IF You Change The Way You Look At Things....

IF You Change The Way You Look At Things....

Our thread today may seem more of an intellectual discourse BUT I hope it's relevant enough because in our day-to-day life, NOT everything that's happening around us gets accurately read and dissected even by our own selves.  Many years ago, I felt stuck, feeling I CAN''T move forward, feeling like everything was working against me, like I was trapped in quicksand.  And I kept struggling.  And the more I struggled, the more stuck I became.  And one day I confided to my friend WHAT's going on with me.  He retorted: HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT THAT MAYBE THE PROBLEM ISN'T WHAT'S HAPPENING  BUT HOW YOU'RE SEEING IT?  WHAT he meant was:  IF You Change The Way You Look At Things📗📙📘

At that point, I just CAN'T see things through and I reacted quite vehemently to that advice.  I started telling myself, HOW can I be wrong WHEN my situation was really that bad.  BUT since I trusted my friend, I gave his counselling the benefit of my doubts and I decided to give it a try.  And I started small and modest enough.  I changed the way I looked at my 'healing' process, at the people I was spending time with [like even at the workplace], and even the challenges I kept facing day after day.  Alas, before I knew it, things began to shift, albeit quite gradually and NOT so evidently.  And admittedly, I felt the change was evolving from deep within me.  BUT as I took pains adjusting the WAY I LOOK AT THINGS, I did began to feel much less stressed and seemingly more open💧💧💧

Before I knew it, the same routines that used to be a drag in my everyday life were becoming less of a burden, and instead I look at it as opportunities for me to pause, reflect and reconnect with the deeper parts of myself.  At that point, WHILE my situation had NOT materially changed yet, the way I look at it, it had.  And that made a world of difference because I started to have a better handle of the things around me💚💛💜

At that point, I thought, deep down, we all know that the way we look at the world shapes our experience of it.  BUT WHEN we are in the middle of a chaotic world, it is so easy to forget this.  Instead, we tend to see problems as permanent roadblocks in our way instead of opportunities OR learning moments.  Psychology experts coined the term 'COGNITIVE REFRAMING' and it attacks the very core of our challenges💥💥💥

Our takeaway:  Let's take real-life scenarios here.  Let's say you got stuck at work because of heavy rains, and you CAN'T go home, you could focus on that frustration, thinking about all the time being wasted.  OR you could shift your mindset, LIKE maybe it's a chance to catch up with a colleague who's still around, OR maybe it's a rare moment for you to just breathe and reflect before heading home, grinding through the expected traffic gridlock that comes after heavy rains.  YES, maybe at that point, the rains haven't stopped BUT suddenly you DON'T feel bad anymore by then.  OH YES, our problems might still be there BUT they DON'T weigh you down in the same way😌😌😌