By Lori Hanson
Do you remember being told by your teacher (or parents) to focus? I can still hear the words, “focus, focus!” being shouted at me. Concentration wasn’t something I came blessed with. Often when I was practicing violin or piano or reading several chapters of my homework my mind was off somewhere else.
Do you know where your mind is most of the time? What do you think about, what thoughts occupy the bulk of your day? Do you spend all your time keeping score and writing a mental list of everything that went wrong or didn’t happen the way you wanted it to? Do you spend time engaging in idle gossip or talking about people you don’t like and what they do that irritates you? Some people get caught up in everything that goes wrong at the office. How they are mistreated by their co-workers and not appreciated. (I hear that one a lot.) Then they spend time scheming how they will outsmart or get back at someone who “did them wrong”. Could it be your children that keep you in fits of anger, frustration and score keeping on how awful and misbehaving they are?
Ever stop to think about where all this focus takes you and what it does to you? Not just mentally, but physically. Many individuals don’t think they are “negative”, but their conversations say otherwise. By continually focusing on everything that’s wrong you will continue find lots of things wrong. And you’ll increase the amount of stress in your life because of the state of agitation you exist in. This also affects your ability to be happy because when we continue to keep score of all the wrongs it’s hard to even connect with what’s right or working.
What if you Flipped it? Make a conscious effort to make mental note throughout the day of all the things that feel good, turn out better than expected, and appreciate what’s right in your life.
Start when you first get out of bed in the morning. Take a minute to consciously position your mindset for the day. Make a choice to look for a little surprise everyday. Maybe it’s someone you meet who has information you were looking for or can introduce you to someone who can help you. Maybe it’s as little as being on the freeway and getting to your destination quicker than expected despite the traffic. Or your child surprises you by cleaning up their room without being asked. If you change your focus and look for a daily surprise you’ll find they are always there.
The benefits of this approach is that you’ll feel much better both mentally and physically. When you change your focus to notice the things that make you feel good and what’s “right” you’ll eliminate stress, improve your relationships, your self-esteem and outlook on life.
So Flip it!
In peace, balance and health,
For more information on how to apply these principles in your life visit www.Learn2Balance.com. While you’re there subscribe to our newsletter and be entered to win an MP3 copy of It Started With Pop-Tarts!
