Mindset Monday - A.I.R for Consciousness

This is episode 160 of the Empowered Team podcast. Psst. The zenith is coming. The most incredible life changing retreat in Sayulita, Mexico. That's right, the zenith is coming. To learn more, head to www.theempowered.ca zenith. Learn more. It is life Chang. Welcome to the Empowered Team podcast where we explore how to optimize your performance in career, sport and life. And now, your host, executive coach and life strategist, Kari Schneider. Hello, hello, hello. Welcome to Mindset Monday. Another Monday is upon us. And at the time of this recording, we're in yet another lockdown. No school, stay at home, order those fun things. Who knew that this would be the case a year later? And what I noticed from so many of my friends or my clients is that it's just becoming really challenging. And the place that it is often the most challenging is in our own minds and our own experience of what's happening. So today's Mindset Monday is all about a very, very simple technique that I think will make a huge difference for the practice of becoming really conscious. And then the ability to shift the direction of your thinking. That practice alone becomes extremely powerful for shifting the direction of not only your thoughts, but how you feel, the actions that you take, and the ripple effect that you have on those around you. So what we're doing here is we're using a concept called air. It's a I R. And this is for our practice of being conscious of what we're thinking and being able to do something about it with all those thoughts that are popping in. It's a really simple way to manage your mind quickly. And especially when you realize that you're patterning, you're starting to get in a pattern of negative thinking over and over. And it might look something like this, why is this happening to me right now? So question like that or I can't stand this anymore. This is so brutal. These are thoughts that I've been having around the state of COVID around different limitations, around things that can't be done, around things we're supposed to do. Other thoughts, like, I never get to go anywhere anymore. They are having so much trouble. So a lot of concern about other people. So those might be some of the thoughts that I'm personally having. And I know there's a lot of thoughts that other people that I know are having, and in having that, that's normal. But when we start having those same thoughts that end up being negative or more negative more and more frequently, and repetition of the same thoughts over and over it starts to really affect our emotional state. It starts to really affect how we feel, how we can show up in the world, how we can be there for others, and even just how we are for ourselves. So the step one to this simple technique is the A. And the A is simply awareness. And I like to add another A onto that. And it's also acceptance that the acceptance of our brain having a lot of thoughts. That's what our brain is supposed to do. But that first step of awareness is simply this critical skill to manage how you think. And therefore it's going to manage how you feel. Our brain is always going to have a lot of thoughts. It's going to be pop. I always say it pops thoughts like popcorn. We're thoughting all of the time, and in thought all of the time. That's our brain's way of protecting us from the unknown. So we're thoughting, we've got lots of thoughts. And the thing about all those thoughts is that we don't have to accept them all, we don't have to agree with them all, and we don't have to believe them all. And what happens is that because they're popping up in our brain, we often believe every one of them that's happening. And it doesn't have to be that way. So our higher brain decides whether or not to act on the thoughts we're having, whether or not to believe the thoughts we're having, and whether to even catch that they're coming up. So our higher level self, our higher brain is responsible for that. An example of this would be say somebody cuts you off in traffic and you're about to give them a specific hand signal and your higher brain says, no, you better not do that right now. It cuts off that initial thought of I'm going to flip that person off or whatever the thought was. So that's an example of the higher brain deciding or choosing not to accept that original thought. So this happens all the time, but often we're not catching it or we're not aware of it. And that's why step one is simply the awareness of our thoughts. That awareness of our thoughts is that higher brain acting. And then we even have another level which is the awareness that we are aware of the thoughts that we're having. Kind of meta, kind of crazy sounding, but really cool when you understand it and when you feel and see this happening. So step two is the I. So the A is the awareness and also some acceptance of just knowing. Our brain's always going to be popping thoughts and number two is I interrupt the thoughts that are streaming in. Interrupt the thought pattern. I like to think of this as a song being on replay or a video looping and simply pressing pause. It doesn't mean you have to feel bad about the thoughts they're having. Doesn't mean you have to make it wrong. None of that needs to be there. Simply pressing pause on the thoughts that are