You get to choose everything in your life, but you must know what your mind is doing.
You’ve heard this advice before but it’s so important to choosing instead of reacting in our life – get to know your mind.
What's a Thought Download anyway and how do I use it?
Now that you know the model, let me tell you about the 2nd biggest tool I use in my practice. My mentor Brooke Castillo calls it a Thought Download. Once a day, I prefer morning because it helps me start my day more grounded, pull out a journal or piece of paper and just start writing down everything that is running through your mind. No editing, not worrying, no assessing it, just write.
It’s like sitting down with a good friend and just getting everything on your mind out of your head.
Our minds are the most powerful tool we have. And you can learn how to use yours wisely.
You've heard this, the mind is the most powerful tool us human beings have. Yet most of us, kind of run on auto-pilot, or let our minds run us. Almost passively listening and reacting to our thoughts. The most important thing you can do is OBSERVE your thoughts. Really.
Often we don’t become aware of our thoughts until we’re feeling some kind of strong emotion, usually unpleasant. But, as you know, it is our thoughts that create our feelings. Not the other way around. So can you see how important it is that we get curious about what thoughts are running through our brains?
Not all thoughts are created equally... Not all thoughts are true...
Our thoughts are our stories, our interpretations. They are not “truth,” though often we accept them as truth. This doesn’t mean what you think and feel doesn’t matter, this means you have a lot more impact over your thinking and feeling than you realize. Awesome right!
Becoming aware of our thinking gives us the ability to RESPOND in our life versus react. Can you see the difference?
So the first step in accessing the power of our incredible brain, is to become aware of what it’s thinking.
Try it -
1. Once a day put side 10 minutes.
2. Open your journal or a Word document.
3. Take three deep breaths, this helps you come to the present moment and get focused.
4. Start writing down everything running through your mind.
Start with this. And just let it be an exercise in observing. You’ll find the act of writing all your thoughts down will also calm you mind for the moment.
Once you get into a groove with your Daily Thought Download if you want to take it a step further, if you want to learn how to respond instead of react in your life, pick one thought from your list and do a model on it. Check out my blog on how to use the model if you are new to this. Then you can concretely see what your particular thought is creating for you in your life.
I’d love to hear what you learn for yourself in this exercise. Email me and let me know.
And remember, if you’d like to dive deeper into the work of more purposefully choosing and creating your life, I offer free 30 minute mini-sessions where we get right to work. Click here to schedule some time. I also have Free Monthly Community Coaching Calls where you can learn how to really apply this work to your life. Come feel better. Sign up here for August's call.
