You may not be able to change how your day started. Difficult things and challenges are a part of everyone's life. BUT you don't have to allow them to ruin your whole day. You can and should Change your focus, Change your day.
Over the years I have found some techniques that help me to refocus and change the outcome of my day and I would like to share some of those things with you here.
Change Your Focus Change Your Day Tip #1
"Its not about the good or the bad, Its about where your focus is...Where's yours?" Kat Cooley
One of the most important revelations I had in life was when I realized that positive people had the same problems in life that I had, they just didn't let it consume them. In fact they deal with them then switch their focus to something better.
This is perhaps a critical part in changing your focus. Because your thoughts decide what you focus on. If you are always looking at the negative, then you will not see the positive things that are happening around you. I like to think of it like this: If all you see when it rains is the mud on your shoes and your wet hair, then you will miss the beautiful flowers that it brings.
There are at least two ways to view every situation. How you interpret what is happening IS the key to the outcome. I recently found myself, rather suddenly, in a hospital, two hours from anyone I know. I couldn't talk much on the phone because is left me winded and wheezing and at the gas prices of today, expecting others to travel to where I was to see me would have been unrealistic and unnecessary. Most of my morning had pretty much tried to make me feel like Murphy's law was in effect full force. If it could go wrong it did.
The Negative way
Now I had two choices at this point...whine and cry at the troubles, dwell on the negative and have a big ole pity party. (no one would have blamed me either) OR
The Positive way
I could cease the moment and focus on ways to use the situation in a positive manner. I chose the latter and I was certainly not disappointed.
Over the next few days, I gave my business information to two different people on the medical staff, shared some positive thoughts about God with two respiratory therapists, hooked up a customer service clerk from the medical equipment I received, with some information on becoming a virtual assistant, provided the lab/respiratory student nurses, the opportunity to use me as a pin cushion and learn what it was like to have a "hard stick" patient...ok, being stuck over and over because they can't get the veins (on several occasions) is one I could have done without ..., but the positive side is I helped them learn something, they may not have seen, so next time the patient may not have to suffer as much. And repeatedly challenged all staff to test their skills to "find my pulse" even the doctor had a hard time...LOL! No I wasn't dying...it is just hard to find it in my wrist.
Change your Focus, Change your day...
The 5 things I am thankful for rule:
When you are struggling to be positive or your day is just going all wrong...the best thing you can do is start thinking of what you are thankful for. And not just anything, but things that relate to your current negative situation. For instance: A driver cut you off: I am thankful I was smart enough to see that...or I am thankful God showed me that in time for me to respond.
Of course you can be funny, serious or creative...the point isn't so much what you are thankful for but rather where your focus is. A great example of this was something that my daughter said in response to the 5 things rule once. She had been going on and on about hating Mondays and I challenged her to come up with 5 good things about Mondays...First on her list: "Its 6 days till its Monday again."
All to often we fail to realize that our thoughts, our focus, directs what comes our way. Not because it "draws" it to us, but rather because we have our eyes open..ready and waiting... for what we are focusing on. I like to sum up what Noah St. John wrote to wrap the explanation up nicely in his book "The Secret Code to Success" People that look at a situation and immediately asks "what can go wrong" Often miss out on Golden Opportunities because of their focus on the fear or worse case scenario.
A successful person on the other hand says "what can I do with this?" and "How can it benefit me or others?" This person is more apt to take chances on the opportunities that come up and even though they may fail, they will always win because they never give up.
Food for thought: Where do you think we would be today if Martin Luther King Jr had said: "If I stand up for what I believe in they may hurt me" instead of "I have a dream..."
So the next time you have a bad day, Change your focus and Change your day.
Stick around and check out the upcoming blogs on a continuation of this series. Oh and if you are interested in earning while you learn to blog for money, you want to share passionately on a topic of importance to you AND earn money while doing it...then check out my other blog and click on the banner at the top >>> KatsHands Empower Network Blog
This blog was written by
Kat Cooley
of
Kat's Hands
Virtual Assistant *The Hands and Voice of Your Success"
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