Who’s in Charge?
A favorite question my sister likes to ask herself while contemplating how best to navigate her life. She says it empowers her. And there’s certainly a vibe to it that makes you feel confident. Like...You’ve GOT this!
And, so, borrowing inspiration from her, I decided to imagine some creative and interesting ways to deal with issues that have proven quite challenging for me.
I started observing my behavior closely and noticed myself reacting quite intensely to the 24/7 news reports... and not in a positive way. Of course, I was delighted to hear the descriptions being broadcasted of generous, loving, humanitarian efforts being made by many individuals, especially the first responders. That touched my heart deeply. But there was also a great deal of news focusing on statistics, warnings. You know the drill. And they presented a challenge. I realized my energy was negative (fraught with fear and anxiety) after listening to these reports and I decided I needed to transmute my reaction into something positive.
Recognizing I was developing a habit of negativity about the situation, I opted for the opposite: optimism. And I decided to make it an entertaining practice.
I have found the best way to change a habit is to do something fun while you transform it. I decided that every time I recognized I was making a negative statement (which, by the way, was often a worst case scenario), I would change it to a statement of the BEST case scenario, flipping the switch.
No matter how difficult or challenging it was, I persevered...often laughing at myself as I heard the doom and gloom resonating in my voice and then enjoyed switching up and landing in a lighter place. And also feeling much happier as I reframed the situation. With great results, I am happy to say. I was able to literally lift my vibration. I could hear it in the tone of my voice as I said the words aloud. And, I also began to feel positive emotions.
I was proud of myself for finding the gift in the experience. No one was doing this for me. And that, in itself, was a wondrous thing because I was not depending on what someone else would say or do or what kind of space or mood they were in. I could set this up for myself by myself any time I wanted. Now that is freedom. And it felt really good.
Habits are TOUGH to break out of. So often we chastise ourselves, gritting our teeth, promising to do better next time no matter how we feel. But this approach is not sustainable. No matter how great of an idea we have come up with, we probably need to raise our vibration and feel better before we can go in, do the work, and make the change.
As I practiced this new approach I found it interesting and curious to observe myself inhabiting a pattern of negative commentary. Being the neutral observer instead of the person lost and overwhelmed in the subjectivity of the feeling was doing something NEW. It got my attention. And that made it play. And, best of all, I was breaking an annoying habit and moving into the next best version of myself.
What if...we held the intention to transform every worst case imaginable into the BEST conceivable possibility...into something that would ultimately help us grow?
Not only would that move us into a higher vibration, it would sharpen our creativity and imagination for out-of-the-box thinking and for reaching for a horizon not clearly visible nor accessible to others.
And that’s a great use of our energy. And a lovely step in our evolution.
There’s no downside here. We take control. We are IN CHARGE of our response to whatever our environment is providing. There’s a really good vibe circling around this approach. I can hear my sister’s influence whispering in my ear: You GOT this!
Marie Helena
image from Best Case Scenario-Home/Facebookfacebook.com
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