Why you should never spend any time thinking about what you don't want and how to retrain your mind to always bring you success
Let's experiment!
Think of something you love and something you hate at the same time. Give it a shot now.
How'd it go?
If you said you did it, you didn't. No one can. Our conscious mind doesn't work like that.
Your conscious mind can only focus on one thing at a time. You only get to hold one thought, one image at a time.
What you may have done is switch back and forth in your mind between images quickly enough that it feels like you are almost doing it. Trust me, you're not.
Draw a circle with one hand and a square with the other... How'd that one go?
Ok, I'll stop...
This is why multi-tasking is a myth. Especially when you're creating new behavior. Multi-tasking is multi-silly and is just another form of avoidance.
"Great" I hear you saying,"All this article's done so far is prove that I can't actually multi-task, a skill that, before I read the above few lines I used to think I was pretty good at".
Don't give up on me yet, I promise you're gonna want to hear the rest of the story.
Yes it's true, you can't focus on more than one thing at a time, but...
This is good!!
"Why?" I hear you asking (with a slight eye roll and maybe a small yawn).
Because you are the one who gets to choose the thought.
If you take anything away from this make it this one fact: NO ONE AND NO THING CAN EVER MAKE YOU THINK SOMETHING. YOU ARE THE AMBASSADOR OF YOUR THOUGHTS AND ALWAYS HAVE ULTIMATE CONTROL OVER WHAT YOU THINK. WHETHER YOU ACCEPT OR REJECT A THOUGHT, YOU ARE THE ONE WHO DECIDES.
The key is to keep your thoughts on what you want and away from what you don't. When you master this, your success is guaranteed.
What you focus on does two very important things. One, it conditions you to receive it and two, it places you in a vibrational state that draws what you are focusing on to you.
Get it? One thought, one focus at a time. You get to choose. Something you want or don't want. What you spend the majority of your time focussing on is what shows up for you in your life, every single time, no exceptions.
Learn to control your focus and you have learned to control your life.
So now do you want to know the 3 simple steps to mastering the subtle art of shifting your focus?
You bet you do.
1. Develop an awareness for how you are feeling (and more importantly, exactly what is causing these feelings).
2. Ask yourself these 2 simple questions "Is what I'm thinking about and feeling what I really want?" and "What do I really want and how will getting it make me feel?"
3. Only think of what you want and how good it feels to have it NOW.
Period, end of lecture... Mic drop.
The subtle art of shifting your focus is about learning to hone and develop your awareness for how you are feeling by simply asking yourself: Does this feel good or does this feel bad? Do I feel good or do I feel bad?
That's all.
When you notice that you are feeling bad, that's ok. You've just become aware that something is going on in your mind that's not going to help you achieve your goal. In fact, it will stop you cold if it were to continue, but you've just made yourself aware of it and awareness is always the first step to changing.
Simply put, if you're hitting yourself on the head with a hammer (because it's a nasty habit of yours) and all you do is walk around complaining about the massive headache you've got, will you ever be able to fix your headache if you don't first become aware that you hit yourself on the head with a hammer all day?
Answer: No. Funny picture right? But this is actually what people do in regards to achieving their goals.
It gets better. Most people will even tell you "I don't hit myself on the head a hammer... Huh, that 's crazy... I don't do that." Even though they are doing it right in front of you.
Become aware and don't judge yourself. You can't escape from a prison if you don't know you're in one.
When you become aware that you are feeling bad, quickly ask yourself the questions...
"Is what I'm thinking about and feeling what I really want?" and "What do I really want and how will getting it make me feel?"
Is what you're thinking about and more importantly, FEELING, what you really want?
This answer is always "NO" if you are feeling bad (it's kinda a no-brainer... fact check me here if you like).
Ok, move on to the second question and do it quickly before you get all judgy with yourself for thinking something negative... We all do it.
"What do you really want and how will getting it make you feel?"
Why did you choose to do this in the first place? Remember how enamored you were by the idea of achieving your goal in the beginning. What did you see yourself getting? Why did you want to do it? AND, what does it feel like now that you've achieved it?
Yes, I said "now that you've achieved it...". That's not a mess up. Feel your goal achieved already. Feel the happiness and joy now. See how the world looks from there. See yourself saying "Yes, I did it!", "I love it", "It feels amazing".
See people asking you how you did it and telling you that it is great.
Choose to only think from here, as in, your goal achieved. Every time you feel bad, make the shift to seeing and more importantly FEELING your success already achieved and you will have mastered the subtle art of shifting your focus.
Become a practitioner of the simple steps offered to you here and I promise you, you will never again have to look back on New Year's resolutions not achieved or any other goals you set for yourself from this point forward.
Instead you will have a list of amazing things you've accomplished and more importantly, a much much happier life.
Life is short. Keep it fun. Learn to feel as good as much as you can and I promise it will amaze you what shows up for you.
Blessings and abundance my friend.