I am really excited about this post and I really hope to inspire and empower you through this post. So, first, I want you to ask yourself a couple of questions. Do you tend to see the glass half full or half empty? Do you tend to see things as happening to you or happening for you? Be honest with yourself; nobody else has to know your answers and there isn’t a right or wrong.
If you tend to be the glass half empty or view things as happening to you, you may also tend to feel more stressed day-to-day. This comes from feeling like we don’t have control over our circumstances or feeling overwhelmed by them. However, this is a choice, but most of us aren’t aware of that. You can choose which one of these you are, or you can change which one you are. It is a matter of awareness, mindfulness, and action. There are three things you can do to shift yourself from feeling stressed all the time to feeling blessed all the time.
These are:
- Become aware of your limiting beliefs.
- Change how you say things.
- Take action from new beliefs.
Throughout my life, I have found people fall into two categories, either the glass half-full or glass half-empty categories. I tended to be in the half-empty camp. For most of my life, I have looked at things through that lens. I am not even entirely sure when it started, but it seems like it’s been my whole life. It was only in recent years that I learned that I didn’t have to stay in that category or frame of mind. When I started applying what I learned I started to realize it is 100 percent true. I have also learned it takes constant practice and there are many things that factor into this.
I have found it is a layered process and it is ongoing in many ways. It is not a straight line, in fact, it’s more like a roller coaster. I am very much still learning and growing in the ways I am sharing with you. I have found this so powerful in changing my own perspective and my own life, that I wanted to focus a post on this.
For so much of my life I have been in a state that I would call stressed. I have spent so much of my life believing and feeling like things happen to me, like I had no control. This has kept me in a place of reacting. It has left me resentful, angry, deflated, and often feeling hopeless. I felt like everything was obligatory in my life for so long. The more I looked at things this way, the more it was validated, the more I was right.
The thing is, it all starts when we are younger. It starts with things our parents, grandparents, other important adults in our lives said or exemplified in their behaviors. Those turn into our beliefs about life, about ourselves. Over time, we get so used to carrying these beliefs, that they just become our mindset and lens through which we look at the world. Eventually we are completely unaware of it; it’s subconscious. It also becomes our comfort zone. It’s what we know, what we are used to, our reality. So even if we want to change it and see it differently, we experience challenges in doing so, because the ego and subconscious will resist that change process to keep us in our comfort zone, because that is safe. The unknown is unsafe.
This realization hit me right between the eyes recently. I have done a ton of inner work to shift my mindset and I have spent years doing the things I am going to share with you in a bit. I have shifted my mindset and outlook drastically, yet, I still find myself having these moments of self-sabotage. The most recent example of this was recently one morning when I was going about my normal workday morning routine. Now, the night before I had done my bedtime meditation and prayer. I declared that I was going to wake up in a good mood and asked for God to work on my limiting beliefs while I slept. So, I get up, have a great workout, had some great downloads come through while I was working out, had a great meditation, and I just felt great as I started going about my day.
Then I go to get dressed for the day and my outfit didn’t look the way I wanted it to and it triggered me big time. Then I’m crying and saying all these old things that I really don’t believe anymore but there I am saying them. So, my morning starts going downhill. As I’m driving to work, I’m like wait a minute what the hell just happened? I decided I was going to have a great day today. I decided I was going to embody love and happiness today and I was totally in that vibe before I started getting ready for the day. So, what the heck happened? Then I realized, I had made a choice to allow my ego to take control that morning.
Like, I said, I was spewing all these things that I now know are limiting beliefs, and it was like it was on autopilot and that’s what made me realize it was this old program in my brain that was struggling to stay in control. So, then I started going to my new beliefs, reminding myself of the truths I have come to learn and reminding myself that I could choose to feel differently.
Later that day, I took a walk at lunch, reflecting on the whole situation from the morning. I realized that I was being tested that day. I was being given a choice; I could either continue to embody and subscribe to these old limiting beliefs or I could embody and subscribe to my new affirming beliefs. I had to step away from the situation a bit and get some clarity first, and then I made the choice to embody and subscribe to my new affirming beliefs instead. Suddenly it was crystal clear to me that what had happened that morning was simply my ego trying to keep me in an old version of myself, because that’s what was safe.
As I mentioned earlier, getting to this point is not a perfect straight line. It is not permanent either. As you grow and shift into higher versions of yourself, you will be confronted and challenged in similar ways by the ego. The more you do this, the better you get at catching it quicker and shifting yourself. So, let’s get into the ways you can do this for yourself.
