Have you ever noticed that you when you’re shopping for a new car, suddenly you see your object of interest everywhere? Overnight, everyone started driving Hyundai Konas somehow (to use a personal example). You know why that is? You see what you look for.
And WOW is that powerful.
One of my favorite movies is The Matrix. Just the original one. The sequels are horrible. HORRIBLE! But the original Matrix is a piece of art. It shows you how constrained we are by our thoughts. They literally, every day, every minute, create the world around us.
- Do you believe that people are always out to get what they can out of you? That will be your experience in the world.
- Think you don’t have the skills necessary to excel in that job you really, really want? That’s right you don’t.
- Think you’ve had this pain for years, so no matter what, you will always have it. Yes, that will also come true.
Research actually supports the concept of the power of our thoughts – placebos work because we think they work. Our body processes food differently, depending if we think it’s good for us or not. A combination of intention and attention can heal. More details on the the power of of our thoughts can be found in an article I wrote here and in a podcast about psychoneuroimmunology here.
We have more power than we realize over the results we get in life. Our thoughts create our feelings, our feelings create our actions, and our actions create our results (and confirm our thoughts to be true). And our thoughts ARE changeable. Once we start to take the immense super power of Attention and focus it on the utter craziness our ego is spewing out non-stop, we can start to shift our Matrix. Little by little, we can watch that voice, question its veracity, and try on some new thoughts that might create better feelings > actions > results.
Here are some fun questions to play with, when you encounter an exceptionally annoying thought such as, “I suck and will never be good at this. Life is unfair. This shouldn’t have happened. He is so successful because he came from money. I don’t have enough money/power/formal education to be “successful.” She shouldn’t be so talkative/bold/lazy.”
- Is that true? How do you know it’s true? What if the opposite is true?
- What are you making that mean?
- Why? Ask this one at least 5 times to get down through some layers.
- Who would you be without that thought?
- What feelings is that thought creating in your body? Where do you feel those feelings? What sensations are associated with that feeling.
- How could I rewrite this story I am telling myself?
Once we start to glimpse a different reality, outside of the matrix we have created for ourselves, we start to realize how empowered we truly are to go after what is meaningful to us.
This is HARD and exhausting and uncomfortable work. And it’s slow. Decades of patterns of thought take time, loving and compassionate attention, and present moment awareness to start to unwind. But, man, isn’t it worth it to be able to rewrite your story of what’s possible for you?
If this piques your interest, there are about a zillion resources I could share with you, but here are two that have really helped me on my journey:
The Life Coach School Podcast – search for podcasts on the Self Coaching Model
As always, if anything I wrote piques your interest, and you want to know more, holler at me. And if you need some help with reducing pain, improving your performance, or with feeling more at home in your body, you can book with me here.
And that’s my quick note for today! Hope you are having a fabulous day!
