Hi guys!!! Welcome to episode 200 of the Wildly Successful Lifestyle podcast!!!! It’s episode 200. Hard to believe. I’m super excited about it and I’m excited that you’re here and we’re continuing to get better and better together. I’m growing with each episode and I hope you are too.
If you’ve been listening to me for a while, I have talked about the benefits of meditation…there are so many, it can especially help with your thoughts. But, During a meditation this last week Jeff the guide for this meditation was talking about allowing noises and sounds to just be part of your experience without feeling the need to respond. Just allowing that those sounds are part of the experience and there isn’t anything I have to do with it except just let it be there without judgment. I’m getting pretty good at that.
The meditation started off so well. I wasn’t thinking, I was just being and then I got so lost in my thoughts that it felt like the meditation lasted only 2 minutes. And that can be good if you aren’t lost in thought, you’re just lost in the meditation. But I got lost in thought after thought. You’re supposed to work on having no thoughts and when you do have a thought, Catch it and then come back to the meditation practice. and this happens a lot and I never beat myself up because I always benefit in some way when I meditate even if it’s not perfect which it rarely is. Sometimes it’s really good and sometimes my thoughts run away and I’m lost in them. This time my thoughts ran away and I got lost in them. It got me thinking how often though we live inside our mind. How often we are lost in thought. And are those thoughts pleasant? Is our mind a pleasant place to be because we hang out there a lot.
If we had to open our minds up for all the world to see, like we turned our thoughts into a movie…what kind of movie would it be? Would it be a horror movie? Maybe it would be the sequel to Mean girls? Maybe it would be a porn show, I don’t know.
Think about it for a minute though. If you had to turn your true deep down thoughts into a movie, would that be terrifying? And let me just say quickly. Yes, for 100% of us it would be. My goal in this episode is not for you to think you’re weird if you have crazy thoughts, we all do. My goal is for us to be aware of our thoughts and how they are shaping our life. I literally caught myself during this meditation worrying about a live edge bar top I’m designing for a client and how the guy that I used to work with is no longer at Woodland Tree and is the piece going to be a mess because he’s gone. I had all these images of the ways in which it could turn out terribly, like if they used a shiny epoxy that was super thick or if they didn’t cut the end right so that it looks weird at the edge. All of this during my beautiful meditation about allowing sound as part of my experience. Now normally I’m pretty good at catching those thoughts and jumping back into the meditation but this must be really weighing on me because it took over and before I knew it the guide was closing the meditation. I literally laughed because I was gone, when he ended the meditation. I was so lost in my thoughts, I forgot I was meditating. Completely lost in thought with no awareness of what was going on around me.
We do this a lot don’t we? Create all these thoughts in our head. We have imaginary conversations with people and boy do we let them have it or we have fantasies about vacations or people whatever your thing is. We get so lost but are we able to catch it and are we aware of what influences our thoughts?
I know for me, I’m heavily influenced by what I am reading or watching. I know this so I am pretty careful about what I allow in.
Here’s the thing. If our thoughts control our feelings and our feelings control our actions then our thoughts literally are the reason our life is the way it is, good and bad. We are heavily influenced by what we allow in, what is it that is influencing our thoughts?
Maybe it’s your peer group and you spend a lot of time thinking about and talking about what they have on their mind, or maybe you spend time talking about other people. Maybe it’s your church and you spend a lot of time thinking about God and heaven or sin or maybe judging yourself or other people. Maybe it’s your work and you spend a lot of time thinking about work. Whatever it is…thoughts are energy. We are energy beings. Study after study shows that our thoughts affect things outside of us. Thoughts do create reality. The placebo effect can tell us all we need to know about that. Studies have shown that a placebo can have similar effectiveness to the actual medication. Our brain is so powerful, it can actually influence our body to heal itself. If our brain has that power, what else can it do?
Maybe your thoughts lean towards beating yourself up. I know for me I have to catch myself because if I’m having a bad hair or skin day or if I’ve not followed my nutrition plan perfectly, or I’ve not done enough for my business, I can be pretty hard on myself. Start listening to the way you think about yourself and then notice how that correlates with how you treat yourself and the actions you take.
If you rolled out the thoughts you have about yourself..and showed them to another person would they think you liked that person based on those thoughts? If your thoughts about yourself were a movie would you be the villain or the star of the show? It’s good to be aware of that. You want to know why?
Just think about the example, we’ve probably all heard it by now but the example of when you decide you’re going to buy a new car and all of a sudden you see that car everywhere! You can’t even believe how many times you see it. Those cars were always there..you just didn’t notice them and now that your thoughts are turned towards that car…you do notice them. What does that have to do with thoughts about yourself? Well in the same way…if you’re constantly thinking negatively about yourself then what do you think you’re going to notice? Negative aspects of yourself are going to show up, that’s what you’re going to notice. But if you can start your day with positive thoughts about yourself..what’s your favorite trait about yourself? Focus on that. For me. I like my lips. I also just got a new haircut that I absolutely love. I love where I am with my health and nutrition. I’m proud of myself for that. Once you get started you can just keep going! And then it gets easier and easier and even though nothing has changed, you have this new bounce in your step and people are asking what you’re up to…all because you started noticing some things about yourself you actually like and started focusing on them, thinking about them. Dressing for them. This practice alone can change your life. Recognizing the subtle thoughts you have about yourself and how they affect you.
We know from the placebo studies, If your thoughts can heal you. Then they can also harm you.
The most important thing we can do, and if you’re listening in current time, we are about to start a new year..2022 is coming up. We love a new start, don’t we?
Usually people do New Year’s Resolutions. In Episode 201 coming up next week, I talk a lot about how I think we should handle New Year’s Resolutions, because I know you’re dying to know. But I would challenge you to also this New year…get really familiar with the voice in your head. The one that narrates your day. The one that judges you, starts noticing what that voice is telling you and pushes back if you don’t like what it’s saying. Because you’re in control of it unless you’re living on autopilot and you’d like to stay there, which I don’t believe to be true because you wouldn’t be listening to me if it were.
So my challenge to you for this end of year episode, but it’s relevant whenever you’re listening, my challenge to you is to push back on the thoughts that aren’t serving you. Create a movie you’d want to watch where you’re the star and you’re fabulous. Because you are. And once you get your thoughts there your actions must follow and before long people are gonna be wanting to know what you’re doing because that pep in your step is contagious….in a good way. And you don’t need anything else to change, you don’t need a new job, a new partner, a new car…nothing like that needs to change for you to feel good about you and where you’re going. It all starts in your head. So
What are 3 things you love about yourself? And if you don’t have 3 things then what are 3 things you COULD love about yourself?
Write them down. Put them in your phone. Write them on your mirror. Journal them every morning. I listed a few of mine earlier, but Start focusing on those 3 things. And then wait for what happens. I think you’ll like it.
Share this episode with 3 people you love. I love you guys and I’ll talk to you in a few days.
