What you thinking?

1st September 2016

It's not about controlling your thoughts, it's about guiding your thoughts more in the direction you are wanting to go in.

We are not our thoughts, we are not our emotions, they come and go!  If we can learn that, it really does make life easier to handle.  There is this place of awareness, of peace and contentment where we see things in a different way, the more time we spend in this place the easier our lives appear whether they are or not.  We can believe anything we tell ourselves enough!

Struggling with that concept are you?  Think for a moment of the last time you had a really good day, you know how it goes, you get up and everything goes good, nothing marvelous may happen, you just have a good day, no arguments, no grumpiness, no dramas, the day just went well, heck you may have even stuck to your Smart Points without really having to try very hard.  We've all had days like that, sometimes they're followed by a crap day, nothing seems to go right, everything's a big pile of poo, nothing major happens but it's all just bleugh!  It's all in the way we choice to deal with those days that makes them what they are, our thoughts, our emotions, remember they come and go.  It's really important to remember that so you don't get trapped in a downward spiral and feel that there's no way out.

Let's throw another curveball into it - you're not your body either!

Here's a good exercise to do, bare with me, pay attention to your thoughts - what are you thinking right now?  Got it?  Good!

Ready for another - what are you feeling right now?  What's your main emotion? 

Still with me, I know it's early but stay with me.  Here's a puzzler, if you lost your little finger in an accident, would you still be you?  Or put another way, since every cell in your body replaces itself every 7-10 years, or sooner, at any point do you stop being you? 

Out there or what!  I know it's Thursday morning and it's all a bit - wath!  But it's good to accept and acknowledge, especially as we're starting a new month, let's start it with a difference train of thought.

We have thoughts, if you become aware of them, then you are not your houghts, you have them but you're not them.  Which implies you can change them!

Emotions, well we may say "I am angry" but in other countries such has France and Germany the say "I have anger", that makes more sense as they are emotions we have rather than are. 

The body things well we have that physical body but there's so much more going on there for sure.

And...

Are you bored yet?

Don't be, just think if we're not out thoughts we can change them, let them go, same with our emotions, how good is it to know that if a thought is annoying you or getting you down you can just say, NO MORE!  You don't HAVE TO keep thinking them!  Stop focusing on that subject, let it go, decide to drop it.  If it's not that easy, distract yourself with something else, something more pleasurable.  After all, who's in control, you or your thoughts?

It works for me, I have this conversation I have with myself when something is really playing on my mind or when something's happened that has either upset me or I'm struggling to deal with, it does something like this, I stop and say "this will pass, there will come a time when you don't think about this at all, it may take time but it will happen" then I remind myself of a previously awful time or situation that consumed me at some time in my past (I actually have one really awful time that lasted quite a while and deeply affected me) and acknowledge that I rarely think about it now and when I do it isn't with those same emotions and thoughts.  Then I know I can change my thoughts and this emotion will pass.

Don't get me wrong, feeling negative thoughts or emotions isn't something we shouldn't do but do it knowing you can move on at any time.  You don't have to keep having those thoughts or emotions, you're free to move forward any time you like.

Once you acknowledge that emotions and thoughts are not you, just things happening to you, it's a real positive step forward, you're taking away their power to control your life and how you behave. 

Knowing this can help you in so many parts of your life, especially your weight loss journey, how many people reading this are thinking "I just can't do it" about their weight loss journey (including me quite often), well guess what, that's just a thought and you can change it at any time!  Change it right now and decide to have a good day, one where you're going to track, make wise food choices, tell any negative thoughts to do one because you're on a mission to lose weight this week.

 Start paying attention to what you're thinking, start taking a step back when thought or emotions start to run away from you, then choice to let them go and replace them with something more comfortable. 

I'm going to practice this today, are you?   You can blame my meditation session this morning for this blog I'm happy to say :) 

Happy Thursday BeYOUtiful, think happy thoughts today xx