Do you actively attempt to keep your mind positive?

Shame on her

There was a video circulating social media where an overweight woman was shamed while exercising. A rude comment was made by another fit woman referencing her awkward gait while she was running. This does not help at all for seeing this type of public shaming does little in encouraging people to lose weight. These burdened souls already have body image issues and this slander compounds and contributes to the problem. I was blessed to join a gym once that had a mindset that I feel other establishments need to emulate: their front desk receptionist was an attractive woman with a weight problem. She was documenting her journey at the gym so that all could be a part of her transformation. She had a substantial amount of weight to lose so the timeline wasn't expected to be only 30 or 60 days for that would be unhealthy if not impossible. It was expected that it would take some work and persistence; the same approach goes with changing our thinking.

Rome wasn't built in a day

Our belief profile and thought processes were not created overnight much like the weight we gain. It's a slow process where we can wake up one day and not recognize who we are. So what do the experts say is the key to losing weight? We have been inundated with the factors that need to be present for success: the decision, the motive and the action. BLAH BLAH BLAH. They miss the most important part and the secret behind the failure: the understanding of it being a LONG term goal and how hard it appears in the beginning. If it took you YEARS to gain the weight it will take some time to lose it all; it's a commitment with a realistic timeline.

Storm Brewing

No such thing as overnight success. Think of an iceberg; you only see the top that shows and not the monstrous support underneath the surface. The same goes with how we view ourselves and the world. We walk around with our own personal storm in our mind. Think of the negative thoughts as the dark clouds, wind and lightning and the positive thoughts as the sunshine. As we explained in our previous posts on the success/failure fires articleor video this storm grows stronger with each negative thought. Some people are so consumed with their thoughts that they are at a tropical storm level.

Disaster Relief

Expecting a small dash of sunshine to calm the storm is an unrealistic expectation. Positive thinking will accomplish little with a storm of this magnitude for the sunshine cannot penetrate through. There have been satellite pictures of how beautiful the sun shines ABOVE the storm but the people in the storm below don't see it. Then how do we deal with the storm? It's about the approach for trying to suppress the storm only gives it more power. In likewise manner, ignoring the storm only creates more casualties. The only solution is looking at what started the storm in the first place. In our physical world, scientists have determined to some degree what the catalysts are but in our emotional world there is only one contributor: Our thoughts created from our belief profile. The storm will not subside instantly so the goal is to deflate the storm until it's damaging force decreases and allows the sun to shine through.

Going with the flow

We didn't establish these beliefs in a moment so they will take some effort to turn them around. The good news is that they do have a domino type effect. There are numerous videos out there that show elaborate structures of dominoes and how they transform once the first one is knocked over. I can't imagine the hours that went into setting that all up and how precise they must be with the tile placement. The same picture can be used for our thoughts. We start with the original belief where we feel the worst about ourselves and slowly we build a structure based on that belief. Each domino represents an event that we believe is evidence towards making the belief real. When we start transforming our thinking and challenge that belief we start the process of knocking down the dominoes. Sometimes we will knock down a few at a time but the flow will stop in places because we need to tweak our understanding of the belief; much like a tile that isn't JUST right and causes the movement to stop. This is time to be gentle with ourselves and realize that we just need to keep straightening the tiles. Slowly but surely we will create enough momentum to knock over tiles that are out of place and teeter; the flow will continue until the sun shines again.

Did this response resonate with you? I would love to hear your take on the question and how it impacted you. Please post your thoughts below.

On January first, I posted our first article in this series explaining a new way to approach New Year's resolutions. Each day we will explore a different question that challenges us to understand ourselves better. The format will be as follows: I will post the previous day's question with my answer followed by the next day's question for contemplation.

Tomorrow's question: What do you value more: your physical possessions or the ability to control your own thoughts?

Response posted tomorrow.

Who is the Common Guru? Here is our introductory article
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