What do the previous exercises have to do with wanting and discovering more to life? First I want you to see how powerfully the thoughts that you’re thinking impact what you have in your life. (And no this is not just think positive thoughts and you’ll be happy.)
Second, just like when you need to figure out directions to a new location, you’ve got to know where you are in order to get to where you want to go.
That begs the questions – where do you want to go?! All in good time – look for this in my next blog.
You’ve taken stock of some common repetitive thoughts coming up in your mind. You may have had some big ‘Aha’s!’ about thoughts that you know aren’t serving you, but you’re not sure what to do about it. I want to tell you briefly about how this process works.
As humans, our minds are very powerful. Not only do we have the ability to notice the thoughts running through our mind, we also have the ability to change those thoughts if we want and think other thoughts on purpose. This is so important because the thoughts that you have ultimately drive everything you have in your life. How? By impacting how you feel. Why does that matter? Because how you feel determines what you do or don’t do in your life.
For example, sometimes I’ll be working on a task at work and I’ll notice I’m repeating the simple sentence “I’m tired” or “I’m so tired” over and over in my mind. Yet I know I got a good night of sleep and I’m not physically tired. As soon as I notice myself doing this, I stop and evaluate what’s going on. I ask myself where is that coming from? Am I really tired or is something else going on here? Nine times out of 10 I’m simply bored or restless. (Of course thinking “this is boring” doesn’t help any either.) But it’s incredibly distracting and makes me feel slow and dull. When I feel slow and dull, I don’t accomplish much. I end up having a tired, boring time, while making it harder to finish the task at hand.
But when I interrupt that thought and decide how I want to feel, (is it excited, motivated, determined, etc.?), I then ask what do I need to think in order to feel that way. Let’s say it’s a task I’m not particularly excited about doing, but I know it needs to get done. Perhaps I’ll choose to feel determined. And I may change my thought to something like: “I’m going to get this done in x minutes and do quality work.” This evokes a feeling for me of being determined, and I end up generating more focus and energy that wasn’t there before. I have the benefit of doing the task well and enjoying the process more than I would have by thinking, “I’m tired.”
How about this one? “This is all life has to offer.” I don’t know about you but this thought makes me want to poke my eye out with a fork. Regardless of how you define ‘this’, thinking “This is all life has to offer,” is very limiting and demotivating. It sure doesn’t make me want to even imagine what’s possible, let alone take any action toward something more.
What if I start to intentionally think – “I know there is more to life.” This is a simple thought, yet it makes me get curious and inquisitive, and to go in search of what might be.
Now for some of you this concept of thinking a specific thought to generate a feeling, which then leads you to certain action, is not new. Nonetheless this can be really difficult to navigate on our own – so reach out to me and I will help you! For others, this concept may be new and you sort of see it, but you’re not convinced – again reach out to me for a free consult. There’s no obligation, you’ve got nothing to lose, and possibly the rest of your life to gain!