I'm sitting at my desk going through all the things that went wrong this week. It has been incredibly challenging for me mentally. It seems as though I've faced obstacle after obstacle and crumbled into a heap of failure. These ruminating thoughts have a tendency to dwell in my mind,
reminding me of all my faults and shortcomings. I can't say it's been helpful. Feeling this way never brought me closer to solving a problem. If anything it's effectively made things worse. Attacking my self esteem and eating away at my confidence. Feeling this way serves no good purpose.
That's why I resort to the three main practices that, in the past, have resulted in a complete shift in mindset. Because negative thoughts happen to all of us. Feelings of doubt, fear and inadequacy come to us all, but succumbing to them is optional. The only way to get past our barriers is to remember that we are not our thoughts. We are the results of our actions, no matter what state. And there are actions we can take to drastically improve our state of mind.
Meditate
This is an easy one, at least in theory. There are many people who, I'm sure will scoff at the thought of sitting in silence for half an hour. They're probably the same people who tried and failed. The challenges of meditation are what makes it so beneficial. You never know how long fifteen minutes is until you have to sit through it. Letting thoughts pass you by and breathing, calming everything down. It's like lowering the volume and acknowledging it as noise.
Move
There is no better exercise for a rummanating mind than walking or running. It's easier than meditating because you're prompted by action. This helps shift the focus from mind to body and allows the thoughts to gentle flow away. Motion is emotion, because it's hard to maintain pent up energy when it's being released through movement. It's also better with a friend; going for a swim, basketball or visiting the gym together is a great way to clear your mind.
Learn
It's easy to deem yourself a failure, and it's even easier to give up. However that means accepting that your best presentation was the worst version of yourself. The version that threw in the towel when things got hard. The version who decided not to fight. Or you can learn from your mistake and move forward. Now that I know better I can do better and come back as a savage.
