We Have a Choice
I’d just run south from our apartment in Harlem through Central Park to 81st street to meet up with my family and our Wolf Pack running team. As soon as I rolled up the boys greeted me with the news that the Mayor of NYC had cancelled public schools until April 20th and possibly until the end of the school year! Boom, our world was turned upside down. Our Wolf Pack running group was abuzz with chatter on how this was going to play out.
Although we’d all been anticipating this, parent chat rooms blew up with panic, anxiety and despair. It was tempting to join in. The chaos felt contagious. But I had to remember that I created my emotions with my thoughts. I had a choice.
Nevertheless, I indulged for a while. I started thinking how I didn’t have room in my schedule for such a long hiatus from school. This would surely negatively impact my business. The kids and I would certainly kill each other being together 24/7. They would most definitely get addicted to the computer. I have no experience homeschooling kids. Why is it always me that has to sacrifice my career and care for the kids? This is going to be a disaster! These thoughts naturally started to create feelings of frustration, annoyance and resentment.
I took a deep breath. I could see where this was headed, to actions and inactions that didn’t serve me. If I continued down this thought path I’d spin in overwhelm, probably scroll through social media and the sensational news for days. I’d lack direction, not plan well and waste time. As a result, I’d create evidence for not having enough time and negatively impact my business just as I originally anticipated.
The lesson of “a circumstance is neutral until we give it meaning with our thoughts” was fresh on my mind from my adventure last week in Plano, TX (see my recent blog post). So I quickly switched directions, dropped those thoughts and deliberately chose to think “I’ve got this! I know exactly what to do. I can figure this out!” This generated feelings of self-confidence and determination. It fueled me to plan my day and week, prioritize what was important and start taking action immediately. These thoughts were more likely to serve me and my family than my previous negative thoughts. There was nothing wrong with my previous thoughts, it just wasn’t taking me in the direction I wanted to head in.
So this is my game plan for the week and month. If I veer off the plan I will practice self-compassion. I am human after all. Negative emotions are part of the human experience. I get that. As Master Coach Brooke Castillo teaches, life is fifty percent positive and fifty percent negative emotions. We can choose negative emotions if we want. The key is learning how to process them properly and flow through them without creating extra needless suffering.
Right now the universe is throwing some new and uncomfortable circumstances at us. It is up to us to decide how we are going to react to them. What are you going to CHOOSE to THINK and FEEL about them? It is up to you! Circumstances don’t decide for you. Others don’t decide for you. Emotions aren’t contagious. YOUR thoughts decide your emotions. What will it be? Because what you decide to think will affect your actions and thus the results you manifest in your life.
Owning your thoughts puts you back in the driver’s seat. It is empowering. Don’t give away your power to the mass hysteria going on at the moment. You’ve got this. Be informed but follow your own inner compass. And remember you can tell it which direction to go in if you want - you can choose which thoughts to follow and which thoughts to ignore. 😁
If you’d like to dive deeper on this topic set up a free consult with me. I’d love to connect with you.