How to Think Greater than you Feel

13 Jan, 2020

How to Think Greater than you Feel

How to Think Greater than you Feel

I believe that Human Beings have incredible potential to achieve anything. Every one of us has the opportunity to grow, contribute, make a difference and to move towards a life that excites and inspires us.

In my last podcast, the topic was How To Think Big And Succeed – encouraging you to tap into the force that drives you forward rather than thinking small and staying where you are in life.

Thoughts are the language of the mind

I’ve always been fascinated by thoughts and I’m not alone. The question of Why do we think has been debated and researched by philosophers and psychologists for eons. The way we think and how those thoughts influence your life is the study of a lifetime.

The mind is a powerful thing – it is your brain in action. Take a moment to see what your brain is up to right now.

Lots of different thoughts, yes?

Did I pay that bill? My foot is itching? What time do I need to leave to collect the kids? I could add in something about mindset in that report for work. Has anyone liked my post on Facebook?

Thoughts are all over the place and they have a massive impact on everything else that is going on for you.

Feelings are the language of the body

Just for a moment, focus on a single thought – the thought of excitement. Think of something in your past that was really exciting: your sixth birthday party; the great New Year’s party you went to; the promotion at work… anything.

How do you feel? Tingling in your toes? bubbling in your stomach? Lightness across your chest and shoulders?

Those are your body’s way of managing the thought. Thoughts produce feelings.

So what happens when you think: I’m going to be late? Stress; tightness; pain.

And it is a vicious circle. You may not realise that the pain you feel is because you were worried you were going to be late. So now you have a thought of I’m in pain – is there something wrong with me? That generates more stress, tightness and… pain.

You can end up in a spiral of negative feelings from which it is really hard to escape.

That’s why it is so important to become aware of your thoughts and what they are doing to you.

Do I have your attention?

Apparently, the average human loses their attention six to ten times per minute. Per minute!!! So in the time it has taken you to read the last page your mind has wandered about 20 times.

Most of the time, you aren’t really here – and that can really get in your way. It stops you doing what needs to be done and it affects how you feel.

Research has shown that people who meditate are more able to concentrate and focus their attention in their everyday life. It has also show than if you focus your thoughts on positive ideas – compassion, gratitude, joy and fun – it disperses negative feelings such as pain, stress and depression.

As a general rule, our attention focuses on three main areas:

  • Our physical body –I have an itch. My leg aches. I feel stiff
  • Our environment – I hear rain. I can smell fish. Something is moving in the trees.
  • Time and out relationship with it – What time is it? How long before I need to go to work?

And it hops from one to another and back again. All the time, it is checking in with feelings and trying to make thoughts match them.

This is where awareness is critical and where you have the power to choose how you respond.

If your name ain’t Dave, you can’t come in….

Your mind is a hive of activity, with thoughts coming and going all the time. It’s pretty crowded in there. It’s rather like a busy nightclub…

So take a moment to imagine this. What if there was a bouncer on the door to the nightclub of your mind?

  • He’s there to check the thoughts as they try to come in and to prevent the ‘undesirables’ from getting though.
  • If he spots trouble, the bouncer can come over and calm things down or decide to remove the trouble-making throughts from the room.
  • If the nightclub is too crowded, he holds the thoughts that are fighting to get in and suggests they go elsewhere or wait until there is more space.

He knows that if too many thoughts get in, or too many of them are undesirable or if they start to make trouble, your mind will have problems.

You are the bouncer for your mind and you have the power to choose what happens with your thoughts.

What do you want to feel?

So, what do you want to feel more of the time.

Just by being aware of the thoughts that are going on behind the scenes and choosing which ones you want to entertain, you are able to influence how you feel more of the time.

It takes practice – and that means working on it every single day – but gradually, you will start to notice the difference. And the more you do it, the more inspired you will become to keep doing it.

How? Well, here are a few way to think greater than you feel:

  • Spend a few moments every day thinking about what you are grateful for
  • Imagine how you will feel when you achieve one of your goals
  • Do something to make you laugh
  • Smile – even if you don’t feel like it right now, you will the moment you physically change the shape of your face
  • Do something you don’t feel like doing – you’ll feel great for having achieved it.

And, if you want 2020 to be be the year when you think bigger than you feel, you can take advantage of my free online training video, designed to help you succeed in every area of your life. https://petecohen.com/coaching/

 

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published.