How to change your thoughts to change your life

When I first started to learn about the power of our thoughts, I thought (!!) “how are we supposed to think about what we’re thinking about?” – for me, it seemed, thoughts just came into my head and I had little or no control over them.

So, I started to try and observe my thoughts, but it was inconsistent and frankly quite exhausting. I could make some of my thoughts intentional, if I really dedicated time and energy to it, but for the rest of the day when I was going about life, there was no way that was manageable or maintainable.

But, as like most changes or transformations, I needed to look at it from a holistic perspective. What triggered negative thoughts? What led to bad moods? Why did I get sick in times of high stress? I slowly started to put the pieces together.

🥑 FOOD: when I eat poorly, my skin breaks out and I don’t feel energized.
Result: bad self-image and low confidence.

🖥 WORK: when I overcommit to projects, I feel overwhelm and frustration.
Result: illness and feelings of resentment.

💤 SLEEP: if I don’t make sleep a priority, I’m completely cranky (my husband can vouch for this).
Result: low productivity which leads to overwhelm at work, and bad eating (see above).

🧘🏻‍♀️ SPIRIT: if I haven’t tapped into my spirit, I’m just lost.
Result: questioning EVERYTHING I’m doing (+ see all of the above).

When I prioritized these areas, I noticed an improvement in my thoughts and overall mood, but it was still difficult tracking them.

Then I discovered the importance of focusing on FEELING. We were created with an Emotional Guidance System, designed to signal to us when our thoughts are sliding down a negative spiral, and equally when we’re elated (encouraging us to maintain the glory).

OK so let’s get technical for a moment. There are 2 types of feelings. Are you ready for this? GOOD and BAD. Revolutionary right? But among each type there is a scale of good emotions and bad emotions. For example:

These “bad” emotions signal two things for us: 1. our dominant thoughts are negative; therefore, 2. we are not in alignment with who we really are. It’s a siren for us to get back to the “good” upward side of the spiral (where our spirit always is).

When we FEEL bad (which means we are THINKING bad), the solution is to reach for a better feeling thought. That’s not to say when we have feelings of fear, that we should jump to a thought of joy and all will be AOK. That’s too big a jump for us to make (if only it were that easy!). We just need to use our thoughts to work on moving up the scale i.e. fear can be talked down (or up, rather) to worry, which can transition to frustration, which can spiral up to hopefulness, then enthusiasm, and eventually, boom: you’ve hit joy!

When we become intentional about tracking our feelings, we become intentional with our thoughts. Maintaining that “good feeling place” for the majority of the day increases energetic momentum which strengthens your vibration. You will begin to notice things working in your favour, desired outcomes appear (seemingly) effortlessly, and your level of joy in doing the things you already love will intensify.

The biggest disservice we can do for ourselves (and others for that matter) is to ignore or push down our feelings. They are indicators of something being in or out of sync – a strong match or disconnection from our spirit. Embrace them, celebrate them, be thankful for having guidance and USE them.

YAY for feelings!