“The mind is everything.  What you think you become” – Buddha

Over the last week (not too much unlike any other), I’ve heard lots of clients saying. “I feel unhappy (or sad, or angry and frustrated ) and I just want it to stop: I don’t want to feel like this anymore”.

Most of us don’t realise that, that what we feel at an emotional level, is a product of our thoughts: most of us have the ability to change our thoughts, we just need to get some help with the how….but most of us don;t.

Instead we plough. on and end up feeling helpless, at the mercy of our feelings, and the situations that have created them….and sometimes we don’t even know why we are feeling this way.

We can put it down to something that has happened or something someone else has said or done.  But how we feel about that incident is a product of how we are thinking about it.  This in turn effects what we do….and sometimes we can be so overwhelmed by our feelings that we do nothing: continuing with the same patterns that led to those feelings.  It becomes a vicious cycle: we get stuck.

Recognise this?

So here’s the thing: we have a choice about what we think.  We can choose to think about that incident in a different way: perhaps a more balanced way.  If we can’t find a different way to ‘see’ it or ‘think’ about it, we can ask for help from someone else (choose someone you know will help you to see it in a different way).

Changing that internal dialogue by thinking in a more helpful way, will help you to feel differently and enable you to respond to the situation in a more constructive way: changing what you do about the situation.  This in turn will reinforce more helpful thoughts and feelings.

Tip: If have a feeling and don’t understand where its coming from: ask yourself “what was I thinking that led me to feel this way”.  You will usually be able to find it, and then you can work on changing it.

Your Thoughts….Your Choice = Your Life