For years I was crap at sales. I was apologetic, backwards at coming forwards and didn’t want to appear rude or needy. Perhaps unsurprisingly, my business dawdled along in the slow lane. And being a mindfulness teacher I, of course, was happy to accept the speed (or lack of it) at which my business grew.
Back then I was practising mindfulness by the book. I had no idea how world-rockingly powerful it could actually be.
Fast-forward to the present day… I am still a zen Goddess, I take things slow, I work around 25 hours a week, and yet my business is accelerating like a rocket. These days I can barely have a conversation without it converting to a sale.
So what happened? What was the difference that made the difference? And how is mindfulness, when you REALLY get it, the most powerful business tool out there?
These days I hear people talking about mindfulness being a fad, or that they tried it but got sick of being a people-pleasing amoeba.
That is soooooo not what real mindfulness is about.
I admit, I spent many months in a near vegetative state when I first began my practice. And perhaps that’s something we all have to go through. But when you come out the other side of it…. Oh man… crazy town… but in a super-calm, totally empowered, ridiculously focussed way.
This may sound really obvious but what I have learned from my many years of practising mindfulness is that I have TOTAL CONTROL over my thoughts.
Let me clarify: I don’t have control over which thoughts arise in my mind. But I DO have full power over the ones I choose to believe, and the ones I choose to ignore.
Really simple. But absolutely life-changing.
You totally can, purposefully, lovingly and respectfully ignore any and all negative thoughts.
It’s just practice.
At first it’s hard because they keep coming back, like an annoying wasp at a late-summer lunch party.
And the thoughts often have a visceral presence in your body… a knotty tummy or a tightness in your jaw. So you think they must be real. Right?
Wrong.
A thought is only ever a thought.
Get clear about that and you will become absolutely limitless.
So the mindfulness technique I practice every single day is to not only remind myself that my thoughts are not real, but to choose thoughts I love then feel them in every cell of my body.
I do this every morning, the moment I wake up.
It takes just a few minutes – sometimes longer – depending on how much I get into it.
But basically, what I’m giving you here is a two-minute exercise that you can do lying in your bed that will totally transform your experience of the day ahead, and ultimately your life.
It makes me giggle when people say they don’t have time for mindfulness.
Seriously.
Two minutes.
But don’t take my word for it. Try if for yourself. Commit to doing this two minute, in-bed practice every morning for the next fourteen days and see for yourself the difference it will make in your performance at work, your ability to convert sales, to create beautiful relationships and enjoy your life with such a sense of ease and grace that you will wonder how the hell you even managed to survive living ‘the old way’.
Let me put a little more meat on the bones for you here…
You wake up, and the first thing you do is feel gratitude that you made it through the night and you get to spend another day experiencing this roller-coaster that we call life.
You simply say thank you to the mystery of creation that you are here, alive, present and ready to be inspired and inspiring.
Even that is enough to change your perspective.
If you currently wake up and start noticing and believing all the negative thoughts that pop into your mind, thoughts such as… It can’t be that time already. I don’t want to get out of bed. I wish I could just lie here for another ten minutes. I hate that I have to work every day. Why does it have to be so hard? Why is life such a struggle?
If you think like that first thing in the morning, there’s a pretty good chance your day will feel like hard work.
But when you really, truly get that you CAN choose which thoughts to purchase, and you see with perfect clarity that your thinking absolutely translates into your experience, you can elect, each and every day, to be empowered, optimistic, confident, open, willing, happy, energised, successful, unstoppable and fully in service to the world.
And that is a great way to get out of bed.
If negative thoughts start creeping in, take ten seconds to clear your mind completely. Wipe the slate clean. You can do this. It’s easier than you think. Simply exhale all of your thoughts. Give them back to wherever they came from. And enjoy a few seconds, that’s all it takes, of a totally empty mind.
From there, take charge of the programming.
Start imagining the type of person you want to be today.
Get a really clear picture in your head of how you want to show up in the world. Of how you can be in service to others in a way that feels totally off-the-charts exciting for you. What would it FEEL like to be that amazing person who, right now exists only in your imagination? Let your imagination, inform each of your cells (it does this naturally anyway) so you can literally feel alive with confidence, clarity and kick-ass positivity. Know your worth, and your magnificence, from the inside out.
Then, like a good cup of tea, let it all infuse.
Just lie there for two minutes noticing how it feels to be vibrating with positivity, willingness, gratitude, excitement and unlimited potential.
This is the very essence of who you are.
Don’t ever let negative thoughts deny you of this energy. Simply shoo them away and stay tuned to the version of yourself that must be true if it is what you believe.
When you are ready, get up and start your day.
It’s so easy!
Do this every morning, for just two minutes, for 14 days and watch yourself go out and smash it.
Message me on Instagram (@beingjacqui) and let me know how you get on.