It’s Your Choice Where You Fly Your Mind

Happiness is not something ready-made.  It comes from our own actions.
Dalai Lama

Once when my daughter was at school she came home with her hair infested with nits.  It was my task to wash her hair and rid it of this infestation.  All I wanted to do though was scratch my head because it was so itchy. 

Have you ever experienced something like this?  Your focus of attention is consumed by your child’s issue and you start experiencing the same effect.  Your scalp feels itchy and you start scratching your head.  I even feel like scratching my head now as I write this.

What about a yawn!  A colleague yawns and don’t you find it challenging not to do the same?

What’s happened is that our minds have given importance to the yawn or the nits and we’ve immediately started to feel the effect or the symptoms in our body.  We start yawning or scratching.

70 to 80% of medical students are afflicted by the disorder that they are studying.  They experience the symptoms so profoundly that they are convinced that they have contracted it.  This is despite their lecturers warning them to anticipate this outcome. Every week as they study a new disorder, they experience a different malady.

So, Doctor Google is the best diagnostic doctor on the planet because as soon as we consult with a suspected ailment, we are sure to be suffering from the symptoms.

Our minds are like heat-seeking missiles.  Whatever heat we choose our minds to lock onto, it will seek out for us and it can be deadly in its accuracy.

Suppose you went to your doctor and he or she advised you that you are suffering from a degenerative medical condition that is going to have you suffer from loss of sight, hearing, thinking, taste, energy, strength as well as result in heart disease, stroke, arthritis, pneumonia and diabetes.

Sounds horrible doesn’t it?

The medical condition I describe is the process of growing old and the bad news is we are all going to experience it.

The good news though is that you will be happier than you’ve ever been in your life.  It’s a good news life paradox.

Oddly enough, In terms of happiness levels, the elderly generally feel happier than they did when younger, stronger and healthier.  They come to desire a time of emotional contentment for their remaining years, and they take deliberate steps to achieve it.  They master the geography of self-influence by having attention-shifting practices to hone onto positive memories, pleasant thoughts, favourable information, happy faces and gratitude for what they have.

I’m sure your thinking that you know plenty of grumpy old people.  Yes, they are there. They are probably more conspicuous than the contented because their behaviour can be challenging to cope with.  They stand out and are more noticeable than the contented.  It’s a bit like the stickiness of the bad news story over the good news story.

Further, it depends how skilled the senior person is around attention management skills.  Those that have good skills to stay fixed on positive material show the greatest mood enhancement.  Those with poor skills stay stuck in their tribulations.

Imagine what would happen to your life if you aimed your mind inwards every day to your advantageous attitudes, terrific traits and considerable capacity.  You locked your attention and focus to what is strong about you and not wrong.  You deliberately and accurately had daily attention-shifting practices to bring happiness, connection and success into your life.

Imagine if you started today to learn how to fly your mind towards these life targets.   By the time you reach your senior years, you will be an expert and your happiness and contentment levels will be off the chart.

You’d have to agree it is much easier to be around a happy, contented and positive person than a misery-guts who is sad, dissatisfied and negative about life.

Some tactics to help you start your flight today are

• Notice what’s wonderful in your life and have gratitude for it.  Write it down and relish it.
• Cultivate optimism by choosing to look on the bright side of what is happening in your life.
• Embrace the negative, observe what emotion you feel and look for ways to turn it around.  Reframe where you can.
• Watch when you are condemning and criticising yourself and be kind to yourself.  Apply this to the people around you too.
• Have fun designing your own flight plan for flying your mind towards what you desire for your life.

Your mind is amazing.  It will seek out whatever you want for your life just like a heat-seeking missile.  We are all going to experience old age.  If you want to fly around the title of grumpy old person, start your flight plan today and master the skills of self-influence with deliberate daily attention-shifting practices.  Hone onto what’s strong about you not wrong.  Make your destination happiness, kindness and gratitude.  It’s your choice where you want to fly your mind.  Start today!

Remember all of this and much, much more is provided in my Women’s Empowerment and Leadership Program.  The next program is on 9th and 10th August 2018.