Your Thoughts Create Your Life
Choose good ones.
“We are always living in the feeling of our thinking.”
—Joe Bailey
Bailey is an author and psychologist who focuses on mental health rather than mental illness and he made that statement when I interviewed him a couple of months ago. I’ve been reflecting on it ever since.
How we experience life is a result of how we perceive things. How we think about them. And how we think changes how we feel.
If we perceive everything as dangerous or wrong, hard, or bad we will feel bad.
Yet if we can perceive our experiences as an opportunity for growth or learning, if we can find love and gratitude and humor and joy even in the rough times we will be more resilient, optimistic, and more capable of dealing with those hard times.
Better Thoughts, Better Feelings
Nobody needs to tell you how to think. We all get to decide that for ourselves.
But, when I’m reminded that everything I put in my head impacts how I feel, how healthy, how creative, happy, and resilient, I am, I’m more deliberate with my thoughts. More careful.
If we get to choose what we think and what we think will change how we feel, why choose anything unhelpful?
Why choose anything that doesn’t make us feel good, hopeful, and strong?
Today, let’s choose thoughts that raise up so we can be all that we are.
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Yes, and…
Here’s that great episode with Joe Bailey, on Polly Campbell, Simply Said.
Yes, and…
We can all get stuck in negative thoughts from time to time. When that happens change your behavior. Take a new action to interrupt the negative thought patterns. Deep breathing can help. Go outside. Take a walk or go for a jog. Turn on the music. Write your feelings out. Use positive behavior to move beyond rumination.