Changing our Thoughts
Posted on July 20, 2019 by Rachel Pavlov, One of Thousands of Performance Coaches on Noomii.
Why should we change our thoughts, what sense does that make? By changing our thoughts we shift our perspective.
Our experiences in life begin with a thought. We have the ability to choose one thought over another, as we pick and choose these thoughts we have the almost magical ability to shift our perspective. It is our thoughts that create our emotions, our thoughts and emotions create our perspective on life and everyday situations. That is not a made up concept, you can prove it to yourself. Try a simple cognitive behavioral technique and see what happens. Take a thought that makes you smile, pull it up into the front of your brain, think about that thought. Throughout your day, maybe at a stressful point, bring that thought back, think about it and feel your smile start to curve at the edges of your mouth. How does that thought make you feel in that moment? What shifts do you see within yourself?
The more you practice changing your thoughts the more comfortable it will feel. This technique is especially helpful when we experience anxiety and sadness. By practicing, you are building that thought changing muscle, you will be better able to handle those dark and fear provoking thoughts when you are feeling down. It won’t stop those thoughts from happening; however that change muscle will be strong enough to change the thoughts so that you can recover quicker from the darkness. Once we have a grasp on changing our thoughts the ones that frighten us will no longer have the power, we will take back our power and be more than we were, empowered in a way we thought long lost, forgotten or never thought of in the first place.
Why does it matter if we change our thoughts? It matters because negative thoughts limit us; they put us in a box that traps us in our own minds. “I’m not good enough, I can’t handle this, I don’t belong, I will never be able to…” If we have these thoughts and they create our emotions, what is most likely to happen? We will not try, we will not persevere, we won’t be able to be uncomfortable because we don’t believe we would come out the other side safe, unharmed, and whole. Guess what? We can do it, we are good enough, and we are stronger than our negative thoughts. You may not believe this at first, and that is ok. Changing our thoughts (which change our emotions) will prove to you that you are good enough and capable. It takes practice, it takes time, and it may feel uncomfortable, however it is possible.
