How to Change Your Way of Thinking
When I was in college, I met some adventurous boys that taught me and a friend how to rappel. Have you done this? You attach a harness to your lower body, hook a carabiner to a rope on one end while the other end is secured to the mountain. Then comes the good part. You back up to the edge of the cliff, heels nearly hanging off, and jump. Your jump should make it possible for you to find footing against the rock wall you just leapt from. You then lower yourself down by pushing off the cliff face with your feet again and again, releasing rope and gradually lowering yourself down.
I enjoyed rappelling so much that I bought my own gear and soon I would rappel off pretty much anything. I began to see the world through this lens, the lens of a person who rappels. Even office buildings had me thinking, I wonder if I could….
The same thing happened when I became a photographer. I saw light everywhere. I noticed how it changed the mood of a room. I paid attention to lighting on tv shows and movies. I saw possible photo shoot locations everywhere I turned. This place has great light in the morning, this place has wild flowers in July.
Currently, I see roads I wish to ride my bike on. They are everywhere!
The things we marinate in, flavor our world. It is the same world everyone else sees-but the perspective is varied.
At the beginning of the year I began keeping a special type of journal. It’s a great product I stumbled on called 5 Minute Journal. It’s so simple, it actually only takes 3 minutes, but it has changed me. I answer simple questions or prompts every morning and night. Same questions everyday. An example is this: Name 3 amazing things that happened today. The simple act of looking at a day with that question as a guide has opened my eyes to how much amazing stuff actually goes on each day. Sometimes it’s a simple thing like, “I made my teenager belly laugh.” Such a simple event but it felt so good and in my heart, it was amazing.
Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy,and change ordinary opportunities into blessings. ~William Arthur Ward
Another section has you write daily affirmations. Similarities to SNL aside, it is actually a bit like sowing seeds of self love and positivity; really helping me change my way of thinking. I write things like, I am a patient and even-tempered mother or I am healthy and love my body as it is. What we think about, we bring about. Right? Like rappelling and photography, this daily practice has changed the way I see my life. There is just so much abundance we all enjoy. We only need the lens to see it clearly.
Originally published at findmeaning.net on March 17, 2015.
