Tag: #positivity

Purposeful Rise: a choice to feel better

“The thought manifests as the word; The word as the deed; the deed developes into habit; and the habit hardens into character … as the shadow follows the body – as we think, so we become. ” -Buddha

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Post by:   Tracy Weaver, Life Coach, EFT Practitioner

All of your emotions, from the best to the worst, are valuable to you. They let you know where you are, what’s going on with you. So, please be easy about them – and you. When you are feeling low, depressed, angry, unappreciated, at least you know what direction you want to head in: feeling better!

Your emotions follow your thoughts. Thoughts always bring in more thoughts of similar kind, feeding the current emotion, making it stronger. When you’re feeling really good, milk your mood! Enjoy it! When your emotional state could stand some improvement, what to do? I mean, just try not thinking about the thing that’s got your attention. Unless you are an accomplished ‘meditator’, your active brain just isn’t going to let you. So what we need is some way to distract that ol’ “monkey mind“.

That’s it! Distraction! Get your brain off one scent and on to another! So okay, you want to feel better, and you want to distract your brain away from its current track of thoughts. Here’s a way. Purposefully turn your attention to gentle, general things you already know make you feel good. Non-challenging things, soothing things. Anything will do for starters. “Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens.” I’m not kidding. If you are free to, go out and treat your physical senses to something that makes you smile and lifts your mood. As you do, you’ll naturally think about it. The first thought will pull in the second thought, the second a third, and as the happier thoughts continue and build, your mood will rise. Milk it, get in the habit of playing the game and celebrate the improvements!

I’m sure it sounds way too simple. But I can tell you from practice and experience that it works, reliably. You won’t leap wildly from dejected apathy to passionate joy. But, you can train your thoughts to move gently upward, a step or two at a time. As your mind gets better at this new skill, you’ll have a great tool to move on that new path upward to where you really want to live. And your thoughts will change.

Our Thanks to Tracy for contributing!

 

Clouds & Being There

I want real things –
live people to take hold of
to see-
and to talk to-
Music that makes holes in the sky-

Georgia O’Keeffe

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Finding the Positivity in today:

  1.  Think of the things that make you feel grateful.  This can be and is encouraged to be simple.  Is there a warm cup of tea or coffee in your day?  Can you feel your feet on the ground when you stand?  Are you able to feel the breath in your body?  Each and every moment has something for which you can feel gratitude, if you choose.
  2.  Spend time focusing on these things and minimize anything in your thinking that does not make you feel good.  If you have a tendency to fixate on problems you can practice minimizing by recognizing the thought when it comes, acknowledge it with words like “I see you there”, and then dismiss the thought that diminishes your happiness by releasing it.  Learning to use the mind as a tool takes practice and will become easier with time.  Know that you are responsible for your thoughts and what you allow to be present in your thinking.  You deserve to focus the majority of your thoughts with areas that are uplifting, tapping into an internal source which flows compassion for humanity.
  3.  Write down the things you are thankful for each day and take note of how this feels.  Try it for a week and recognize if there is a change in your ‘being’.