…and I Don’t Mean Stamina
I was working with a client today. Almost as soon as our conversation began, I felt a heavy weighty energy inside my body. Over the years, I have developed an acute awareness of the “flow” of my energy. When I feel a “shift” in my energy that takes me “down”, I pay close attention to what’s going on in and around me in order to identify the trigger for this weighty feeling. I can usually trace the weighty feeling to heavy “negative” thoughts inside of me, or the person I am working with.
I have learned to get curious about the heaviness and ask questions that will reveal the unconscious thoughts that usually drive such feelings. Dark and troublesome thoughts mean us no good. They leave us recycling old arguments. These negative “lower energy” thoughts tend to keep us focused on what’s wrong or what “could go wrong”. Such focus is rarely, if ever, productive.
When we get curious, we can see these thoughts for what they are—energy downers that zap our sense of what’s possible for our lives. Instead of wallowing in what’s wrong, or what could go wrong, our focus would be better spent on what I call “the white space” around the problem—the possibilities that exist right along side the problem. If we put our focus on the white space we can completely transform heavy feelings into power. When I feel scared, I ask myself, “What do I believe about myself, God or the world right now?” If I find a belief that is unhealthy or unproductive, I begin to work with it and turn it into something that feels better… feels “lighter”. For instance if I discover that I am worried about making a mistake or failing, I refocus and turn my worry energy into pictures of success. I can usually get to a “lighter” more empowered space by replacing my negative worry thoughts with hope-filled thoughts about what is possible for my life regardless of the current situation. I recite out loud to myself all that could go right with the same situation. I let my mind play with how even the worse case scenario would benefit me. I get so caught up in winning, one way or the other, that I feel at peace with whatever comes.
Possibility and hope are miracle drugs. They can obliterate negative “downward” thinking and revitalize you with courage. They can even turn the worse set of circumstances into a great adventure. When your energy takes you in a negative direction, think possibility, then act responsibly and expect something good to enter into your life.
Let’s live life triumphantly,
Tina
