Each time we move out of our comfort zone, energy follows. Depending on the situation, we sometimes invite the negative “Who do you think you are?” part of ourselves to pay a visit. We all do it to some degree, no matter how strong we are.
When you challenge yourself, and that energy comes, do you experience a gentle ripple or an intimidating Tsunami? Or somewhere in between? The difference between the two is where we build the muscle to keep challenging ourselves!
When we choose to play small, we get a pay-off in our comfort zones. Safety and comfort are two examples. If we have the slightest tendency to feel anxious and listen to our negative self-talk (aka Gremlins), we may fight with all we have to stay safe and comfortable.
We know that having clarity about what we want helps us to focus. The same is true with clarity of feelings.
Ask yourself, “What am I feeling?”
“Is it anxiety? Yes, I think so! And it doesn’t feel good.” So, I choose to take action to stop that feeling, and this action sabotages and thwarts my goals. I stay stuck.
We have this innate desire to reach for more, and sometimes it generates anxiety. At that point, we can go back to our comfortable place and remain stuck there.
Or, we can choose otherwise.
“Is it excitement? Yes! Now that feels good to me!” I will intentionally and consciously act to feed that feeling. I feel motivated and believe that if I keep moving forward, I will accomplish my goals.
What if we always thought of this energy as excitement? We could acknowledge it as the positive energy that it is—an energy that we can strategically feed to create more and more motivation.
When we feel challenged, what if we ask ourselves, “Is there a threat? Or is this feeling/energy excitement?”
Put another way, we can stop and ground ourselves, decipher that feeling bubbling up, and then consciously choose to feed the empowering thoughts (excitement) that move us forward.
When feelings first appear, anxiety and excitement can feel the same. You can find clarity about your feelings when you:
- Stop
- Get Grounded
- Discern/Decipher
- Choose Positivity
- Take Action
It’s a given that a feeling will come when we challenge ourselves. If we consciously examine the feeling, we can understand its origin and choose to respond in a way that keeps us growing.
And that, my friends, is downright liberating!
It’s that time of year when many people think about everything that they have to be grateful for.
Gremlins. ANTs (Automatic Negative Thoughts). Cognitive Distortions. Whatever you call them, these unconscious negative self-judgements are at best unhelpful and at worst extremely unhealthy.