Let’s face it, we all have negative thoughts. It is important that we understand what these thoughts are and where they come from in order to gain more from life. I have found three ways that work very well for me to exercise my mind. These exercises allow me to dump negative thoughts and bring on positive thoughts. These exercises have changed the way I think.
The three exercises involve writing. Writing is only one example, but I feel it is the best and first place we should start as it allows us to process the negative emotions and helps to instill the positive changes. Here are my three suggestions:
1. The Negative Emotions Daily Dump:
I have read many self help books and I have been to numerous leadership seminars and the one thing that that I hear, from every success coach, is how important it is to write out your negative thinking every day.
Simply spend approximately 15 minutes writing out all the frustrations, bad feelings, and discouragement in your day. This helps you to process these bad feelings out of your system so that you can make room for positive affirmations. If we don’t do this we are just likely to bottle these feeling up and end up transferring and projecting our frustration and anger onto others.
We must feel free to write all that we are thinking. We must be completely honest. After we have done this we tear it up! That is right. Do not reread it and do not keep them. Write it out, and then throw it out. This is called the Negative Emotions Daily Dump.
2. Affirm Your Goals:
Writing out your goals is so powerful! When we write things out it helps us to have more focus. An affirmation is nothing more than a goal in the form of a positive statement. Think of it as a statement of you asserting the existence or the truth of something you want to happen only you are affirming and asserting that this something is in fact now true!
We start this process by identifying the statement. Once we have decided on this something that we must declare we will then need to write it over and over.
This process serves as a sort of oath.
This can work with more than one statement. In fact it is a good idea to have a list of affirmations. Writing and reading these affirmations will help your subconscious mind to find was to make these goals come true. All lasting changes happen in the subconscious mind and then work with our conscious brain to make those all important behavioral changes.
It is important to write your affirmations at least twice a day. Write them once after you have written your Negative Emotions Daily Dump. Don’t do the Negative Dump without filling it with the positive affirmations. You should always end with this. Write the second set of affirmations either right before you go to bed or first thing in the morning.
To really make this work you should read your affirmations several times a day.
3. Understand your Motivations:
In order to stay motivated you must understand your real reasons for wanting to accomplish your goal. In other words, understand why YOU want to lose the fat and gain the muscle! Not why your spouse or friends want you to get in shape, but why transforming your body is important to you.
Do you really want more energy? Women do you just love skinny clothes? Are you someone who wants to participate in activities that would be easier if you were lean, fit and healthy? Do you want a great six pack to show off at the beach?
Write these motivations out in detail so that you can solidify them in your head and they can continue to motivate you through the entire transformation journey.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dave DePew is a fitness trainer and sports nutritionist with over two decades experience designing training and nutrition systems used by millions.
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