What are thinking about my question about what are you thinking??
Wait, let me restate that question. What came to mind when you read the subject of this blog?
Sometimes my desire to be attention grabbing gets a little lost. My apologies if that’s what happened to you.
So back to the question of what are you thinking. We have thoughts every day, throughout the day, and every night, all night, sometimes called dreams. What’s important about that realization is about the type of thoughts we repeat in our mind. These recurring thoughts can also be referred to as habit, just like any physical habit we may adopt. Many times thoughts or mindset manifest in our actions or behaviors, whether we define them as good ones or bad ones.
The Power of the Mind
I recently did a presentation at a networking group that was titled: “The Power of the Mind: How to Keep your Thoughts from Derailing your Life”
It was so much fun to put this presentation together. It went great and produced a lot of interest in one particular area of my presentation which was Human Design. Human Design is a tool based on your date and time of birth, but not astrology.
You may not be familiar with this tool, but I shared my story which was powerful and really seemed to be heard by the audience. Learning the specifics about my Human Design chart was revealing, to say the least. Becoming aware of the nurturing aspect of who I am put so many things in a very different perspective which changed how I see myself now. Reach out if you would like to chat more about this.
Human Design along with the mindfulness and mindfulness options available in The Relax Me Store are about our thoughts.
Do you take time each day to be mindful about your thoughts and actions?
Do you flood your mind with affirmations and positivity for yourself by utilizing a favorite recording or app on your mobile device?
I love the #iamapp that sends text messages several times a day. This is a sample of one of my daily I Am messages. What I enjoy is being able to design and select how many times per day you want to see these messages. Do you allow outside sources to flood your senses with demoralizing posts, divisive news, or criminal stories? We all know that you don’t have to go far to find bad news.
It would be foolish to think that there isn’t negativity out there, but it is not necessary to internatize it and allow your energy to be drained. We are members of a global community and each one of us is important. Each one of us also has the ability to impact more people than we might realize by our words, our actions, and our choices. The world needs every bit of positivity and kindness possible. Don’t be shy about sharing yours.
What do you believe about mindset?
This excerpt from peakperformancecenter provides a definition of mindset.
“Mindset is a little bit differentiated from thoughts.
A mindset is a particular way of thinking or a frame of mind.
Your mindset is your way of thinking or set of opinions that you have formed about something through experience, education, upbringing, and/or culture.”
Thought on the other hand is defined in Merriam-Webster as:
something that is thought: such as
a : an individual act or product of thinking
b : a developed intention or plan had no thought of leaving home
c : something (such as an opinion or belief) in the mind he spoke his thoughts freely.
Are We Driven By Thoughts or Mindset?
That question isn’t as easy to answer as you might think. The first question is how either your mindset, in general, make you feel, or how your thought(s), in general, make you feel.
Are you able to step back and be objective about either your mindset or your thoughts. We can become very attached to our thoughts, aka opinions, and defend them vehemently. It doesn’t matter if no one else agrees, it’s your thought and you have belief in it. That can sometimes serve us, but sometimes it does not. The ability to be open-minded is invaluable. None of us knows everything, and some small tidbit of input can completely switch our opinion on something we might have never expected to change.
Mindset is a bit more expansive. The idea of mindset is more than a singular thought or series of thoughts. Mindset is how you perceive things from a 50,000 foot view. Think of a funnel. When you are coming from a mindset perspective you would be looking from the narrow to the wide, where a thought focuses like the narrow end of the funnel.
Input vs Output
We have probably all heard in computer terminology that bad input will produce bad output. It’s not an opinion, it’s a fact. Computers do not have personal opinions. It’s all about 1’s and 0’s, if you can believe that! But for us humans it gets much more complicated.
So where do you receive most of your input? Is it from reading books, watching webinars, attending events, listening to podcasts (such as Intentional Life by Tammy Helfrich or Juggling the Chaos of Recovery by Moyra Gorski or Conquer Your Business by Erin Marcus)?
There are thousands of information and input channels available to each of us. Once again, how do you feel when you listen to your favorite podcast? Does it instill a desire to make change, improve your actions or your strive more diligently towards your goals? What I love about podcasts is that there are episodes. You aren’t trying to take it in all at once, but revisit the podcaster and gather a bit more input that is resonating with you and moving you forward.
Crazy Card Lady
I feel as thought I have become the crazy card lady. Since my accident and subsequent surgery, massage therapy is not on my schedule for clients. But that doesn’t mean that I’m out of business. Quite the contrary. I have time to focus on new projects and channels of business. I rectivated my ETSY shop and made a sale on day 2! I actually have 2 new card decks, one of which is at the printer right now, and the other which is a work in progress as my healing journey lessons unfold. It is called There Is A Bump In the Road. How appropriate is that! Have you ever had a bump in the road?
I am also in contact with several retail locations about carrying some of the inspirational card decks I have created. There is a new app, called #Deckible, which is in the beta stage. This platform takes its lead from Audible whose tagline is 100 books in your pocket. Deckible’s tagline is 100 card decks in your pocket. I’m excited about having my card decks available on this digital platform in the near future.
Have you ever used a card deck? Are you even familiar with how card decks can be used? There are many, many ways to allow the messages on card decks to influence your thoughts, your mindset, and your behaviors and actions. The variety of card decks and the themes available are numerous for sure.
What action might you take to shift a thought or mindset that doesn’t seem to raise your energy?
Is it simply having a card deck and choosing a random card to change the trajectory of your thoughts?
Is it having some input that you journal about which can be surprisingly revealing?
Is it confiding in a trusted friend to unpack some frustration or disappointment happening in your life?
It’s important not to move past these moments too quickly. There can be valuable lessons to learn, such as my current ‘bump.’
Giving Yourself Permission
Did you ever pause and think about giving yourself permission to check something out that interests you? Do you ever take time away in solitude to reflect, plan, or simply be?
I encourage you to give yourself permission to be with your thoughts, evaluate your thoughts, and process them in whatever manner serves you best. For introverts it can be the journaling, for extroverts it might be conversing with someone else.
Whatever serves you best is what my nurturing human design spirit is here to facilitate. How can I serve you?
Remember, my wish is always for you to Be Well
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