Monthly Archives: August 2012

Are You Weeding Your Mind?

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Weeds in Your MindYesterday I went out to my garden and realized that I’ve been getting slack about letting those darn weeds take over!  I was so proud of my garden all summer; the rows were weed free and the plants looked great!

I can’t believe how fast the weeds grow when you aren’t consistently pulling them!

The same is true of our minds; just like tomato plants need to be fed, watered, and protected, our minds must also be protected from the weeds of life.

Negative thoughts are as fertile as weeds; weeds can be covered with concrete and still grow up through the cracks.  Weeds grow fast and furious when left unattended.

One negative thought, when left unattended, can grow into a chain of negative thoughts.  Have you ever had one negative thought and all of a sudden, it develops into several thoughts that leave you feeling hopeless, furious or discouraged?

Just like tomato plants need to be carefully nourished in order to grow and be productive, so do the thoughts in your mind.  You have to make a conscious effort to allow the right thoughts to grow, the thoughts that make you feel good about your life and relationships.

Our thoughts affect our feelings, our feelings affect our actions, and our actions affect everything in our lives!

Make an effort today to take control of your thinking; don’t let disempowering thoughts go to to seed and produce more weeds.  You do have the power to take control of your thoughts!

Your Brain on Google!

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Your Brain on GoogleJust like Google is a powerful search engine, so is your brain!  When you enter key search words in Google, within a fraction of a second, Google will come back with search results.

If you Google your brain with the key words, “times in your past that prove you are inferior to just about everyone else,” it will come back with those memories and experiences.

“Recall how you failed when you did”……”Remember what your teacher told you in the 6th grade about your inability to”…….”Remember when your Dad told you that you’d never be able to”……”Remember when you overheard those people talking about you”……”Recall when you embarrassed yourself by”……

If you do a brain google search for:

  • Times you’ve failed
  • Times you’ve embarrassed yourself
  • Times you’ve said something stupid
  • Times you’ve made a complete idiot of yourself
  • Times you’ve looked terrible

You will find them!  We all have distressing memories and experiences! We are human!  It is normal!

How does brain Googling these make you feel?

Sad, depressed, guilty, or like a failure?

 

Suppose you do a brain Google search for all the times you have felt successful and adequate, all your past experiences that made you feel confident in yourself?

Just like Google, your brain will go to work and find the information that matches your search criteria.

“Recall the time you did an excellent job on”…..”Remember how confident you felt when you”…….”Remember when your teacher noticed how you excelled at”……”Remember the time when your parents were so proud of your ability to”…..”Remember how much effort you put into….and how well it turned out”…..

So, if you do a brain Google search for:

  • Times you’ve had a blast
  • Times you’ve been proud of your accomplishments
  • Times you had great memories with family and friends
  • Times you looked and sounded like a million bucks

You will find them! We all have wonderful, confidence building memories too!

How does Googling these times make you feel?

Proud, happy, loving, or excited?

Here are two ways to use your Google brain to build your confidence!

1.  Destroy negative experiences before they become mental monsters!

We ALL have embarrassing or distressing memories (mistakes we’ve made, words that hurt us, disappointments in ourselves, failed relationships, guilt, betrayal by a friend, mistreatment by a loved one.) A person can make a mental mind virus out of almost any unpleasant happening by reflecting on it hundreds of times until it becomes a giant obstacle. Brain googling negative experiences is a way to humiliate, punish and diminish yourself.  It breaks down your confidence and paves the way for difficulties in life.

2.  Make a conscious effort to Google pleasant, positive experiences.

Build your confidence and pave the way for a smoother life by brain Googling the times in your life that make you feel good!

Remember, we all have bad experiences but you can make a conscious effort to Google the good ones!

 

Do you ever feel “Trapped” by situations and people in your life?

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TrappedOften times when things are going “wrong” in our lives, when things are making us feel “bad,” we start to believe that things can never improve; there’s no use.  “This will always be the way it is and there’s nothing I can do to change it.” We often think our circumstances are caused by other people and situations, and we can’t change until they do.  In thinking this way, we’re giving our power away.

We begin to feel discouraged and miserable.  It’s an easy trap to fall into and we’ve all gone there many times. Whether it’s bullying, problems in relationships, trouble at school or in a job, we begin to have catastrophic thinking.  We ruminate on the worst possible outcome.

Thinking this way can hold us back from taking action to make changes.  After all, if we don’t believe that anything we do will make a difference, why do anything?  Why even bother?

You do have the power to make changes!  Circmstances may be the way they are, bad things may have happened, but you can choose how you will respond to your circumstances.  We all form habitual ways of responding to situations in our life and when we continue to use the same responses, we tend to get the same results.

This is where you have to start to think outside the “jar,” to discover different responses you can take to have some control over your situation.  When we allow ourselves to believe that we are powerless to improve our situation, we do feel sad and depressed.

We all want a silver bullet; the one magical thing that will take care of all of our problems.  While there is no silver bullet, we can make gradual and small changes that will add up over time to make a difference in our life.

We have to believe that we do have some control; we can choose responses that will make a difference.

Remember the definition of insanity, “Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

So, today, think outside the “jar,” and creatively choose and try out new behaviors and responses to your situation.

You do have the power to change your responses and to get different results in your life!

The power to make changes begins with you!