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Is your mind full of flowers,
or is it overgrown with weeds?
Whatever you focus on, you will attract to you.
With this in mind, are you planting, watering and feeding flowers
(positive thoughts), or are you spending time and effort nurturing
weeds (negative thoughts)?!
Keep this in mind as you go about your day. Are you thinking about
everything that's not right or could go wrong, or are you focusing on
the good things in your life, the things you enjoy and make you feel
happy?
Listen hard enough and you'll hear your own story ... and those of
others too. What do you say to yourself? Do you give yourself
encouragement to achieve, and support to continue whether you're doing
well or not? Or do you ignore what you do well and beat yourself up for
everything else?
What you say to yourself will have the greatest impact on you. You
listen to your inner voice far more than you listen to anyone or
anything else - even your coach if you have one!
And what your inner voice says really depends on your past - your
experiences and memories. If you had a good childhood where you were
well cared for supported and encouraged, you're likely to have a
positive outlook. But if you were teased, bullied or mistreated on a
regular basis, you may well have a pretty negative outlook.
Whatever your outlook, you can change how you feel by changing your
focus. Here are three simple exercises which can turn your life around.
Exercise 1
Start by just watching yourself and listening to what you say. Think
about how you'd feel if your closest friends said the sort of things
you say to yourself. Or how they'd feel/react if you said the same
things to them. Would it have a positive impact, or would you be
undermining them? Whatever impact you think it would have on others, it
will have a similar effect on you.
You may be shocked by your discoveries during this exercise, or you may
be fairly well aware of how horrible you are to yourself. Whatever the
case, you now have a good starting point.
Exercise 2
Now and again, spend a few minutes just thinking about the things that
make you happy - spending time with your kids (or not as the case may
be!), walking in the countryside, sitting peacefully in your garden
reading a book, or careering around a race track in a go-cart. Find out
what makes you feel good and think about it for a few minutes regularly.
Notice how your mood improves as you think about something you enjoy. You can do this exercise whenever you want to feel better.
Exercise 3
Allow yourself to daydream about the things you want. Daydreams are fun
and uncomplicated, and you can shape them in whatever way you want.
Dream of how you'd like things to be. If you find yourself focusing on
what you haven't got, or the problems around getting it, remind
yourself that in daydreams, things naturally sort themselves out
without any effort from you.
Look for times in your day when you can daydream: when you're on the
train, stuck in traffic, out walking; when you wake up or go to bed;
while you're preparing food or doing housework - or even instead of
reading or watching TV. The great thing about daydreaming is that it
doesn't require a special place or time -you can easily fit it into
moments when you can let your mind wander and play.
In addition to the longer-term-benefits of attracting the things you
want to you by focusing on them, you will also feel the more immediate
benefit of feeling happier because you're thinking about something good.
Don't delay - start today!
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