Do you ever find yourself running an old drama? Did some event trigger the petulant child in you? Do you wish you had acted better?
It’s a strange to find yourself on auto-pilot. Your mature self knows this is silly. You’re old enough to know better. You’re old enough to act better. Yeah sure, right after I kick the cat! (I would never kick a cat, that would be cruel, and cats scratch.)
I read recently that training your mind with new habits is like house-training a puppy. Every time it reverts to bad habits, you interrupt it and move it outside. Take it off the old drama. I like the puppy metaphor – persistence forms new habits. Plus no one wants their mental habitat to smell like puppy pee.
So how? Here are a couple of ideas.
Look for the opposite
If you don’t like something, look for the opposite. If you know what you don’t want, it’s a great clue to what you do want. Focus on that. How would that feel? How could you get it?
What’s good?
I was sitting in the warm pool after doing some laps this week and a little girl bounced over to me demanding to know my name. She had decided we’d be friends. She then told me every single thing she liked in life – swimming, singing, circuses… seeing all her friends. Four-year-olds are smart. Listing what you like feels good! Choosing to do those things (a lot) is even better.
Is it true?
This evening in yoga class the teacher talked about the voices in your head and which is the “real you”. I don’t think she was talking about multiple personality disorder, though for a second there I wasn’t completely sure. In dealing with the insanity of “the voices” she suggested the question “Is it true?”. When we ask that, we do know the answer. Mostly the drama is just a soap opera. At heart we know that. When we stop to check, we stop the drama.
What about you? How do you drop the drama?
miss yardley 