Be Careful What You Focus On

This week I have been thinking about our amazing mind and how it can affect how we feel. When we focus on something positive we feel good and when we focus on something negative we feel bad.
 
This is the way the mind works. There is a direct connection between our thinking and our feelings. When we focus on something fearful we don’t perform as well as when we think of something positive.
 
 
Fisher German
 
This week I had an excellent day with senior staff at Property Consultants Fisher German where I delivered my full day Masterclass on behalf of PDW Group. I have been working with PDW Group for a while now and they bring me into their programmes with various clients when there is the need for Mental Resilience.
 
This day was outstanding with a fabulous group, and we all had a great time learning some excellent Mental Resilience techniques with great interactions and wonderful feedback.
 
As you would expect a day like this made me feel great and every time I think about that day I feel happy and positive. So, I have used this experience to switch my feelings every time I find myself thinking about the situation which is frustrating me. And this works every time!
 
 
Change your thinking to change your feelings
 
All I need to do to change the way I feel is to think about the Fisher German day and I immediately feel good. The reason for this is that our feelings are directly connected to our thinking. If we think good thoughts we feel good, if we think negative thoughts we feel bad.
 
It is so simple it feels incredulous, but it’s true.
 
 
Negative challenges
 
I currently have a few things which are being delayed and could cause me to experience frustration and negativity. When you are in a negative state you have less energy and motivation, so you achieve less which brings in more negativity.
 
It all starts inside the head with our thoughts. We change everything by changing our thoughts. If we find ourselves in a negative thinking state we can only change this by changing our thoughts. We need to focus on something positive.
 
Our feelings are directly connected to our thinking. If we are thinking of something negative then we feel down, if we change our focus onto something positive we start to feel better all within seconds. 
 
 
Heart Rhythm
 
An experiment was carried out by Neuropsychologist Rick Hanson to discover if thinking had any effect on our heart rhythm. Volunteers were connected to heart monitors to measure their heart rhythm.
 
Firstly, they were asked to think of something pleasant like a nice beach scene or a walk in the park and their heart rhythm was recorded. They were then asked to stop those thoughts and to replace them with thoughts of fear or anxiety and their heart rhythm was recorded.
 
The result was consistent in all their volunteers.
 
Neuropsychologist Rick Hanson, Ph.D., is a Senior Fellow of the Greater Good Science Centre at UC Berkeley, and New York Times best-selling author. He says the following:
 
 
Pleasant Thoughts
 
“When we experience uplifting emotions such as gratitude, joy, compassion, and love; our heart rhythm pattern becomes highly ordered, looking like a smooth, harmonious wave.
 
It’s no wonder that positive emotions feel so good – they actually help our body’s systems synchronize and work better.
 
 
Stressful Thoughts
 
During stress and negative emotions, when the heart rhythm pattern is erratic and disordered, the corresponding pattern of neural signals traveling from the heart to the brain inhibits higher cognitive functions.
 
This limits our ability to think clearly, remember, learn, reason, and make effective decisions.
 
The heart’s input to the brain during stressful or negative emotions also has a profound effect on the brain’s emotional processes – actually serving to reinforce the emotional experience of stress. 
 
 
Thoughts for the week 

1. This week try to remember a situation which made you feel really good.
2. Try to visualise the memory and bring back the emotions connected with it.
3. Keep doing this until you feel the excitement of this memory.
4. Now you can use this memory and the positive anchor associated with it to change the way you feel.
5. When you find yourself dwelling on something negative immediately change your thinking to this positive memory and watch what happens. 

 
Well that’s it for this week have a wonderful weekend and stay positive.
 
Warm regards

John 

https://jdmindcoach.com/product/off-the-wall-how-to-develop-world-class-mental-resilience/
 
https://jdmindcoach.com/product/100-days-to-mental-resilience/