Like many I have had periods of overwhelm, joy, losses of different kinds, self doubting and anxiety situations, and amazing surprises that have fed my soul! In my younger adulthood I carried a belief which later I discovered was false that when I was experiencing a set of not so great monkey wrenches thrown into my life that I would feel pulled down into the depths of darkness and stay there forever. Over time, and it took practice, I shifted my thinking. This was not a sudden shift, but it was revolutionary and shook apart my old way of perceiving what I labeled negative events. I have heard for a long time if I change my thoughts my reality changes. Easy , but I can complicate anything with my overthinking that sneaks in to take control of my visionary, seeing the world with a new set of glasses personality.
You may ask why would anyone want to change their mindset especially if that seems to be a challenging task. I am not suggesting we become a world of Pollyannas or Stepford People, denying reality. Acknowledging emotions of sadness, frustration, confusion , or disappointment , to me is necessary. Remaining in my prior stuck reaction to them is a choice. What has worked for me is learning new ways of doing old things. Guess what? This is the world we find ourselves in today. The old way of living our lives quit working, and we can either resist changing to innovative perceptions and solutions to situations or we can creatively design a new blueprint that involves stepping off our treadmill of “I know what to do” onto the sidewalk of flowing revolutionary steps of creating a different mindset. There is no longer a cookie cutter approach that will work .
Modifying my mindset led to peace of mind, being comfortable in my skin, and tweaking my modus operandi by:
- Embracing change as a catalyst to internal peace. This has meant at times changing jobs even careers, moving to a new area, changing friends, and quite often changing how and what activities I spend my day and nighttime (for me stillness and connecting with nature was the answer.)
- Working with a coach for support, talking with a trustworthy friend, and journaling about my feelings and perceptions has had amazing results . I don’t need anyone to fix me…I need to be heard without judgement and to hear myself express what I feel and think.
- Daily setting intentions after mindful meditation and aligning with Nature and Divine Source has become the way I begin my day. There is magic in setting intentions that catapults me into activating concrete and tangible steps. Void of my old way to insist vehemently on controlling what I set, I can also change my intentions when they are no longer working…even in a 12 hour period of a day! I am more frequently now noticing if the old C for Control mindset sneaks in. However, still have not graduated to perfection so I keep practicing daily.
- Listening to my sabotaging self talk and re-programming it with positive statements has empowered me to change those old beliefs that created self suffering because they did not work then, and certainly will not work now .
- I am a visual learner so coming up with mental graphics such as turning the dial, pressing the switch to positive solutions (once I identify the old negative ones) , and visualizing seeing new codes of light that radiate all the way into each part of my body, mind, and spirit has demonstrated evidence to my smiling heartstrings I can shift my mindset at any moment.
Has it been easy to cultivate a new mindset? No. I have walked through repeating old patterns and thought I was failing at my attempts to change. Quitting my efforts would only be my old way of “I have to get this right or I won’t keep trying syndrome” Believing Practice makes progress and being a stubborn, rebel child with undying persistence has opened a new world where I followed the breadcrumbs left along the trail of New Possibilities . That trail is what myths are made of and those fairytales of magic really can come into fruition if only I and you believe we can shift.
“Magic is believing in yourself. If you can do that, you can make anything happen.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Jaguarwind 