Think for a minute about your thought patterns throughout the day when you are at home? At work? Out with friends? With family? What is your self-talk like?
Do you find that you are thanking and focusing more on the positive thoughts that come and go or do you notice that a lot of your thoughts are more negative in nature? It is extremely easy to focus on the negative and live fear-based considering the world that we live in right now.
Every time you turn on the TV there is a negative story about someone being hurt, someone being offended, someone being mad, or some kind of world catastrophe. It’s hard to have a positive mindset when there is so much negative around us.
It is this fear that the media is counting on that keeps viewers coming back for more. But why do we do this? Why do we continually watch some thing or listen to something that involves that much fear in us?
I understand that there is a desire to know what’s going on in the nation and in the world however your intake of this news needs to be greatly reduced so that your body does not stay in a fight, flight, freeze pattern.
In thinking about your current patterns of thoughts and self talk what do your expectations for your self look like? What do your expectations for others look like? What do your expectations for work look like?
What do your expectations for self-care look like? Do you think that your expectations are where they should be or do you think that you have high expectations for yourself, for others, or for different areas of your life?
When you have an expectation and something doesn’t go your way do you feel anxious, irritable, disappointed, etc. or do you take the change with ease and move through the situation? If you keep your expectations in check, you will be a much more resilient.
Resilience is the culmination of a controlled mind. Even if things don’t work out the way that we want them to, if we keep expectations low to mid-range if things turn out better it will be a bonus but if things don’t turn out the way that you thought they would he won’t be crushed.
If you keep expectations low you will be in control of your thoughts surrounding the situation and it is in this space that you will notice your resilience in life growing.
It is very important to look at the patterns we keep in our life. The patterns of our thoughts and the patterns of our self-talk and the patterns of our actions and beliefs and behaviors. It is in the knowing of our patterns that we are able to gradually change them, thus improving our overall mental and physical health.
For example, if you notice that you are extremely stressed on the days that you work, stressed throughout the day and stressed when you get home from work, and feeling sluggish or foggy in the evenings, write down what your daily pattern at work looks like.
What do your thoughts look like throughout the day and what are you physically doing throughout the day? Do you sit at a desk and focus on your work all day or do you schedule in breaks to talk to people, go for a walk, or watch a funny video?
If you notice that you are doing negative behaviors at work which is leading to negative thoughts then you can change your schedule to incorporate things that will break up your day bringing in more humor and human connection which will likely greatly improve your thoughts, your mood, and your overall wellness.