looping, that's the only thing is the eye is just interrupting. You don't have to accept the thought that's there and you don't have to believe it. You can choose that and recognize that all those negative thoughts coming in, if we keep allowing all of those coming in, then we can often have some consequences. That might be how we personally feel emotionally, it might be how we physically feel, and it might be how we act in the world or not act in the world if we're allowing a whole bunch of negative thinking all of the time. So this interruption is a key, key step in being able to shift what's going on with all of that negative thought patterning going over and over. Number three is R. And that's A. The R is the air. So R is replace. And replace is simply about shifting or changing the thought or changing the direction of the thought. That doesn't serve you. So some examples of this with some of the thoughts that I had earlier or something like, you know, with everything that's happening, going on, this is all happening, and it's not something I can control that shifts a negative thought of something like this, all that this is happening, I can't stand this. It shifts that thought into a recognition of, okay, I may not like what's going on, but I can't control everything's going on. And that just shifts it subtly from negative to a different awareness or something. Like, I may not like this, but that isn't what matters most. Me not liking it isn't what matters most. Another one would be, this is a really challenging time or a completely different thought. To shift the direction is, I'm really excited for the change of season or and this one takes it away from you and into something else. This is a very powerful question to ask. And it's who can I help? Who can I help? Makes a huge difference for our perception of what's going on. So I'm not saying to do this forced positive or some inauthentic, you know, put a bunch of positive on all the negative crap that's going on. That's not it at all. But what is there is to recognize that the more the patterning of the negative thoughts, the more that occurs, the more that goes on, the more you're likely to stay in it. The more that patterning of negative thoughts happens, the less aware you are that you have an influence on it, and it doesn't have to continue to go that way. So the practice is the air, the awareness, the interrupt, and the potentially replace or shift. Realizing that suppressing thoughts isn't often what works. What does work is introducing something that might be more useful for you in the direction that you want to go. The thoughts are going to keep popping, just like I said, like popcorn. The thoughts are going to keep coming up. And they're supposed to. They're going to keep coming up, especially when times are uncertain, because it's your brain's version of protecting you. It's your brain's version of just going, okay, stay safe. See the negative one. Watch out for what's unusual or different. And that's supposed to be there. However, the higher version of our brain decides which ones to keep and which ones to discard. So instead of suppressing all those thoughts, trying to make them go away, trying to stuff them, that typically doesn't work. Just recognizing that they're there, choosing which ones you want to shift or choosing which ones you want to believe, and introducing a thought, thought that's going to work for you. And some of the thoughts that I like to use are, and this came from a client, is, this is hard and I can do hard things. That one is so powerful. It's acceptance of what sucks, acceptance of what you may not like, and understanding that you have overcome hard things before and that you can do hard things. Another one is I'm stepping into my best self for myself and for others, those people that really need me. So those can be some powerful things that serve you in being able to manage some of the negative thoughts that just keep going over and over. And really, I invite you to take a look at that. Not from a place of making your thoughts wrong, or making the negative thoughts or negative thinking or patterning wrong, but just realizing that your brain's doing its job. Your brain's trying to protect you from some unknown and feeling out of control and some uncertainty. And when you can just observe it, maybe even write them down or take a look at what's going on, then you have the power to introduce a thought or just see it and go, okay, duly noted. And introduce something that may go into the direction that you want. So for Mindset Monday, I hope this serves you today. I have the huge wish for you to stay well and so much love sending out to you and into the world. Have a beautiful Monday and a beautiful rest of your week. If you enjoy listening to the Empowered Team Podcast, you'll love being on the Empowered Team. The Empowered Team runs year round. It is our group coaching and accountability program where we take mindset and physical performance concepts and break them down to usable action steps that optimize results. To learn more about our Empowered Leadership Coaching for business, our custom online physical training plans, and of course, the Empowered Team Group coaching, head to www.theempowered.ca empowered learn more. That's www.theempowered.caempowered-learn more.