This morning I woke up at 4:30am and decided to go to the grocery store to avoid the LA traffic. While sipping a hot cup of Starbucks coffee and strolling through the nearly empty store, I received a text from my ex-husband, Steve. “I got a deposit in my bank account from your landlord.”
My body slumped. “Really!?! Jeez this is not convenient at all,” I thought. It felt like someone put a 100 lb. backpack on me because of my thoughts about my landlord’s mistake.
Our thoughts affect our feelings. Most of us assume it’s the other way around: that our feelings come first and our thoughts naturally follow.
Thinking is a habit. Just like building a habit of exercising or getting more sleep, you can develop a habit of choosing thoughts that bring you happiness and prosperity.
You may believe that you are responsible for what you do, but not for what you think. The truth is that you are responsible for what you think, because it is only at this level that you can exercise choice. What you do comes from what you think.
I chose to change my thoughts about the inconvenience of having to give my ex-husband my bank account information, waiting for the deposit to clear, and spending time to correct this mistake. “I have enough time to do this. No big deal. Stay focused on grocery shopping first.”
I returned home and resolved it. Steve and I had a pleasant conversation about our sons, my experiences living in LA, and our summer plans.
Notice when you feel anxious, irritable, or afraid. Write down what you were thinking about before those feelings started. Have a notepad handy to keep writing down your thoughts prior to your feelings. You will notice the pattern of thoughts that trigger them. This awareness allows you to make different choices.
DO THIS: To apply this lesson, go to my book, Savvy Woman in 5 Minutes a Day – Make Time for a Life That Matters and read:
September 27– Thoughts are Things
October 30 – Do You Let Thoughts Devastate You?