Did you know… that our brain doesn’t pick up NOT and DON’Ts? So when you say (out loud or just inside your head, to yourself) “I don’t want to be tired”, the only thing registered is “I want to be tired”. Pick a few typical examples from your arsenal of self-talk – come on, I know you have a few standard ones??!
Let’s make an experiment: “Don’t think of a pink elephant”. “Don’t think of a pink elephant”. Which image immediately flicked through your head? Your brain needs to create the image of the pink elephant before it can add the don’t. Do you see the trouble that’s creating?
You may have heard that what you focus on is what you get. It’s the law of attraction. The more you think and talk about something, the more it comes to mind, the more attention you give it, the more of it you get.
So the more you talk and think about how tired you are, guess what? You feel even more tired! So while exactly that will be mentioned a lot in a mothers’ group, and when one says it, the others need to trump it with stories of how they are even MORE tired…. it may support the feeling of belonging, but it definitely doesn’t make them feel more energised!
Combined with the little fact that the brain doesn’t register NOT, then the sum of all the “I’m so tired” and “I don’t want to feel so tired” adds up to a lot. So use your language wisely: to create what you want, what you want more of – what you want to attract. Sounds simple, right?
Here’s a funny exercise for you until next time: start listening for all the times you say or think what you DON’T want. Then immediately change it into what you WANT. How cool is that? I tell you, it will change what you focus on – and what you get.
Why just take my word for it? Test it out. Have some FUN chasing the negatively loaded words in your OWN language and swap them for positive ones (hahaa… you were just ready for a verbal attack on friends and family – what about leading by example instead?).
Watch your thoughts, they become your language. Watch your language, it becomes your actions. Watch your actions, they become your habits (and remember to have fun!).