Day 4 - Controlling Our Thoughts

"A big part of this challenge is the ability to commit to something and follow it through to the end" - Em Hrovat

Journal Thoughts

A big truth of life is that we can’t direct what goes on around us - the things that come into our lives, the challenges we face; but we can always control our thinking about what shows up.

What you think about something defines your relationship with it. We constantly and unconsciously place everything that shows up in our life as “preferred” and “not-prefered.” Whichever category the moment/conversation/situation falls into, defines it in our mind.

If we see something and think “UNPREFERRED!” we experience agitation. If we see something and think “PREFERED!” we experience fleeting excitement or contentment.

When was the last time you had an experience where your expectations did not meet reality?

The yoga practice has been described as a practice for skillfully managing preferences and learning not to respond to them.

How have your personal preferences been contributing to your own agitation?

Are you micromanaging how others respond and react to you?

Notice the moments that you are categorizing things as unpreferred, and ask yourself “what is good of this moment?”

This is how we start changing what we think, by asking better questions.

Practice swapping “why is this happening to me” with “why is this my reaction to what is happening?” See the difference?

Slow Down

In yoga, we slow down our movement so that our breath can be more accessible to use. In order to create change in our thoughts, we have to slow down enough to be able to see what’s actually there. Move at a slow enough pace today to notice how your preferences rule your day. My hope is in the added intentional pauses you create in your day, that you will see the opportunities to ask better questions of your circumstances.