Unlocking the Mind Made Prison: Rory Thomas Brown Podcast Special

Unlocking the Mind Made Prison

There is a kind of prison you can live inside for years without ever realising the door is unlocked.

It is not created by circumstances, trauma, or even other people.
It is created by the stories you tell yourself about who you are.

In a recent conversation I shared with Rory, we explored this idea deeply. The mind made prison. The invisible constraints that keep people repeating the same patterns while believing they are actively “working on themselves”.

And this is where many women get stuck.

When Identity Becomes the Cage

Rory spoke openly about his experience with eating disorders and body dysmorphia, and something he said landed hard.

Your behaviour with food will always be an energetic match for who you believe yourself to be.

Not who you want to be.
Not who you are trying to become.
But who you currently identify as.

If you see yourself as broken, undisciplined, too much, or never quite enough, your behaviours will unconsciously reinforce that identity. Food, body image, control, restriction, overthinking. These are not random habits. They are expressions of identity.

This is why willpower alone never creates lasting change.
You cannot out behave an identity you have not questioned.

Awareness Is Not the Same as Freedom

There is a moment many women reach where they are deeply self aware. They understand their patterns. They know where they come from. They can explain their triggers in detail.

And yet nothing changes.

As Rory put it, awareness precedes choice, and choice precedes change.

Awareness on its own is not transformation. It is simply illumination. It shows you the walls of the prison, but it does not automatically help you walk out.

Choice is where responsibility enters. And responsibility can feel uncomfortable when the prison has at least been familiar.

The Trap of Constant Self Improvement

One of the most important parts of this conversation was around the idea of self improvement itself.

So many people are endlessly working on themselves, fixing, healing, optimising. But if that work is rooted in the belief that you are not acceptable as you are, it becomes another loop.

Another way to stay trapped.

Rory described how chasing endless improvement can actually block growth, because it keeps reinforcing the idea that you are not enough yet. That you need to become someone else before you are allowed peace.

Real change does not come from endlessly upgrading yourself.
It comes from removing the internal barriers that stop you accepting who you already are.

What Freedom Actually Looks Like

Breaking out of the mind made prison is not about doing more.
It is about seeing differently.

It is about questioning the identity you have been protecting.
It is about noticing where control, perfectionism, or self criticism have become safety mechanisms.
It is about choosing behaviours that align with self respect rather than self punishment.

This is not loud work.
It is not dramatic.
But it is deeply liberating.

When identity shifts, behaviour follows. Not through force, but through alignment.

Final Thoughts

If you feel like you are constantly analysing yourself but never truly changing, this conversation will resonate deeply.

You are not stuck because you are failing.
You are stuck because part of you is still living inside an old story.

And stories can be rewritten.

Listen to the Full Conversation

This blog only scratches the surface.
The full conversation with Rory explores identity, food, self worth, healing culture, and what real freedom actually looks like.

🎧 Listen to the full video episode on Spotify to go deeper into this discussion and hear the nuance, honesty, and depth that cannot be captured fully in writing.

LISTEN HERE 

Sometimes the key is not learning more.
It is hearing the right thing at the right moment.