Let’s do a mental check. Ready?
Do you live in the present moment? Or spend more time worrying about what has happened or what is going to happen?
Do you pay close attention to what’s happening around you, using your senses and intuition? Or are you more inwardly focused, missing some of what’s going on?
Do you give your body and mind what they need when it comes to eating, sleeping, and taking time out? Or are you ruled by your calendar and phone?
With the answers you gave for each question above, you can get a good picture of what your mentality is like. Is it one where you’re ruled by anxiety, fear, worry, and stress? Or is it one where you choose hope and abundance?
And the really important big follow up question to each of the three areas above… WHY?
Saying, “I don’t know—that’s just how my brain works” is a terrible answer, for the record. Dig deeper. Push yourself to truly understand what’s making you tick. What is driving you? And when you come up with your first instant answer to that question, make yourself ask, “YES, BUT WHY?”
I met a young woman in one of our workshops recently who shared the story of her husband’s early death. He was young and healthy, and they had a great life with two young kids. He was in a meeting one day and suddenly noticed his words weren’t coming out as planned. Shortly after, he was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. He passed away just a few short months later, leaving his young widow devastated, and asking the question over and over again, “WHY ME?”
About two years later, still stuck in that same mentality, the young woman was at her children’s school and was approached by the principal, who had also been widowed, many years before. Without thinking about it, the young woman started pouring her heart out to the older woman, including her constant search to understand why this terrible thing had happened to her family. The older woman placed her hands gently on her shoulders, looked her in the eyes, and said, “You’re asking the wrong question. You need to start asking ‘Why NOT me?’”
The young woman was completely rocked to her core by this shift in paradigm. She told us it completely shifted her way of thinking. It allowed her to shed the mantle of victimhood and take on one of living with intention and purpose.
How would your world completely change if you were to adjust your mentality? What benefits would be possible? What risks or dangers could there be? Are those risks worth the possible benefits?
In this season of busy-ness and hustle-bustle, we sincerely hope you take a few minutes to reflect. Give yourself a gift this season. Be good to yourself.