- Become aware of your limiting beliefs.
So, in recent episodes I’ve talked quite a bit about limiting beliefs. These are essentially lies, or untruths that we have come to believe as truth. They exist subconsciously until you become aware of them and start to recognize them. So, how do you become aware of your limiting beliefs? Well, they show up in a variety of situations. They can show up as triggers; so when you find yourself feeling intensely in response to something that someone says or does. That’s telling you there is something there that is being reflected back to you. Limiting beliefs also pop up whenever you set out to do something outside of your comfort zone or which stretches you in some way. For example, you decide you want to start selling your art online, but then when you go to set up your site and post the pictures you suddenly get hit with fear and anxiety. You start criticizing it and thinking nobody would want to buy it.
So, one of the ways you can start to shift your mindset and move yourself closer to the goals you have or dreams you have for yourself, is to start becoming aware of these. Start to take note when you experience triggers. Take note of those negative emotions and feelings that come up as soon as you start to make steps towards your desires, dreams, and goals. They are simply reflections of your fears of actually achieving those things, because it is the unknown. It is your ego trying to keep you in the safety zone of what you know. Start writing them down as you catch them popping up and start to look at them more objectively. Where did they come from? When did you start believing them? Do you want to continue believing them or do you want to believe something different?
The beauty is that you get to rewrite them and choose different beliefs. Yes, it takes time to shift into these new beliefs, but you start this process by becoming aware of the limiting beliefs and rewriting them into affirming beliefs. - Change how you say things.
The way we talk and the words we use are reflections of our beliefs and how we feel about things. Words have more power than we tend to realize or acknowledge. The words we use and the way we say things affects our perspective. This can make the difference in how we feel about things as well.
For example, listen to these different ways of saying the same thing and note how each feels or sounds.
I have to get the kids ready, then I have to take them to school, then I have to go grocery shopping.
I am blessed to get the kids ready, take them to school, and go grocery shopping.
Each is describing the same thing, but in the first one has more of a stressed and obligatory tone and the second sounds more like fun. It’s a simple swap of words, but it makes a world of difference in how you feel about what is being said or done in each example.
Being mindful of the words you use and reframing what you say in similar ways can completely shift your outlook and how you feel about things. You’re essentially integrating appreciation and gratitude into your language, which, with time and consistency will shift your perspective drastically and you will start to feel completely different about things that used to cause stress, or brought a feeling of dread. - Take action from your new beliefs and perspective.
We have all heard the saying actions speak louder than words. Well, it is true. While becoming more aware of your thoughts and limiting beliefs and changing how you word things are both great ways to shift your perspective, you also have to change your actions to align with the new beliefs you are adopting. It’s essentially a bit of a game of pretend at first, because you’ve never moved through the world or life with this new perspective or outlook, right? So, you have to take action in accordance with these new beliefs as well.
So, how would the version of you that embodies the new beliefs act? How would you go about your day if you saw everything you do during the day as a blessing? Would you be rushed or would you be more relaxed? Would you drag yourself around or would you maybe have a spring in your step? Just like thoughts and words many of our behaviors become automatic and repeated without us realizing it.
For example, for decades, I didn’t know what a calm morning was. I was so used to and so consistently rushing around and in a frantic state to get ready and get out the door every day, I just thought that’s how it had to be. Over time, as I have gotten more mindful of limiting beliefs that influenced my actions and behaviors and how I was thinking about or speaking about things, my mornings have gotten more relaxed. My days have gotten more relaxed. It all works together: you catch the way of thinking, you shift the language and thus the perspective, and you start to take action and behave according to the new way of being. With a little time and consistency it becomes your new way of being and you shift from feeling stressed and in a frantic mode to realizing how blessed you are and finding more enjoyment in the simplest of things.
So, these are three ways you can shift from feeling stressed to feeling blessed. We always have a choice and the beauty is that we have the power to change whatever we don’t like. You may not be able to control what happens outside of yourself, but you can completely control what happens inside.
I hope this has blessed you. Please share your thoughts in the comments. If you find this helpful and want to continue the pursuit of faith, fitness, and joy with me, please like and subscribe. You can also find Faith Fitness Joy on Facebook and Instagram or check out the podcast at https://faithfitnessjoy.podbean.com. Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you in the comments and on the socials!