Tension is high, people are afraid, times are uncertian for all. But that doesn’t mean you have to feel anxious, afraid, uncertian, or confused.
You’re a smart person, right? You deal with so many obstacles, challenges, and uncertainties all the time.
So why are you struggling right now to keep it all together?
Maybe you’re putting a smile on for everyone around you but secretly inside you’re crying out for help. I’ve witnessed this phenomenon all week.
Really smart people, seemingly losing their minds due to this pandemic and the uncertainty of the world right now.
And if that’s you, I want you to know that you’re not alone. Many of us ‘smart’ people are struggling right now to keep it all together.
There is a way for you to feel better in any situation, including the current pandemic we are experiencing, and in today’s blog I am going to teach you how you can start feeling better today by doing this one thing.
What is a feelilng?
But first let’s explore what a feeling is. Feelings, or emotions, are different from sensations. They start in the brain and are a vibration we experience in the body.
So where do feelings come from? If they start in the brain does that mean feelings are thoughts?
The answer to that question is always, yes! Feelings are always caused by what we think.
You may think the situations in your life are causing you to feel a certain way or that things are just happening to you and you have no control over what is happening to you right now.
First of all, nothing ever just happens ‘to’ you. It is only what you ‘think’ about what is happening that is making you feel like something is happening to you.
This pandemic isn’t just happening to you. You have the ability to control what you think and feel right now about your situation.
And that’s really great news! So let’s explore how to do that!
Becoming aware.
The best way to start feeling better right now is to become aware of what you are thinking. You do that by writing your thoughts on paper.
In the coaching world we call it a thought download.
Most likely, you have no idea the thoughts you are thinking at any given moment. To make matters worse, as we’ve already discussed, your feelings are caused by your thoughts.
So, if you are unaware of what you are thinking it is highly unlikely that you will understand why you are feeling a certain way.
Thought downolads are a way for you to take a look at what is in your head, empty out what is currently cluttering your mind, and make room for different thoughts that serve you.
We think on average 60,000 thoughts a day. That’s a lot of thoughts! Many of them are not serving us at all and should not be stuck in our heads.
Imagine this, you wouldn’t let the trash pile up in the corner of your kitchen, would you? It’s the same with the trash in your head.
You must take out your head trash in order to make room for the thoughts that serve you and will ultimately make you feel better.
Here’s what to do:
Get out a notebook, set a timer for 5-10 minutes and just start writing. If you are not used to writing or journaling this may be tough to start but trust me on this one.
Just start writing. Start with anything you see, hear, taste, touch, or smell.
What does the air smell like?
What did you have for breakfast?
How does the surface you’re sitting on feel? Is it hard or soft? Cold or hot?
The trick is to just start writing. Eventually, you will get to a place where you will be writing about all the trash that’s in your head.
When the timer goes off, read back over what you’ve written. Notice what is truly fact and what is just a feeling.
The circumstances of our lives have no effect on us until they encounter the mind and we attach meaning to them.
Therefore, it’s important to recognize what you are telling yourself about your current situation.
For example, if you wrote down something like, “all the news media and people freaking out about the pandemic is stressing me out.” it is actually your thoughts about the news media and people freaking out that is stressing you out.
Although you might not be able to escape the news media and people freaking out, you most certainly can change the way you think about it.
What if you stopped watching the news or listening to other people talk about the pandemic? Most likely, your anxiety would go down considerably.
Instead of trying to control the news media or other people, what if you decided to change your thoughts to allowing those people to be who they are, and you can be who you are?
Because who’s to say what is a right or wrong reaction? What if freaking out is right and staying calm is right? What if both are wrong? Do we really know?
Instead of trying to make your situation different than it currently is or trying to fix or solve anything, what if you choose to think everything is happening exactly as it is supposed to?
There is a freeing feeling that comes over you when you allow the news media and other people to act however they want, and you get to act however you want, and we can all coexist in the same world.