3: Focus on what you do have.
Not what you don't.
This is a biggie. When we are busy and our day is feeling kinda sucky it can get very easy to focus on what we don't have: I don't have enough time to get this stuff done. I don't have enough help round the house. I don't get enough time off, or time to exercise. I don't get any support at work. I don't have enough money. And so on. The focus on what's absent just increases the suck factor. I am finding it a very speedy turnaround when I ask whether one of the Syrian refugees would like to change places with me - what with all that stuff I don't think I have in my life. In a heartbeat, right? My life is an abundance of all things good. So shift the perspective up in a matter of seconds. We are lucky lucky people, and the fact we have a busy life and a busy to-do list is a gift. Ask if someone else would take your place, and immediately your perspective will lift.
4: Seeing the To Do list as a gift
So this follows on from the last point - again it's another mental switcheroo. I see clients overwhelmed with endless email or a never-perfect, tidy house. It regularly brings their mood right down.
Let's look at this - what would it mean if you had no email at all? It would mean inbox nirvana, yes. Hurrah! It would also mean you have no job. Ah yes, there is that too. What if your house was tidy and perfect all the time. What would that mean? It would be a glorious oasis of tidiness, sure. How pleasing. It would also mean you didn't have two beautiful healthy boys under the age of 4. Ah, yes, there is that.
If you can reframe your To Do list as a list of gifts, the world instantly becomes a better place.
- bite.co.nz