Daily Mystic Messages - Catastrification
The trouble with positive thinking is…
Positive thinking!
One of the the first things you’ll learn on the journey (and probably the last as well) is that “As you think, so you become.”
In his book, “The Master Key System,” Charles Hanel instructs us to focus only on what you want, to the exclusion of all else. If you want to rid yourself of fear, focus only on courage, etc.
And it’s true. 100%.
The trouble comes in putting it into practice. Say you have fear of public speaking. So you try to follow his advice, and focus only on courage. But that fear isn’t resolved. And the more you ignore it, or try to over come it, the further you drive it into your subconscious.
All of a sudden, you’re fighting a battle with yourself. Trying to think your way out of it, of conquer that fear by force of will.
And now, that sage advice comes back to bite you, because it’s not just the content of your thoughts, but the quality.
With force and willfulness, you become harsh; brittle. So even if you “win” you have lost joy and cheerfulness.
What’s needed here is simple honesty and ownership. And a permission slip to have the fear that you have and take responsibility for it.
So give yourself permission to catastrophize. Catastrophication goes like this.
For 10 minutes- no more- you let yourself go there. The worst of the worst. You’re terrible at public speaking. You get up there and fall on your face. People laugh, or talk about you behind your back. Maybe you have a panic attack on stage and need to be wheeled out on a stretcher. Go there. For 10 minutes- no more.
When your 10 minutes are up, you cut the cords. A lot.
See, when you give your mind permission to go there, rather than driving everything deeper, you’re bringing it to the surface so it can start to untangle. You realize that somehow it will be ok. Often, your mind will automatically start coming up with solutions. Little “if this, then thats” that give you some next steps.
When you ignore these fears, or try to overcome them, your mind will still be catastrophizing in the background, making a mess in a corner you can’t yet see. Better to get it out in the open. But no need to dwell on it.
10 minutes. In and out. Cut the cords.
I guarantee you’ll feel better, and you might even find some next steps for yourself.
Give it a try and let me know what you discover.