Spring Forward!
It was tough to wake up this morning, because when I looked at my clock it said 7:45am, but because of the time change due to Daylight Savings it was really 6:45am. My body was truly fighting getting out of bed. I felt like I was in a metaphorical fight with Muhammad Ali (may he rest in peace) and somehow managed to box my way out of bed.
Spring forward daylight savings time can truly be an adjustment. But one gift of today has been for me to meditate on what it means to spring forward in my life. Even if we didn’t spring up out of bed this morning, how can we spring forward in our day-to-day existence?
The opposite of springing forward is to recoil or to spring back in fear. I think it is imperative to ponder how our thoughts motivate us to spring back or spring forward in life. Every day we have the choice to see life as a beautiful gift or as something we have to get through. We control how we respond to difficult situations in life. We can react from place of fright by saying, “I am going to lose everything I have” (I am guilty of this) or we can mindfully approach life.
But so often we opt for a Debbie Downer, “My life sucks,” attitude. Perhaps the negative news story in our head informs us that we are going to bomb our presentation at work. Or maybe our mantra is, “I am not smart enough to date him.”
Often our negative stories are informed by our family of origin. If your parents divorced you might erroneously believe, “All marriages are doomed.” Or if you were never told you were beautiful as a child you may tell yourself, “I’m ugly.”
All of these messages are causing us to spring backwards. These running words in our mind have a power that literally informs our day, our choices and our life. What we practice we become.
Instead of springing backwards and living in a state of fear or negativity, we can mindfully approach each day and spring forward in our lives by countering the negative messages with positive ones such as:
- I am grateful for…
- I am going to be okay
- I’ve got this!
- I’m beautiful
- I am enough
I’m not saying that choosing mindfulness means the negative messages in your mind will completely disappear. But reframing our narratives does make a difference in our lives.
I also realize there is a place for emotions like fear and anger. These emotions can help us set boundaries and protect ourselves. And yet, we know that becoming stuck in these feelings can be dangerous.
As I ruminate on how I can spring forward or backwards in life, it also occurs to me that I need to be just as mindful about the words I speak to others, as I am about the words I speak to myself. Again, what we practice we become.
If I refer to one of my counseling client’s as crazy, this will inform how I see my client. If I look for the beauty, gifts, and graces in my clients, this is what I will see. And how I see others, also informs how I see myself. So practicing kindness towards others can help us to be kinder to one another and ourselves.
Ann Bradford invites us to, “Tell the negative committee that meet inside our head to sit down & shut up!” Obviously, changing the way we see ourselves and others is not quite this simple, and yet asking our negative committee to quiet down is what we are trying to achieve.
To make this happen, we have to daily practice reframing the thoughts we have about ourselves and one another. And as we mindfully practice changing the way we internally speak about ourselves and one another, we will reap the benefits of this practice.
- What are the most powerful negative news stories that run through your head daily?
- What are the origins of these news stories?
- How are my negative stories causing me to spring backwards?
- How would I spring forward in my life, if I chose to broadcast different and more positive stories?
Let’s spring forward,
Christy
