It is really easy to get caught in the mindset that everything is against you. Opportunities aren't coming your way and maybe your life won't be this wonderful story you once thought of as a kid.
Our minds are so powerful at deceiving us and making us believe what we think is true. It can be really hard to break out of a negative mindset that only sees a tough future.
It is once you can escape the negative cycles that you gain new awareness and perspectives to grow.
As creators of our reality, we should realise we can live anyway we want to, it's all down to our attitude and the way we see the world.
The Shift:
Whether you believe it or not the Law of Attraction is something to be aware of when moving towards a more positive attitude.
The law of attraction is a philosophy suggesting that positive thoughts bring positive results into a person's life, while negative thoughts bring negative outcomes. Essentially, understanding it is a way of understanding your mind and how you view opportunity.
There was a great clip from a podcast with Theo Von and Tony Robbins where Tony asked Theo to look around their set for everything that was brown.
Theo looked around focusing on looking for all the brown items and furniture, Tony asked Theo to close his eyes and then asked Theo to recall everything he’d seen that was red.
Theo was surprised and smiled hadn’t seen anything red and Tony stated that ‘it was because you weren't looking for red’. Theo then opened his eyes and looked to see all the red around him.
The lesson from this test by Tony was so clear. You see what you are looking for. So, if you are constantly filling your mind with negative thoughts about your life and your future then you will only see these negative things.
The shift comes when we start to notice the conscious and subconscious negative thoughts we have and intentionally replace them with positive thoughts.
‘Once you develop a belief you find something that supports it’ - Tony Robbins
If you focus on only positive thoughts, decisions and outcomes you align yourself to be someone who believes they deserve anything you desire. Your life can shift dramatically as you elevate yourself to a different level.
The Mirror:
When you look in the mirror what do you see?
A lot of us see problems with ourselves. What if we decided that every time we looked in the mirror we could only think positive thoughts?
The mindset and attitude we have to ourselves dictate the way other people see us. Our life is a mirror to how we view ourselves internally so start working towards seeing the amazing things about ourselves rather than just the things we don't like.
Once we do this we open up to more of the amazing opportunities we can see around us because we remove that complex layer of doubt and self-criticism.
It is really easy to see confident people in the public. Simple signs such as the way they walk, is their head up or down? Do they hold eye contact with people they walk past or do they look away whenever they make eye contact?
If you can read someone else so easily then others can read you. When they read you you'll want them to see the best version of you rather than an unconfident doubtful individual.
Master self-love and learn to look at yourself in the mirror with appreciation and positivity.
Opportunity:
There are always opportunities around us wherever we look, but our vision is limited by the goggles we wear.
Being able to change your altitude means being able to see opportunities wherever you go. Once you can see them you can act.
Our mind is our biggest limiter. Once we acknowledge and change this we will free ourselves. Only once we control what we allow ourselves to think and observe and train ourselves to see unlimited possibilities do we start to make positive progress.
How many times have you heard the saying ‘You are only one decision away from changing your life’?
It’s true. One decision can transform your momentum and set you on a path of win after win. But, your perspective and ability to see the opportunity is determined by your mind.
Start trying to look for opportunities. The more you look the more you will find.
Here are a few things I do to try and increase my awareness for opportunities and train a more positive mindset towards myself and life.
1 - Try New Things
Whether it is a new sport or activity, trying something new is a great way to reset your opinion about yourself. You are forced to go into something as a novice and from this position you can only learn and improve at what you are doing.
We all learn new skills quickly to start with so trying something new is a great way to build confidence in your ability to learn and evolve. This is the essence of growth and therefore should be repeated regularly.
I recently took up paddle and for the first 15 minutes was useless as I tried to get used to a different racket size, a smaller court and new rules. After an hour, I was addicted and fuelled with excitement as my confidence grew and I proved to myself that I was improving.
2 - Switch Up Patterns
It is really easy to fall into patterns in life whether out of comfort, safety or ease. One thing I’ve integrated switching up my patterns into myself is around walking. I like to usually walk the same routes as I know the timings but also I know the areas, but I recently discovered how much more interesting is it to take a diversion and find a new route to my chosen end point.
The reason this is so effective for me is because I am still getting to my endpoint within my time frame but I am proving to myself that there is more than one way of getting there. Whenever I've felt anxious and out of control was when I felt the route I had planned was not delivering the outcome I wanted regardless of all the other opportunities in a direction I could have taken.
This is a subtle thing to do and observe, but once you master it you learn that, like a river, we will eventually find the route of least resistance. The trick is to branch off to make new tributaries every once in a while.
3 - Practise Gratitude
Being able to see and understand how lucky we are is a superpower. Life can very easily get in the way of this but learning to step back and finding the time to focus on things that are going well and more positively is essential to changing the way we see our life and ourselves.
I have a gratitude diary that I write in at least every other day. I write down four things I am grateful for which I feel in the present moment and try to connect with the feeling of them.
4 - Listen And Observe
Stepping back from the busyness of our lives is hard to do but once you allocate time to do it and you master the observational skills of seeing yourself and life in a third-person view, whilst seeing others around you similarly, you realise how fortunate we all are.
Listening to other people tell their stories and learning from them is invaluable. It enables us to see life from another perspective and learn from them.
It also allows us to get out of our heads and focus on the present. Developing a good observational skill will enable you to understand everything around you and how you can move forward.
5 - Surround Myself With The Right People
You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.
Energy is infectious. When you are constantly surrounded by negative energy you’ll develop negative energy, when you are around positive energy you'll gain more positive energy.
Curating your friendship group is essential to growth and building momentum because these people shape you and who you will become.
If you are around people who see life as an amazing opportunity and see opportunities everywhere then you will start to see this too.
Remember, the mind is so powerful that we really can't comprehend all of its impacts on us. If you want more from your life then start by understanding your mind and how you see
yourself because making the moves in the big wide world.
I am Will Flindall, host of the Valley of Outlaws Podcast where I speak to those who have decided to take control of their life and follow a passion or instinct.
If you feel like you could be getting more from your life, then maybe one of the conversations I’ve had with the Outlaws might help you kickstart a change.
Peace x
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