Day 7

 

Welcome to Day 7!

 

Hopefully by now:

• you’ve had the time this week to keep up with the daily lessons (no stress or worries if you’re a day or two behind)

• that you’ve been noticing the kind of thinking you’ve been doing

• that you’ve been starting the day off positive and have kept it going at least til breakfast or even longer
  ​

Time now to work on how to get that time to last longer by learning how to switch things around.

 

Law of Attraction talks about how difficult it is to completely switch especially if you’ve got some strong negative momentum going.  I mentioned on a previous day that when that happens, your plan is to try to find a thought that makes you feel better. 

 

I actually used that strategy today.  I was thinking about how someone had taken advantage of all the help I had given them over the past six months and how they owed me money but had made no effort to pay it back.  The more I thought about it, the worse I was feeling.  Then I caught myself. I realized what I was doing. That thinking was not changing the situation at all but instead ratcheting up my negativity and beginning to kick in some stress hormones. 

 

I was driving at the time and immediately looked around me for something to appreciate.  Despite it being a rainy, dreary morning, I spotted a tree that was still in full color on this fall day – and it snapped me out of it.  It was that quick.  I caught it before the negativity had gone too far otherwise the simple switch to appreciation wouldn’t have been so effective. I would have had to try another strategy, one of the ones that are coming up in future days. The best news for me is that I was aware and I could make the change.  I ended up having a truly wonderful day despite driving 4 hours in the rain.  If I can do that, so can you.  It’s the noticing that’s most important now in your process, the awareness and the shift to something that feels a little bit better.

 

(Note: You may notice a bit of repetition showing up as we wrap up the first week.  That’s intentional.  My goal in teaching is to constantly spiral back connecting the new to the already learned to make the material stick with you.  A Yale study said if you don’t reinforce what you’re learning you’ll forget most of it within a week.  I want this to stick with you as it does with me – so I will continue to help that process happen.)

 

One of the reasons I switched to finding something to appreciate is that our brains can’t hold opposite thoughts.  By switching to a thought that creates positive emotion, I prevented my brain from being in the negative mindset. I was disappointed at this person one minute, admiring the beautiful tree a minute later. 

 

Scared, angry, frustrated?  Think gratitude, appreciation or love and you’ve acted as the driver of your brain and directed it where you wanted it.  The best way to redirect the brain?  Ask it a question, preferably a good one.  Refrain from asking, “Why does everything always happen to me?”  Or even worse, “What else could go wrong?” because your brain will answer you.  And you might not like the answer.  Try it.  Ask yourself, “What’s wrong with me?”  For most people, you’ll start hearing a long list of your less than stellar qualities. Don't let it go on too long.  Ask it a more neutral question like what your favorite flavor of ice cream is instead. Feels much better!

 

Direct your brain with a good question.  Remember those shelves I told you about in my classroom?  I asked, “How can I make all that stuff on the shelf look good?” or something like that and my brain answered.  From that day forward those shelves looked better and worked for me.  When you’re noticing the negativity, ask a good question like, “What made me smile today?” or “Who do I love?” or “Who loves me?”  I can feel the serotonin coming into my body as my brain thinks of the answers as I write this.  A simple but effective shift just by asking yourself a good question. 

 

That’s it for today! It’s the end of the week…you made it!  I hope it’s been a good week for you and I hope you’re beginning to see some positive shifts.  I know I have just by writing this each day.  It’s like when I taught my Strategies for Success classes for 90 days.  It was helping them build habits and change their thinking but it was also reinforcing those ideas for me.  And I’m grateful for the opportunity to share it with you!

 

Have a great day!

 

P.S.  Now you can choose to continue to the next day or wait until tomorrow.  Either way, here's a link to the next lesson