What are you focusing on?

Hello, everyone. It's Alexandra. Today's video, what are you focusing on? This video was inspired by a book I read recently called the Happiness Advantage. And I highly recommend this book if you want to increase your happiness and flourish and thrive even more. It has so many practical tips and ideas that it's just amazing. So highly recommend the book Happiness Advantage. And one of the things that really struck me in the book was that what we focus on is actually is important. And we can shift and we can change our perception and we can change how we see the world, how we see ourselves. And it's a very important practice if we want to be happy. And I want to read one of the quotes from his book that I just find fascinating. It says, repeated studies have shown that two people can view the same situation and actually see different things, things depending on what they are expecting to see. It's not just that they come away with different interpretations of the same event, but they have actually seen different things in their visual field. That's huge. It's not just perception. It is actually seeing different things. So what I found fascinating when I read that was, wow, I think I'm seeing reality as it is, but I'm actually seeing a filter. I have told my brain that this is important and please filter out this, and I want to see this. So I think this is so inspiring because we can actually shift to see things that are inspiring and empowering. I don't know about you, but when I might be in a funky mood, it's easier to criticize, to gossip, to criticize and blame and judge myself. And all of a sudden I start noticing problems and the world just doesn't look so rosy and shiny. And this is. There's a done. They've done scientific proof or scientific studies that we actually. The more that we focus on that, we're telling our brain that's important. Oh, these challenges, these problems are important. Focus on these, focus on these, focus on these. So before you know it, it's a spiral downhill. And I think about when I first got into this, you know, this work, personal transformation and growth and spirituality and things like that. I was definitely focusing on the negative. My journal was all about issues with my body. It was about issues with men. It was issues about my life. And that is what I was experiencing. So I wasn't so happy. But now I know. Now I know that I've made some major shifts. And those shifts of focusing on happiness and gratitude and joy and appreciation, that that actually is what my brain now looks for. And it's so exciting. I mean, I wake up in the morning and I think about what I'm grateful for. Before that wasn't the case. So when I. And when we have the mindset and the filters in our brain that say, I want to see love, I want to see magic and miracles and joy and appreciation and happiness, then we look for that in the world. Our brain is looking for that. And we are looking for it in our lives. We're looking for it in our partners and our children. We're not looking for what is wrong with ourselves and what's wrong with our children. So very empowering. Big stuff. I recommend that you just check in to see what are you focusing on? What is your experience? How are you experiencing your world? And check in to say, is this actually reality? Am I actually seeing reality? And checking in to see what would happen if I shifted and looked through the eyes of gratitude? What would happen if I shifted through the eyes of love? There's always opportunities for growth. There is always, you know, even if there's a disaster or a trauma. And this isn't to say that this is, you know, sunshine and rainbows all the time and to ignore challenges and problems. This is just a way for us to essentially train our brain so that when a trauma or a disaster or a challenge or a problem or something comes up, that we have trained ourselves to look for the good. We have trained ourselves to see all challenges as an opportunity for growth and even some of the horrific things that happened to us personally and in the world. There can be healing, there can be a positive way of looking at it and looking at how we can heal and bring more positive energy into the world and how we can use our gifts to actually bring more love and joy and happiness into the world. So don't ignore your problems, but just check in to see how you can look at them differently. Checking in to see what you're focusing on is super important. And some things that I do daily in a journal is I write down what went well today, you know, and I'll write down my gratitude, some things that I'm grateful for. And I will also write down what I'm excited about, what's good and great and amazing in my life. And the more that we can do these things, you know, you can journal about it, you can do it in a meditation. You can, you know, spend a few minutes just thinking about it. You can do an exercise with your husband, with your kids, with your friends. But the more that we start training ourselves to actually look for these things, the more we're going to start seeing them, which is very exciting. So knowing that we can create magic and miracles everywhere that we go. And one other thing that I love in the Happiness Advantage, he says that it's really important for us to become happy. That if I'm happy, I can impact my husband, I can impact the cashier at the grocery store, I can impact whatever just by me being happy. And that the more happy we are, the more we uplift the people around us, and that we can actually influence a thousand people around us just by becoming happier. And the more that we do that, the more that we can actually shift and change the world. And people want to be around happy people. It feels good. It feels good to be happy. It feels good to be appreciated. It feels good to be loved. So always look for opportunities to increase your happiness, knowing that you are actually making a difference in the world by becoming happier. And yes. So that's the idea for today. I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope that you start seeing all of the magic and love and miracles and amazing awesomeness in your life and love to hear your thoughts and until next time, sending you lots of love.