Stop and notice when your thoughts are out of alignment with what you want. How you notice this is through your feelings. If you are feeling down, frustrated, impatient or negative, notice what you are thinking. Be a good behavior detective, as I’ve told my young clients over the past decade. Notice what you are thinking, the narrative you are telling yourself, and then change it.
Yes, it’s that simple.
If you are feeling like nothing is going to work out, or be okay, then take a breathe and tell yourself a different story, then say it a few times, like you mean it. Feel it, down to your toes, throughout every cell in your body.
Breathe life into that new story and then move on about your day. Trust in the process. Trust that that first sentence of that first chapter leads to subsequent, consistent chapters, the unfolding of the new and improved story of your life.
Jill Sylvester is a licensed mental health counselor and author of the self-help book, “Trust Your Intuition: 100 Ways to Transform Anxiety and Depression for Stronger Mental Health.” Her work has been featured in Well+Good, Bustle, SheKnows, WorkingMother, Parenthood, TeenMentor, andOprahMag.com. To receive her free weekly blog containing tips to better your life, subscribe at www.jillsylvester.com.