I am a natural planner. I love, love, LOVE to envision the future in great detail, full of color and feelings, and create a step-by-step plan to get there. Often times, this is a great motivator to keep me vibrantly connected to what I want and where I'm going. However, the flip side is that there are some times when I get so caught up in fine tuning my vision for the future that it starts to overwhelm me. All of the potential paths and outcomes swarm around in my head and I start trying to work out all sorts of safeguards against anything that could possibly go wrong. This sucks me into a perspective of scarcity and from there, I'm totally hosed. By putting my focus on what I don't have or what could go wrong, I foster these things in my life rather than focusing on (and therefore fostering) the things that I do have or what could go right. Self-sabotage, in all its glory. Not good.
So, when I feel myself starting to spin into this process, I try to remember to grab for a lifeline to snap me out of it. A great way to do that is to get back to the present - focusing on what is happening right here and now and what I know to be true in this moment. I've come up with this handy dandy, three-step process to help me along:
1. I stop what I'm doing and ask myself (out loud, if possible), "How are things going RIGHT NOW?"
2. I take a moment to brush away any thoughts of the past and the future and just focus on my answer to that specific question, right now.
3. I answer my question, again saying it out loud if possible, and I usually find that the answer is something along the lines of, "All is well right now."
I know...talking to yourself might seem a bit out there and you'll probably feel like a tool the first few times you do this but it really does wonders. Once I stop the spinning and get grounded in the here and now for awhile, I find that I can return to the issue with much more clarity and effectiveness a little bit later on.
How do you snap yourself out of it when things get overwhelming? What tools do you have in your toolbox?
For more good stuff like this, Like me on Facebook.
So, when I feel myself starting to spin into this process, I try to remember to grab for a lifeline to snap me out of it. A great way to do that is to get back to the present - focusing on what is happening right here and now and what I know to be true in this moment. I've come up with this handy dandy, three-step process to help me along:
1. I stop what I'm doing and ask myself (out loud, if possible), "How are things going RIGHT NOW?"
2. I take a moment to brush away any thoughts of the past and the future and just focus on my answer to that specific question, right now.
3. I answer my question, again saying it out loud if possible, and I usually find that the answer is something along the lines of, "All is well right now."
I know...talking to yourself might seem a bit out there and you'll probably feel like a tool the first few times you do this but it really does wonders. Once I stop the spinning and get grounded in the here and now for awhile, I find that I can return to the issue with much more clarity and effectiveness a little bit later on.
How do you snap yourself out of it when things get overwhelming? What tools do you have in your toolbox?
For more good stuff like this, Like me on Facebook.
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