Change your focus to break out of your mental cage Image by Desiree Delgado

I know better.

Yesterday I found myself fretting about my public speaking event on Sunday.

Why? Well it all started in 1988…

~~(cue dreamy Brady Bunch dream sequence music)~~

I saw a copy of my yearbook photo from 1988.  And the past came reeling back.

I started focusing on all the mistakes and problems of my past.  Which made me feel tension.  Which made me feel negative.  Which led me to worrying about whether or not I could deliver on Sunday.

Now, the funny thing is, I am used to speaking publicly.  I do it daily in my women’s boot camp class But by simply focusing on my mistakes I got into a mini-mind-funk and started projecting “what-if” scenarios into the future.

What if I don’t deliver?  What if people don’t understand me?  What if I get nervous?

I was literally focusing on what I didn’t want. And it did not feel good at all.

The thing is, the “subconscious” mind cannot distinguish between what you don’t want and what you do want… it only knows what you are focusing on.  And what you focus on automatically produces mental pictures which produce automatic emotions.

Fortunately, I am quickly able to catch myself doing this.  So I instantly relaxed and immediately focused on what I wanted.

I created mental mini-movies of how I expect and want my fitness seminar to go.  I saw myself feeling happy.  I noticed how the happy crowd looked.  I felt my feet planted firmly on the stage.  I heard myself delivering a powerful and uplifting message.

And as the good images got clearer,  “The Ghost of Foibles Past” faded into the ether from whence he came.

And I was myself again.

Focus on what you want.  Not what you don’t want.

Especially in boot camp.

Cheers,

D

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.