Yesterday, I
shared with you how my out-of-control, negative thoughts contributed to my
unhappiness and how I began my journey towards changing my thoughts.
Here’s a
nifty way to visualize the dynamic interplay between our thoughts, our actions
and our feelings:
- Our emotions
are impacted by our thoughts and by our actions.
- Our thoughts
are impacted by our emotions and our actions.
- Our actions
are impacted by our emotions and by our thoughts.
The
outside environment can also impact our emotions, thoughts and actions, but
only when we let it.
Of
course, we can, through our actions, impact our environement and we do all the
time. We don't have full control, however, over what that impact will be.
Today,
I challenge you to put this diagram to the test!
-First,
try changing your emotions. You know, just decide you're going to go from
feeling one emotion to feeling another emotion. :-) Good luck with that!
-Second,
try changing your emotions by changing your actions. If you feel lonely, angry
or sad, try singing and dancing along to some upbeat and happy music or read or
watch a comedy. How does this work for you?
-Third,
try changing your emotions by changing your thoughts. Lots of folks are
familiar with the idea of affirmations but not everyone finds affirmations
comfortable. This is where collecting perfect moments comes into play. Be
alert; notice and think about any perfect moments that come your way.
These ideas and experiments are the
basis for cognitive behavioral therapy which is simply a way of working with
our thoughts and our behaviors to make our lives more enjoyable, effective and
satisfying.
Today’s
Perfect Moment Brought To You By Happy Dog Jeb!
This morning, Jeb
invented a new game. Here’s how it
works, I stand at the foot of the stairs and heave his ball (yes, I throw like
a girl so this is a big deal for me) into the upstairs hallway. Jeb retrieves the ball, sits on the top step
and drops the ball so that it bounces down each step until it reaches me. I pick up the ball and we start from the
top. Today, we played this game for
about 10 minutes until my husband came out of one of the upstairs rooms, at
which point, Jeb tucked his butt, laid his ears back and broke the sound
barrier flying up and down the stairs in a fit of puppy zooms. Dale and I laughed, Jeb zoomed and life was
filled with joy!
Facts to
elicit Marvel:
Our
autonomic nervous system (ANS) is what keeps our bodies running, second to
second, day or night, year after year.
The ANS regulates all those automatic but vital functions that we rarely
think about like digestion, circulation, breathing, blinking and more. Although illness can impact the functionality
of the ANS, most of us take for granted how much work our bodies do for us all
the time.
·
The “average”
person’s heart beats about 3 million times over the course of a 70-year
lifetime. Let’s name our “average”
person; we’ll call her Average Jill.
·
Average Jill will
take about 600 million breaths during her 70 years, breathing a total of 75
million gallons of air in her lifetime.
·
Average Jill will
blink about 250 million times in her life and her eyes will be closed from
blinking (not from sleep) for over 5 years in total.
·
The hair on
Jill’s head grows about 6 inches each year and although many hairs will break
and all will fall out every 3 to 7 years, she’ll grow 35 feet of hair during
her lifetime.
Did you take my challenge? If so, what were your results?
Do you have a puppy zooom story to share?
Please feel free to comment!
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