I’ve been very fortunate in my life to have been exposed to excellent input in personal growth. With many years of education and facilitating personal growth seminars, helping people achieve more of what they want in their lives, I’ve learned a few things along the way.
Today I would like to share some insights with you, hopefully something will stand out for you and you’ll gain some balance.
Most often unbalance begins in the mind. We become overwhelmed with the sheer volume of tasks that lie before us; or, we don’t believe we can get things done in time. We end up unconsciously thinking in a way that defeats us rather than helping us. These ways of thinking are called Cognitive Distortions and they can shape and/or hinder our perception of reality. Hence, we become unbalanced and might even feel “unhinged”.
Mental filtering is a form of tunnel vision where we tend to focus on only one thing or one area of life, ignoring the rest. We end up seeing only the negatives and fail to acknowledge the positives.
Then there’s jumping to conclusions. Usually, those conclusions are unjustified and not based on actual fact or evidence, but rather on feelings and personal opinions. A part of this includes assuming we know what someone else is thinking (mind reading), when we have no idea at all.
Are you blaming yourself for your problems and everything else that goes wrong in your life? It’s important to take responsibility for yourself, in fact it’s admirable, yet it can end up being a very burdensome habit-of-mind that leads to strong feelings of guilt and regret.
While this list is far from complete, it does offer some clues into how our thinking can sabotage us.
Here’s something you can use to help bring balance back into your thoughts:
Once you recognize your thinking is off-balance, stop and take a deep breath. Then ask yourself: What am I thinking about? What is it that I’m reacting to? Consider the bigger picture and view the issue from the outside, How would someone else see this? What is going on here? What is really true?
Once you’ve answered those questions, take action. What’s the best thing I can do here for myself, others, or the situation?
I’m a professional in the field of personal growth and habit change. I’m here for you and together we can find the answers you may be seeking.