So often we can feel at the Mercy of our own Thoughts.

Its great when they are working for us, but sometimes it can feel as if they are conspiring against us, trying to undermine our hopes, our confidence or just our general sense of wellbeing.

The powerful truth is that we get to choose what we think about!

This seems an obvious statement, of course we can decide what to think about, particularly when dreaming about something new or fun! But when the thought is negative or oppressive they can rumble on in the back of our mind for some time before we deal it… if at all!

Many times, I’ve had a seemingly innocuous little negative thought about something or someone that’s come out of left field, and after pondering it and giving time to it, it has snowballed into mountainous issue and detrimentally affected my day, emotional wellbeing and/or my relationships.

When i realised that I can choose the thoughts that I let in and think about, but also equally importantly that I can catch and throw out negative thoughts, the consistency of my emotional state improved dramatically.

We have an amazing inbuilt ability to think about what we are thinking about! If the thought that we are dwelling on isn’t helpful, we can either re-frame it in a more positive light, or throw it out completely.

An example might be an upcoming presentation that you are giving at work. You’ve prepared for it, but now you’re imagining all the ways that it could go wrong… and as you do, you’re experiencing the negative emotions of those possible future scenarios as a reality in the present moment. So how to stop this? Instead of allowing your mind to create negative images of a future scenario, actively choose and practise imagining a positive outcome. In this example, imagine delivering the presentation articulately, imagine the audience understanding and receiving it well, and imagine yourself afterwards feeling good that you gave it your best. Then you are free to prepare and practice with a sense of confidence rather than forboding, and by feeling better about it, you are released to deliver an improved performance.

A great rule of thumb is to choose to think about things are good, noble and true, excellent, inspiring, encouraging and hope filled. If you find yourself succumbing to less than happy thoughts, don’t beat yourself up, choose to either reframe your perspective, or think about something completely different, and engage your mind on building positive momentum in the other direction!