DON’T LET YOUR THOUGHTS STOP YOU IN YOUR TRACKS

Do you find that your inner critic and negative thoughts stop you, slow you down and hold you back from doing things that you really want to?  

I'm going to share how you can change your relationship with these thoughts, so that you can regain control, and your inner critic is no longer in the driving seat.  

Let’s stop taking our thoughts so seriously!  

We often believe what our mind is telling us right? 

That we’re not good enough, we’re not ready, we’re not X enough, that other people won’t take us seriously, that we’re going to fail etc etc.  

We might believe that because we have these negative thoughts, we must face them, confront them, debate against them, analyse them, get rid of them, and replace them with positive thoughts. As if they are balloons that we need to pop, before we can get going with our day, and actions we want to take.  

This approach gives SO MUCH POWER to these thoughts, as we are focussing on them, spending our precious energy and attention on them, and often end up drained through this internal battle.  

And yet they are ALWAYS going to be there. As soon as you pop a few balloons, more and more will spring up, right?  

Because... we are HUMAN.  

And in being human, we will ALWAYS have thoughts that are unhelpful, we will ALWAYS have challenging emotions, because that is part of the human experience. Particularly when we are stretching ourselves, pushing out of our comfort zone and trying to do something new, these voices and thoughts show up louder, as our mind is using tricks to do it’s primary function, to try and keep us safe and away from potential threat.  

SO by trying to get rid of something that cannot be got rid of, only leaves us exhausted, depleted, and disappointed. 

What if we could learn to HOLD these balloons, and carry them on our way so they don’t have to stop us doing the action we want to do?

Let’s think about the tabloids... 

Imagine a tabloid newspaper, which publishes words and stories every day. They report on a whole manner of things, events and people. Sometimes these can be very hurtful and negative stories about celebrities.  

And the celebrities have different ways of responding...  

One celebrity might take every word to heart, reading them over and over again, and getting more and more hurt and angry, they might publish a counter attack story, which then perpetuates the noise and triggers even more false articles in return, and the struggle escalates.  

Another celebrity might feel hurt and angered by the words published about them, AND they also know that these words are not true, and so they focus their attention on what they are doing, their own work and projects and doing activities that feel meaningful. By accepting these stories have no power, they are released from the battle, and the feelings of hurt and anger are free to take their natural course in passing through. 

These tabloid stories are like the thoughts in our head. We can accept them and see them for what they are, just words. They are not the truth, they are not a reflection of reality, and we don’t have to STRUGGLE against them.  

So what can we do when we get these voices or negative thoughts?  

We can build the skills over time to DETATCH from our thoughts, so that we don’t take them so seriously, we notice them for what they are, accept them, and refocus our attention on our actions instead (as it is a LOT easier for us to control our actions than it is our thoughts).  

A simple exercise to try out is ‘I’m Noticing...’ (adapted from Dr Russ Harris) 

Begin to notice when you hear thoughts like ‘I’m so behind, ‘I’m not good enough at this’, ‘I’m not ready’.  

And say to yourself, either out loud or in your head:  

‘I’m noticing, I’m having the thought that.... I’m so behind’  

‘I’m noticing, I’m having the thought that...I’m not good enough at this’  

‘I’m noticing, I’m having the thought that...I’m not ready’  

Have a play around with this yourself and notice what the effect is. This exercise is all about growing that sense of detachment from our thoughts, so we can accept their presence, and yet we are not automatically swept away by them. It takes away some of their immediate power, so you are freer to take more conscious action.

So next time your thoughts are getting in your way, play around with these ideas...  

• Think about them as just words, or stories in tabloids, they are not a reflection of reality.  
• Try the ‘I’m noticing...’ line in accepting the presence of your thoughts, at the same time as not getting swept away by them.  

If you are fed up with your 'negative' thoughts getting in your way of your work, business or life, and you want to take the action you are longing for... 

... book a free no-strings attached discovery call with me, and we can explore how my 1:1 bespoke coaching services can support you to do this.