The mind is the battlefield. It is where all the things we thought will happened never did happen. It is the center point that controls our day to day life. You can't do anything without first thinking about it and when all the thought you allow to fill your mind is negative, your life will be full of negativities. That's why you need to deal with your thoughts.
Your stress most at times comes from the way you respond and not the way life is. You can do away with the extra stress by adjusting the way you think.
There is a real opportunity in every difficult situation to understand yourself more deeply, and also to improve your life.
I encourage you to reflect on recent situations where you’ve felt let down – where life’s outcomes was not as good as you expected. Instead of focusing on things that you can't control, consider instead your part in what went down.
For example, perhaps your gut told you not to do something, but you did so anyway. Or maybe you were deceived a second time by the same person, and wish you had let go of the relationship sooner. Or perhaps you just weren’t paying attention and ended up missing out on a great opportunity.
It is easy to be negative when things don't go the way you expected or when things goes wrong, or blame others for the negative outcomes in your life. But do negativity and blame change anything for the better?
No!
Truth be told, the best time to be positive and take responsibility for your own peace of mind is when you don’t feel like it. Because that’s when doing so can make the biggest difference.
No matter what the specifics of your troubled times are, taking a moment to look inward at what you could have done differently and how you could potentially avoid similar situations in the future can be a healthy exercise. This is not to blame yourself or shame yourself, but simply to give you the opportunity to learn, on a higher level, from your experiences.
It is about learning to make the right choice in an excruciating, uncontrollable life situation.
It is about learning to think better so you can eventually live better, no matter what.
The key is to realize that no matter what happens, you can choose your attitude and inner dialog, which dictates pretty much everything that happens next. Truly, the greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another – to train our minds to see the good in what we’ve got, even when it’s far less than we expected.
It is about choosing: Will I allow this to upset me? Will I choose to make this bad or good? Will I choose to stay or walk away? Will I choose to yell or whisper? Will I choose to react or take the time to respond?
You CAN always choose a mindset that moves you forward. And doing so will help you change things from the inside out, and ultimately allow you to grow beyond the struggles you can’t control at this moment.
Here's a powerful question that will support you with a positive attitude adjustment when you need it most:
Who would you be, and what else would you see, if you removed the thought that’s worrying you?
Think about it...
Identify a specific thought that’s been troubling your worried mind lately, and then visualize how your life would be different if you removed this thought:
How would it change your outlook on your present life situation?
What other possibilities and opportunities might you see?
What else would you be able to accomplish with this shift in your focus?