Spiraling

Have you ever noticed just how many negative thoughts you have in any given day? Go ahead, start counting now until the end of the day. We say all kinds of things out loud and even more in our head.  Most of it we don't even realize that we are doing it.  We complain, judge and villainize.  Even worse - we often operate in anticipationof the next bad thing that will happen.  It is so engrained we don't even know we are doing it. It is worse than a habit.  

We don't stop there though, if we have one thought there are usually more to follow.  If something goes wrong, you do not have one thought about it you have many and the spiral begins.  

We spiral down listing ALL of the things that are wrong.
Traffic is heavy today I may be late for work. 
My boss is going to nag me about it.
I can't believe I work for an idiot.
I hate that job.
I don't like anyone I work with.
And the list goes on until you are in the depth of despair.

We seem to be programmed this way though.  It is all around us and it is what we see.  Ever turn on the news?  How many positive stories do you get in relation to negative stories?  My father in law can watch hours of the news (without sound btw) and then complain about not feeling good or feeling 'down'.  

Now I'm not saying don't watch the news or be informed about current events. What I AM saying though is what and how much is going in and is it positive or negative?  You are in control of that.  

What I really want to explore is:

WHAT IF we spiraled upward??  

Instead of spiraling downward,  which is waaaaay too familiar (remember our brains like familiar and dislike unfamiliar - so we have to make the unfamiliar familiar) - what if we spiraled upward?  

What do you think would happen if we RETRAINED our minds to focus on the positive MORE OFTEN than we focus on the negative ?  What if we anticipated good things MORE OFTEN than we anticipated bad?  

What would this world look like if we did that? Personally, I think our world would be ROCKED!

When we have a good thought - what if we then named 10 other things that were good too.  Do you think the light would overpower the darkness?  I'm getting excited just thinking about this. 

What if THAT was our usual practice?  How would we be showing up in our lives? What would our communities look like? Our businesses? Our parenting?   

This could be our habit.  This could be what is engrained if we will embrace it.  Yes, it will take retraining our brains to veer from what we have known for generations.  It can be done though. 

Remember that what we focus on expands.  Our mindset determines our reality. We can start by: 
                                       NOTICING our thoughts and where they go
                                       REPLACING them with up-leveled thoughts 
                                       SPIRAL UPWARD add more good thoughts onto it until you feel a shift
                                       RINSE AND REPEAT 

When you slip into old habits, forgive yourself and keep practicing. Rome wasn't built in a day and mindsets and habits that have been in the making for generations won't disappear overnight.  But with consistent intention and attention it can certainly become our new reality.