Don't Cry Over Spilled Milk
What we choose to focus on in our lives largely determines the quality of our lives. What we spend our time thinking about influences our emotions, attitudes, and behavior. We can choose to dwell on all the things that go wrong in our day, from the little things like spilling the milk to larger issues like getting rear-ended. We can think about all those times in our lives when people hurt us, betrayed us, or lied to us.
Our brains love to replay these incidents and situations over and over and over again. Isn’t it interesting how a physical pain, like stubbing our toe or cutting our finger, only hurts us one time, but an emotional pain can hurt us hundreds if not thousands of times as we repeat them in our head? It’s not our fault – remember from last week that our brain has evolved to pay much more attention to the negative around us and to quickly forget the positive.
Once we realize that we don’t have to replay these negative thoughts, we gain the power to choose more positive thoughts and a better quality of life. The first step is to tune in and notice the negative messages, then make the decision that this thought pattern is not benefiting us and find a more positive focus to replace it. Perhaps it is thinking about things you are grateful for. Gratitude is a great antidote for many negative thoughts and emotions. What are you grateful for today?