The Art of staying positive

Once you open your eyes in the morning the world that surrounds us starts to close in.

It can be that you get to wake up to the sound of birds chirping. But it can also be the sound of a police car.

These are things you cannot control. Of course you can try to get a good nights rest and use one of theses alarm clocks that wake you just at the right moment, soft and easy.

But once you’re up, you’re up.

So you may just make the best of it.

I tried using a couple of apps to monitor my sleeping cycle, my eating cycle, my excersie patterns, even tried to be aware of my breathing.

Did it make me a more positive human being?

I’m afraid not. By the way what it did was, it took my further away from realizing what my body was really telling my what it wanted or needed, because I was way to busy analyzing the data on my phone on how I felt, rather than trying to understand how I really felt.

So I started to look elsewhere.

I started to focus on my habits. My morning rituals.

Getting up, making coffee, waking the kids, having breakfast with them, taking junior to kindergarten and I started to realize that I felt some kind of pressure.

The pressure of the routine. So I thought I needed to change my routine to have a more positive start into the day.

I tried getting up earlier, to start with meditation. Did that. Wasn’t for me. It felt as if I was taking on the next routine that stressed me out. I got to meditate. I got to make breakfast, I got to get the kids going, I got to do sports, I got to eat healthy, I got to write, I got to work…and so forth.

All these I got tos where killing me and made me miserable.

Then I stumbled upon this video. It’s Louie CK talking about why he hates cell phones.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HbYScltf1c

This was a game changer for me.

For one, I realized that what I stop doing was taking the time to just be in the moment and not being elsewhere with my thoughts.

I was constantly thinking about my next goal, what I needed to work on, what needed to be done, what needed to be written etc.

But what I wasn’t aware of was, what was actually happing right in front of my eyes. It was like my body was separated from my mind and I tried to close the gap by using all those apps and perfect myself where all I needed to do was pay attention to what was really going on with me.

Ok, I detect the problem. Fine. But what now?

Well first I did get rip of all the apps. NO monitoring of my eating habits, no sleep cycle, no focus app, none of that bullshit. Just me my body, my mind and I.

At first it felt really awkward. I was so not used to listing to my needs and my body that I immediately got sick, literally. After a couple of days spend in fever land, I resurfaced and there it was the answer. Plain and simple.

I felt like I was coming back from a shaman ritual.

What I discovered was actually two things.

One. If I did listen to my body I would always know when to go to bed, what to eat and when to do exercise. It was amazing. It’s like I was in constant battle against my body before forcing something on it that wasn’t mine, but was forced upon me by some stupid app.

Secondly, I discovered that I could control my thinking. I was actually in charge of my thoughts. It wasn’t something that wasn’t out of my hand happening to me and then I should try to make the best of it, NO. Whatever I wanted it to be it became.

Amazing, right?

Wait, it gets better.

Listing to my mind and my needs also did create awareness for energy suckers. Oh I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. Those people who suck the life out of every room just by entering it with their negativity. My negativity sensor became way more sensitive which made it easier to spot those energy vampires and gave me a head start so that I could walk away sooner.

Of course I still get mad and yes not every day i a positive day, but having understood that I’m in control here changed everything for me.

Now, when I get angry, or someone pisses me off, I immediately turn to positive thinking. I try to think of all the beauty in my life that is giving pleasure and happiness, like my kids, my amazing wife, that fact that I’am alive and healthy, the fact that I’m independent and can just walk away and be me.

And honestly, we so often get consumed by our tasks, by our goals, by projects not happening, by having not written a word today, by needing to lose some pounds… that we forget the most important thing.

We are in control and we can make anything happen, if we just put our mind to it and give ourselves a break, literally.

Take more time to listen to your needs, your thoughts and I promise you you will be much more in balance and that’s where positivity lies.