What in the world has been going on in this world of ours? Whether the unexpected natural disasters. The many criminal cases. The wars. Or, the increased number of people dealing with mental illness, it’s a lot. There were tornadoes happening during a Hurricane in Florida. The former governor of NY and his stepson attacked by teenagers. The continued wars between Israel/Palestine and Ukraine/Russia wars. And, the large number of people in the streets of NYC daily who have lost their sense of reality. Not to mention, we deal with daily stresses within our jobs and personal lives. So, when there are a lot of negative events taking up space in your head, what are some ways you work to remain centered?
In the last few months, I have been working on being more intentional about this. I continue to do yoga that helps with my physical stress/body tension. But I have also been on a mission to reform my negative thoughts. The beautiful thing about the human brain is that it’s flexible when you are mindful about treating it well. It takes time to retrain it, but it is possible. The term used for this is cognitive flexibility. It’s the ability to adjust our behavior as a response to a changing environment. Studies show that it can help with higher resilience to stress in adulthood, higher levels of creativity, and an improved quality of life as we get older.
It would be nice if we could go to sleep at night and wake up and everything would be okay. If we dream this could possibly happen one day. But in the history of human beings it will not happen in any of our lifetimes. So here are some examples of ways to be more cognitively flexible.
- “I didn’t receive the job I interviewed for because I didn’t have enough experience.” vs. “They lost a good candidate, I will soon get the job that’s meant for me.”
- “The train is delayed and now I’m going to be late for work.” vs. “There’s nothing I can do but take the train information and tell my boss to see what happens.”
- “My friend just canceled on me at the last minute.” vs “Maybe something happended, but anyway I get to save my gas.”
- “My child is dealing with a disbaility and it’s my fault.” vs. “I will love my child for who they are. I will do my best to make sure they succeed.
- “I hate this job and my boss.” vs. “I will start looking for a new job that gives me what I need to succeed.”
Here’s to hoping the negative energy in the world cool down and we will be out of the twilight zone. But until then we must do for ourselves and make sure we nurture our brain. Let’s take the steps to change our thoughts and live in peace.