Take Back Your Power By Doing This One Thing

Circumstances are neutral.  They are not inherently good nor bad.  They don’t have the power to cause our feelings.  It’s our thoughts and interpretation of the situation that cause us to feel a certain way. 

For example, let’s say you’re meeting a friend for dinner and they’re 30 minutes late.  Your friend being late is a neutral situation.  Your thoughts about this can generate a wide variety of feelings even though the circumstance (your friend being late) didn’t change one bit.

Your thought- “My friend is late.  My friend doesn’t respect me.” You feel angry.

Your thought- “My friend is late.  My friend had an emergency.” You feel worry.

Here’s another one:

You go to a dinner and they serve Brussels sprouts. 

Your thought- “I hate Brussels sprouts!”  You feel disgusted.

Your thought- “I love Brussels sprouts!”  You feel content.

The Brussels sprouts are still… Brussels sprouts.  It didn’t secretly morph into a hot fudge sundae with sprinkles.  It’s the thoughts that generated polar opposite feelings.

The meaning you give to a situation is what determines your emotional response.  The next time you encounter traffic on your drive to work or it starts raining just as you start your walk- What reflexive thought (and subsequent feeling) are you generating from that event? 

Priya