the corollary to this is also true. I believe when you are not aware, you are not responsible. Now, that one can be debated. There's no courtroom here, but there are implications for your Bright Journey and for your life right now as we stand on the cusp of 2026.
Let me give you a concrete example of how this pertains to a very practical reality. In the Bright Journey, someone wrote in recently, and they described a scenario that they were a flutter about. What had happened was they were Bright. They were loving being Bright. It meant the world to them to be Bright, and they ate out and there was a grain. They got grain, they were in Maintenance. They got grain for their lunch, and there was some couscous and then some protein and some cooked vegetable. In this bowl, it was Bright. They ate the food and they got home and learned that couscous is essentially little balls of pasta and there's wheat flour in it because that's what it is. It's little balls of pasta. It's not quinoa, it's not millet or amaranth or these other tiny little bald grains that are just whole grains. It's actually like just little pasta. They didn't know. They didn't know, and they were writing to me, expressing their distress. Now, they were also saying they weren't starting counting their days over, but it was clear that they were distressed, that they had eaten the stuff that they didn't know contained flour. And if they had had this saying, when you become aware, you become responsible, I think it might have calmed some of that distress. They weren't aware. They thought it was a whole grain. They thought it was Bright. Now, from that moment that they learned from then on, they will choose not to eat couscous. I have no doubt. I have no doubt, no worries. Prior to knowing any couscous consumed is not an issue. They didn't know.
When you become aware, you become responsible. I have, at a party, reached down for my Dixie cup of my sparkling water and put it to my lips, and it was Sprite. It was a NMD. Very clearly not my drink, but when I become aware, I become responsible. The next sip is on me. I didn't take the next sip. I put that sucker down and went to the bathroom and washed my mouth out to the best of my ability, yuck, and didn't feel very good for the rest of the night because that little swig that had gone down my gullet before I even realized it. Ooh, that stuff hit my system. But it didn't trigger cravings because I wasn't intending to consume it addictively. The brain knows the difference. The brain knows the difference. When you become aware, you become responsible. It was the second sip that I never took. That would've been the break in the Bright Lines. When you become aware, you become responsible.
Now, I don't usually like to date my vlogs, but this one is coming out right at the precipice of 2026, a whole brand new year, and for lots of people watching and listening who are not Bright right now, but know about Bright Line Eating®, maybe have tried Bright Line Eating before or maybe have kept themselves from trying Bright Line Eating before. I'm talking to you. When you become aware, you become responsible also applies to you now because if you know that there's a better way to live with food, then the path you're on right now, that awareness makes you responsible for doing something about it. Even if you're scared. Even if you're scared of failing. Even if you're tired of failing. Even if you imagine you'll fail. Even if it all feels overwhelming. Even if you can't imagine trying something that feels this rigorous. Even if you don't feel up to it. Even if you feel like you've tried and you're not sure whether it'll work. Even if. When you become aware that there is a path that when you just follow it produces positive results of the sort that would benefit you, you become responsible and deep down, you will be holding yourself accountable for not taking small actions that you could take on your own behalf. You will be watching. That's just how it works. I'm not trying to put inner critics in your head. I'm just saying this is how it works. This is how psychology works. We watch our behavior. It's called Self-Perception Theory by Daryl Bem Cornell University. We watch our behavior and we conclude what kind of person we are, based on what we see ourselves doing or not doing.
If you know that there's something you could and should be doing on your own behalf to ease your suffering, to be on a Brighter path, to be doing better by yourself and you are not doing it, you will be holding yourself accountable for that. You will be concluding things like, I must not love myself. I must not trust myself. I must not really want what's best for me. I must be living in a state of fear. The good news is when you take small actions, those thoughts start to dissipate and you start to think, oh, I'm someone who's showing up for herself or himself. Now I'm someone who wants to be moving in a better direction. I am someone who is becoming more capable. I'm someone who is becoming more courageous. All it takes to instigate that narrative is just one or two little baby steps in the right direction a row, and you watch yourself take them. That's all it takes.
I have a suggestion for you right now for a little baby step you could take. I created a Masterclass. It's called the 2026 Bright Breakthrough Masterclass: Lose the Weight, Own Your Year. It's brand new, I just created it for you. It's running nonstop right now. You can access it anytime. It's under an hour. It's like a mini masterclass, and if you click down below, you'll get to watch it because when you become aware, you become responsible. I just ruined you. Now you're aware that this Masterclass exists. You now become responsible if you know yourself to be someone who should watch it. If you're not someone who should watch it, you're not responsible for watching it according to you. If you know you should be watching it according to you, then you are now responsible for watching it. That's how it works. When you become aware, you become responsible. It's awful. It's awful. But we do. We hold ourselves responsible for things that we know we need to be doing as soon as we know we need to be doing them.
It's the amazing thing about accountability. When you're not aware, you're not responsible. When you become aware, you become responsible. That goes for deciding what's to break often. It goes for deciding when it's time to take action. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on your point of view, it's time to take action. The moment you're aware that action needs to be taken on your own behalf, from then on, you are accountable. You are responsible. I'm sorry, it's just the truth. So, if you are someone who needs to be doing something different in 2026, I got you covered. I got a short little video for you to watch. It's like 50ish minutes or something. And if you watch it and by the end of it you're like, this doesn't pertain to me, this is not my path for 2026, you will not be responsible for any further baby steps. If it is your path, you will then be responsible for taking actions. But the good news is that those actions will probably be joyous. They will connect you up with us, and we're just not so bad. We're really sweet to hang out with, and I would love to be spending more time with you in 2026. Click if you want to feel called, if you feel like this message might've been for you, and if it's not for you, then awesome. Have a wonderful 2026. I love you. I hope we'll get to see more of you in 2026 in these vlogs or otherwise. Be well, my dear. So much love. I'll see you in 2026.
