A joy-filled good day to you!
First of all, I hope you’ll join me in sending love and positive thoughts of calm, courage and resourcefulness to anyone still affected by Hurricane Sandy. Let’s all focus on the more positive future that they are now yearning for. My wish is also that very soon they’ll be able to look back and acknowledge the growth that can also occur out of the midst of chaos, if you allow and reflect on it; which brings me to my personal lessons from this stormy week. I’m hoping they’ll serve you, as well.
How to never lose your power
I don’t know if this happened for you, but during the storm on Monday, I couldn’t focus on much of anything other than the storm for the life of me. From what I’ve learned about our brain and biology, this is because my brain was literally focused on the life of me, triggered into survival mode by the threats I perceived and was focused on.
I didn’t actually feel like my life was at risk; but I did feel like my life as I prefer it was at risk; and this triggers the part of your brain that only deals with survival and limits the higher functioning frontal lobe.
Perhaps similar experiences to this happen throughout your day:
- You’ve got a work deadline that you worry about meeting and the possible negative consequences (risks) if you don’t.
- There’s a lot of traffic, and you might be late, which might mean more possible risks.
- You’ve got a never-ending “to-do” list, and it all needs to get done or else…
- Someone you care about is having some kind of perceived problem, and you’re concerned about the consequences.
When it’s not really a true life or death situation, triggering your brain into this survival mode does nothing to serve you or anyone else. In fact, it can be unhealthy and even harmful.
So what do you do?
First of all, you need to recognize the signals for when you’re operating out of survival mode. What’s the best clue? Check in with how you feel. If it’s not good, check internally as to what your inner dialogue is like. When I did this during the storm, I noticed I was repeatedly thinking, “I don’t want the power to go out.” And, guess what? It went out! A lot of good that kind of thinking does, right? I tried to be more positive, but unsuccessfully. The howling wind got the best of me.
So then I started repeatedly thinking, “I don’t want my food to go bad.” Aware again of the useless, negative track I was on, and that just trying to change my thinking wasn’t working, I decided to try a different strategy. I shifted my focus to the sense of peace I could feel in my home, and to the positive aspects of the whole experience: more time with my family to relax and have extended, unrushed conversations; the glow of candlelight; that this will only be temporary, and so on. This worked quite well for me! I got bored, but I stayed calm and peaceful; and, as my brain was freed up, I eventually got more resourceful in terms of how to entertain ourselves and to find ways to work around the no power limitations.
New Possibilities for You!
- Pay attention to how you feel. If it’s not good, then breathe, center and soothe yourself by shifting your inner dialogue to a more positive one that’s still believable, or experimenting with different strategies that will help you to shift your focus until you feel better. Don’t give up! If one strategy doesn’t work, then try something else!
- Let go. Although I was staying fairly calm and positive throughout our power outage, I’m now aware that there was still an undertone of impatience. By Wed. evening, arriving home to cold and dark, I started to really feel it. I’m glad for that increased awareness, because I was then reminded to take care of it. Thursday morning, I brought myself to a place of being prepared and okay with having no electricity through the weekend. I created a scenario that allowed me to feel okay about it again. And then… a couple of hours later, the electricity returned! Letting go of being attached to one outcome not only feels better, it allows what you desire to come to you.
- I also became more aware of how entitled we tend to feel about all that we’re used to having. Electricity and everything else is not owed to us. It’s all a gift! Appreciate it all as such and not only will you feel great, you also become more powerful.
- Those 3 days without power felt slow and long at times; but within an hour of having it back, I looked back and thought, “Was it only three days?” What a difference perspective can make! When you’re struggling with something, imagine yourself in the future when it’s resolved, and look back. That “problem” may not seem so big, after all.
- Lastly, remember, when you have the right strategies available to you and you use them, you may lose your electricity, but you will never lose your power!
An example from one of our past New Possibilities Fundamentals Program members:
“ I was thinking yesterday about how September is usually a very stressful time for me. In fact, in the past this time of year, I have ended up in the ER with chest pains and numbness in my arms for 2 years in a row. After running lots of tests, the doctors found that there was nothing medically wrong. They told me that I was probably stressed. September is the beginning of Fall (which I love), but it's a transitional time -- the kids start school; my work load tends to increase; I'm usually training for a fall marathon or half-marathon, etc, etc.
This year, I haven't even felt "stressed". Sure, I've been busy --with all of those same things and even more. The idea of being "stressed" to me now seems so manufactured. Once I start feeling less connected to my inner-calm, I bring myself back as much as possible. I'm getting better and better at it, and it feels good.
I'm so happy that I joined the New Possibilities program, and I think so many others could benefit from doing the same. Thank you! Thank you!” -April Ropes
If you could use some strategies for improving how you feel and having all that you desire, please read about our upcoming New Possibilities Fundamentals Program scheduled for this coming January! Wahoo! We haven’t had this program in a year, and we can’t wait to do it again and share in everyone’s personal transformations. Click here: http://www.newpossibilitiescoaching.com/the-fundamentals-program.html
Supporting you in greater ease and joy, with a warm heart,
Ann
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