Is it just me? Or does it appear that life right now is being defined by a series of ‘Hallmark moments’? It starts way back in October when we are bombarded by the merchandise and drama related to Halloween, then as soon as that is over, the Christmas trees start popping up everywhere. Early Jan, the shops start filling up with all kinds of merchandise for Valentine’s Day – and I guess by the end of this week, the shelves will be filled with Easter eggs. What a strange way to live our lives.
But before we all rush off towards the next ‘Hallmark moment’, I’d like to invite you to consider a valentine break up. With yourself. Well not entirely. This breakup extends only to a very small part of yourself. A part of yourself that you may not even realise, determines so much of your everyday experience.
The stories we make up in our head.
I’m inviting you to break up with the part of yourself for whom these ‘stories’ are filled with negativity. Given everything that is going on in the world right now (outside of those Hallmark moments) I think it’s more important than ever before, to remind ourselves of the incredible power that lies in Mastering our Mindset.
In taking control of our thoughts. Free of the negativity they often bring.
In understanding – it is your thoughts that drive your feelings, and those feelings which will dictate your actions in any given moment.
Strange though it may seem, we humans continually invest time and effort in doing things that make ourselves feel BAD. I mean seriously… we do things every day to make ourselves feel bad.
For example – you receive a text message from a friend, partner or family member that upsets you. Why do we insist on reading and re-reading it 100 times? Why not just delete it, release the anger, hurt or pain and move on?
Why do you visit the Facebook page of a former friend or partner and get angry or jealous because (it appears) that they are having a whale of a time, now that they are no longer a part of your life?
We compare OUR lives to theirs and assume that (since their social media suggests they have it all together) that we must have been the ‘bad guy’ in the relationship.
Or we start future-tripping about how things may (or may not) turn out if we take a certain path.
Why do we do these things? Can you see from the examples just how unhelpful this is? Have you ever been guilty of this kind of behaviour?
Can’t you see that the only person hurting here, is YOU?
The stories we tell ourselves about our circumstances, about others, and about life in general, can drastically change how we feel moment by moment. If the stories are positive, we tend to feel good. If the stories are negative, then it follows that we will start to feel bad.
AWARENESS is the first step to change and so all you have to do in the first instance, is to notice your thoughts. Once you become aware of them, you can start to assess whether they are helping or hurting you. And where appropriate, change them.
There are some people who always look at things in a positive way. They have an ability to frame any situation in a way that leaves them feeling empowered and strong. They can take a seemingly negative situation and re-frame it to find the positive. For these people, the glass is always half full, no matter how empty it may look to everyone else.
As highly intelligent individuals, we ALL have the ability (and the opportunity) to REFRAME any situation to create a different perspective. The details of your present reality matter, and of course make a difference, but generally speaking, you’re not going to have a good day today if you continually tell yourself otherwise (i.e. thinking bad thoughts).
Because the stories we tell ourselves don’t just change how we FEEL – they have the power to change what we see, what we experience, and what we know to be true.
Your experience of life is primarily affected by the perspective you view it from. Depending upon the meaning we give to situations or events, we all feel and behave differently, and so each of us leaves this shared experience with a slightly different perception of what just happened.
And sometimes that slight difference makes all the difference in the world.
So, start today. Break up with the negativity and don’t ever look back.
Change your thoughts and you can change your life.
FREEDOM is only ever a thought away.
x Until next time, sending you love x
I would love to get to know you more, connect with me here.
