Managing the mind…
You would think managing your mind is the most natural thing to do…..surely. We do it every day. Right?
I mean, to a point. If we explore how our feelings and emotions impact so much of us - excitement gives us butterflies, worry gives us a knot in our stomach and often a worse case scenario runs through our mind.
When we allow and entertain these thoughts and emotions, our body lives through it even though it’s just a thought. Our body doesn’t know the difference between a thought and something we’re literally living. Granted it’s likely we’re living through that thought at maybe a slightly lesser intensity. But that is still a stress on the body.
We’re all guilty of it and under stressful circumstances it becomes harder to stop those negative thoughts and feelings. Here in NZ the cost of living has increased, money isn’t going as far and a lot of people are feeling the financial pinch. This has impacted my business, as it has impacted my clients and it is a very real stress on us. Now we have just come out of the summer holidays here in NZ. A lot of people have spent a lot over the holidays/Christmas plus weddings, festivals and events ets. So it is usually a bit quieter at the start of the year however - this year has been one of the hardest in my career, because adding to that is a huge increase in the cost of living. It has been tougher to keep my mind from worrying. Worrying or being anxious in a lot of situations isn’t at all helpful to get you out of those situations.
Reigning in these thoughts is one of the toughest tasks - logically we want to prepare ourselves for the worst - right? Well. How about this…..we’ll take this situation I’ve spoken of. Would this have been better? - to look at the situation, understand what has gotten us here - we know it isn’t irresponsible spending or being frivolous, it’s a little out of our control, so we can make a plan and control what we can. Where can we reduce outgoings and cut back. We can know that this is a quiet period and it will pick up. In the meantime taking initiative to look at where else I can earn so money - what are my other skills. If we can live off what we’re making currently - where else can I be productive and driven. Deliberately having positive thoughts - on purpose can be one of the most liberating things you can do in a situation that can otherwise be consumed with worry. Knowing that I’m making change where I can, and doing all I can to bring in more money and be as productive as I can whilst we move through this quiet time.
Deliberately going to the positive and productive rather than the negative. It will take effort in the initial period because you won’t be used to it. It will be creating a new neural pathway and we need to make that pathway bigger so it becomes the default. In time the negative thought route will become an overgrown under used walkway that gets forgotten. Try it. deliberately go to the positive and productive and see how much lighter you feel.
It is something to keep working on always, it will never negatively impact you if it keeps you in the light, driven and in a positive mindset. See where else you can use deliberate productive and positive thoughts - and always only control what is yours to control.
Tell me about some of your situations that you’ve really battled with the negative thoughts or succeeded with deliberate positive thinking? I’d love to hear about it.