Wings of Change – Change Your Life Articles

Trusting your inner instincts is an important skill to learn, although there are times when your mind can play tricks on you. When your body and mind are under stress, it may be difficult to see the difference between good thoughts and those that arise from fear.

Dealing With Fear

No one enjoys dealing with fear; however, it’s a necessary part of a fulfilled life. The best line of defense is to practice remaining calm and ask for help when you need it. After all, two minds striving for a rational solution is usually better than one.

When Not To Trust Your Thoughts

Even in difficult circumstances, you probably have an idea about what is truly right or wrong. However, it’s a good idea to try to recognize the situations where you tend to have trouble thinking clearly. That way, when these situations do come up, you can start working on solutions, instead of giving into the cloudy thoughts.

You probably shouldn’t trust your thoughts in the following situations:

1. When you’re under stress – People often don’t recognize how detrimental stress can be to the mind and body. Stress can cause you to make unwise decisions and think too quickly. Stress can take over your body and produce hormones that alter your thinking patterns.
2. When you’re feeling anxious – There are varying degrees of anxiety that can affect anyone at any time. When it takes over in a strong manner, such as when you’re dealing with crippling fear, it can lead to erratic, irrational thoughts or even panic.
3. When you’re having negative thoughts – Sometimes you’ll have a bad day or even a bad week. Having a tough time can cause a negative thinking pattern that can cause you to think unreasonable or even absurd thoughts. You may start to have angry or depressing thoughts that can’t be trusted.

When you’re having thoughts that seem real, but are rather unreasonable, remember that it’s not coming from you. Rather, it’s coming from the build up and repression of years of self-doubt, negativity, stress, anxiety, or even past circumstances. That’s precisely why you cannot trust those thoughts!

Dealing With Your Feelings

You now know that negative thought patterns can arise from stress, anxiety, fear or even the past. Crippling fear, unfortunately, hurls many strongly negative feelings your way. But it’s how you deal with them and proceed with your thought patterns that make all the difference. Strive to take time to cool down and relax your mind before making important decisions.

One way to know if something is your true feeling is to wait a few days before making a decision. For example, if after a week of thinking something over, you still think the same way, then it’s probably true. Of course, you first have to ensure that your mind isn’t under attack from stress, anxiety, negativity, or fear.

Healing From Fear

If you find that you’re frequently in fearful situations, you can concentrate on healing those feelings. When your mind begins to race, take in a large dose of oxygen. Believe it or not, deep breathing is a signal for your mind to relax and think clearly. So breathe deeply and breathe often!

Also remember that you’re not alone. You have people who can help you and you shouldn’t feel shy to ask for that help. If you feel uncomfortable talking with a family member or friend, consider the help of a coach or counselor.

Just remember to avoid taking drastic actions that arise from fear. Take your time when making decisions, breathe deeply, and seek the help you need to overcome the grips of fear.

All actions start as mere thoughts. When you set out to reach your goals, negative thinking pretty much ends your journey right there. You end up losing your drive, which you need in order to get anything done.

Thinking optimistically can be the difference between easily reaching success and falling short. But how can you start thinking optimistically? There are certain actions you can take that will help you shift your core beliefs.

Try these steps in order to set yourself up for success with optimism:

1. Expect the best. You should know your desired outcome for your ultimate goals and believe that the best case scenario can prevail. You may tend to drift into the “what if” thoughts from time to time, but you also have the power to fight them. If you catch yourself thinking this way, immediately shift your focus onto something positive.
2. Take immediate action. Reaching your ultimate goals can be intimidating. There might be many things holding you back, including the fear of failure. But when you take immediate action, you leave no time for pessimistic thoughts to arise. You’ll plough forward in a positive direction.
3. Seek the silver lining. No doubt there will be situations that present challenges to you. You must believe that everything happens for a reason and that there’s a silver lining somewhere in this challenge. Do your best to learn from the situation and then actively seek the best direction forward.
4. Write down your thoughts. You can certainly benefit from a brain dump every now and then. Write down your thoughts, including your fears, in order to vent. Take note of your positive thoughts as well. By writing everything down, you’ll gain clarity about your goals.

Worrying About Challenges

Don’t waste your time worrying about the challenges at hand or ahead. Once you realize that worrying serves no purpose, you’ll be better able to let them go. Chances are things will work out for the best. You need to believe this in order to achieve an optimistic attitude.

Realism will tell you that there’s the possibility of failure. While that may be true, you shouldn’t focus on it. Worrying about failure will not make it any easier to endure if it happens, and it can even cause you to attract that failure to you!

Worrying only hurts you in the present moment and keeps you from taking the positive action that can bring your goals to fruition.

Challenges Are Normal

When you realize that challenges are normal, they may be a tad easier to deal with. The fact is you’re faced with challenges of varying degrees everyday.

You already know that life throws challenges your way, but you must believe that you can overcome these challenges! Then, you’ll be able to conquer every obstacle with an optimistic attitude.

Discover What You Can Learn

There’s a lesson to be learned in each challenge. Realizing the lessons you’re presented with will allow you to grow as a person and learn from both your successes and failures. As you learn, you build confidence and confidence brings optimism.

Evaluate the outcome of a few different challenges your life has presented you. When you had an optimistic attitude, how did things turn out? When you had a pessimistic attitude, how did things turn out? Oftentimes your attitude alone can make a significant difference.

And remember, your attitude is your choice!