Why is that two different people can experience exactly the same event, a sudden and dramatic change in circumstances, yet one person takes it in their stride, thrives and sees opportunity, yet the other becomes stressed, feels anxious and powerless? Or take two different experiences; one person loses their fortune yet finds peace and purpose and the other wins the lottery yet becomes distrustful and lonely becoming suspicious of other people’s intentions. Many believe that circumstances and external events determine who we are, that outside factors are controlling our emotions and what we can achieve from life. Circumstances do impact and affect us, but they are not the determining factor on controlling our potential and our quality of life.
We all have our own unique version of reality. As we receive information about our environment through our 5 senses, we unconsciously distort the information through various filters; our beliefs, values, memories, past experiences and emotions. Through these filters we interpret the data and the meanings we assign determine our state of wellbeing. Our entire quality of life is driven by our mindset and the emotional patterns we are running. Whether we are consciously aware of it or not this emotional force is driving our lives. It affects the quality of our relationships, our finances, our work and career, our decision making, experiences, and our potential.
By starting to understand more our inner world (thoughts and feelings) and how to drive our own emotions we become the master of our own life. Happiness, peace, joy is no longer controlled by outside forces but becomes an inside job. The outer world can no longer negatively impact us, we become our own source of strength.
Tapping in to our inner self not only gives us greater control over how we feel but it expands all possibilities. If left untapped we can feel like life controls us; with limiting thoughts, we lose our power and can feel we have restricted resources. When in a high state of mind and emotion we are aligned with our true, authentic self which is powerful and supports our highest potential. We feel inspired and optimistic, resilient and see opportunities. Relationships improve and flow more harmoniously, decision making is strong, we are motivated to take action and achieve our goals.
So how do we shift to a feel-good place more of the time?
You cannot feel optimistic while feeling pessimistic at the same time. You cannot feel inspired whilst feeling discouraged. Notice your current state of mind. Notice the emotional tone. Do you feel angry, or frustrated, or even fearful? Notice the thoughts that gave meaning to this experience. Identify the ‘opposite’ emotional state that you want to feel instead that would neutralise this feeling. Then practice feeling it! "Try it on" even for just a few moments; the power is knowing that you consciously changed it. For instance, if feeling frustrated you would instead want to feel patience or acceptance. At first it may not feel real but each time you want to shift your state of mind you follow the same process; notice the limiting thoughts that got you there and assign a new (empowering) meaning. Find the current emotional tone and identify the emotion to neutralise it. Practice feeling the new emotion in increasing lengths of time and greater intensity. Eventually you will start to release resistance and maintain a feel-good mindset more of the time. Practice consistently and you create a new state of wellbeing - with a life of greater peace, health and happiness.