Training Your Mind, as Well as Your Body

As we enter this new year, let's get serious about the work of being healthy of body, mind, and spirit.  We  know that talking about what we want out of this life is easy, doing the work to get what it is we want takes discipline, focus, effort, and mindfulness.

This year on every Monday of each week I will be giving you a lesson for that week that will help you to achieve your health goals.  As I have stated numerous times, we need to train our minds, just as we train our bodies, to have a healthy, whole, self.  The month of January will be focused on training our minds so that we can be more mindful of our thoughts, actions, and emotions.  When you are able to control these things and understand that these are the things that create your life, you can create the life you want.

Let's call it "Mind Training" with purpose.  What ever has gone on in your life so far is due to how you have been thinking, acting, and emoting.  The problem for most of us is that we have not been very conscious of how we are thinking, acting, or emoting.  We have done these things as if there is some outside entity controlling how we think, act, and feel, as if we are not in control.

The good news is, there is no other person in our heads but us.  No one else is choosing our thoughts, no one else is choosing our actions, and no one else is choosing our emotions.  We choose each and every time what we think, feel, and react to.  We just need to do these things with consciousness and mindfulness if we want to create the life we want.

Are you spending a lot of your time in negative thought?  If you are, it is you that is choosing to do so.  Begin to train yourself to think more positively by being conscious of your thoughts.  If you are in negative thought, a good way to catch yourself is by being aware of how your body is feeling.  Thinking negatively will always make you feel bad, whether it is having a tight chest, a rapid heart rate, or an upset stomach, negative thinking never leaves you feeling good.

When you are able to catch yourself thinking negatively, immediately switch your negative thought to a better one.  For instance, if you are thinking negatively about yourself by having thoughts that you are not good enough, or not ever going to achieve what you want in life, switch that thought to something like, "I am a good person, and I deserve the life I want".  Each of these thoughts are a choice, why not choose the one that makes you feel better?  The negative thought is usually never true anyway, so why burden yourself with these thoughts that are about something that does not exist?

Constantly remind yourself that you are a unique and wonderful person that deserves to be happy and healthy.  You have special gifts to offer to this world that no other human has.  You are like a snowflake, there is no one like you, beautiful, complex, creative, and deserving of the best of what life has to offer.  Train yourself to think positively about "You".

There is never any benefit to negative thinking.  When you think good and positive thoughts you feel good, and feeling good is the most important thing when it comes to how we are thinking.  When things in our life seem to be negative, it never helps to dwell in that negativity.  It does help however to think positively about a negative situation, that is how we can overcome the negativity in our lives.  Keep a positive outlook no matter what is going on.  At the very least, you will feel better and be healthier for it.

So during this next week, your homework is to make an effort to be aware of how you are thinking.  Practice thinking consciously.  Be aware of how your body is feeling, for that is the best barometer of how your are thinking.  When you catch yourself thinking negatively, switch immediately to a better thought.  Soon this will become automatic, just like when you exercise, it is never easy at first, but feels more natural and good as you keep doing it. 

As you keep training your mind to think better, it will become your natural way of thinking.  That is when you will notice how much better you feel mentally and physically.  You will feel more in control of how you are creating your life....the life that you really want!

Till Monday,
Queenie