One of the Most Important Things I Could Teach You

Get ready for a topic I LOVE!! Thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and outcomes are topics that get me HYPED! Now before you snooze and click out of this newsletter…..HEAR ME OUT! I think I love these topics so much because you are in control of all of these and if you are in control then you have the power to work on them and change them at any point. Giving you all the power is key to getting the outcomes you want in life. As someone who has been meeting with my life coach for more than three years and as a mindset coach who has coached other people, I know these things absolutely work. I have seen it in my own life and in the lives of so many others. These are the things that have truly changed my life. Let me be clear right at the beginning, it takes A LOT of practice. Just like strengthening a muscle takes a lot of hard work and serious discipline to get stronger, the same goes for our thoughts. Be patient with yourself and keep trying!

What is a Thought?

One of the ways I like to describe a thought is, ‘a story you tell yourself in your brain or the talk you hear in your head.’ In life we are surrounded with different situations. These situations are a part of life. I want you to start training your brain to look at the situations going on in your life as neutral. Not good or bad. They are just part of the human experience. With every situation we experience in life, we are telling ourselves a story about what is happening. Everyone’s story is going to be different. For example, if the situation is, it snowed every day last week, my thought might be something like, “Utah sucks and I am so sick of the snow!” This thought is not a fact because not everyone would agree on it. That is the story I am telling myself about it snowing last week. If you talked to someone else about the snow they might think, “I’m so grateful for the snow. Utah needed this moisture.” Two different thoughts with two very different feelings attached to it but the same neutral situation.

Your Thoughts are NOT Facts.

Let me point out here, YOUR THOUGHTS ARE NOT FACTS! A lot of times our brain offers us these thoughts as if they are facts. Making it hard to change and let go. Another thing I want to point out is our brain LOVES to be right. So when it offers you a thought as if it is a fact, it is going to find all the proof and evidence why that is in fact a fact! “Utah sucks.” I just say that like yeah that is a fact. Then my brain scans the experiences I am having and sees, “oh it snowed all last week. Boom! See, ‘Utah sucks’ and that is a fact!” or my brain compares, “last year we were hitting Spring at this point. Other places already have Spring. Utah sucks and we should prob just move!” Do you see how all the thoughts you think, your brain is going to confirm? Let’s work through a thought maybe a lot of us can relate to, “I need to lose weight.” First of all, from what we just talked about, this is NOT a fact. I’m willing to bet though that a lot of you want to debate me on that not being a fact because it is thought you have found a lot of evidence to prove. Notice how we all say it like it is indeed a fact. After you think that thought, your brain starts to scan all the experiences you are having in your life and starts to offer you LOTS of proof on why that thought is true. You go to the gym and start seeing all the other women, “That girl is so skinny. I don’t look like her at all. Dang, I need to lose weight.” You are getting dressed and look at yourself in the mirror. “Oh my heck these pants used to fit me and now they are so tight! Gahhhh I just need to lose weight.” Our brain doesn’t stop until we have no control over this thought and it ends up hurting us more than serving us. Let me tell you this my friends, being aware of your thoughts and reminding yourself that they are NOT facts, is one of the most important things I could teach you. Being aware and accepting that our thoughts are not facts is the first step to changing them.

All Thoughts Are Optional

That brings me to the last thing I want to teach you. We talked about what thoughts are, we talked about how all thoughts are NOT facts, so now what? How the heck do we change them into thoughts that give us better outcomes in our lives? Like I said earlier, the first step is to be aware of your thoughts. A lot of us have our brain just running through thought after thought and it feels like we have no control. One thing I love to do, and do daily, is write all my thoughts down onto a paper or type them up on my phone. I find this so helpful because it gets all the thoughts out of my head and into one spot that I can see. Second step, accept them as just thoughts. They are not facts. Because you are a human with a human brain, you are going to have thoughts! This is part of being human. Look at your thoughts and start to question them. “Is this a fact? Would everyone agree that this a fact? What if I’m wrong about that? By me believing that this is a fact, what experience am I having? Do I want to change this thought?” Asking questions is so good for us. If we are willing to be wrong about some of our thoughts, we immediately have more power in our lives. The last step is to adjust. Adjust the thought into a thought that is believable and empowering. Let’s see this in action with one of our previous thoughts.

“I need to lose weight.” Is that a fact? Well no cuz not everyone would agree on that. What experience am I having by believing this thought? I’m constantly judging and comparing my body to other people and left always feeling like I’m not enough. I feel like I need to lose weight just so I can approve of myself. This experience is not something that is serving me or bringing value to my life. I also don’t actually lose weight by thinking this thought I just feel sh*tty on the daily when I think it. I want to change this thought! What is a different thought I could think that is both empowering AND believable. Maybe you could start small, “I have a body.” or “I have a body that helps me do ALL the things I need/want to do and my weight has nothing to do with that.” You could even think a thought like, “my weight doesn’t determine my worth!” Play around with it and try to find something that feels believable and empowering to you and then practice. As much as you say your old thought you say your new one.

Practice Makes Perfect

My friends, your thoughts are the secret to every outcome in your life. When you think a thought, your brain is going to make it true, and it will become the outcome you are experiencing in your life! With that being said, let me tell you this, EVERY THOUGHT IS OPTIONAL! If you are thinking a thought that is not serving you, you have the power to choose a different one. All you have to do is first, be aware of the thought. Second, accept your thought as nothing but a thought. It’s a story you are telling yourself and not a fact. Third, you will have the power to adjust the thought into a thought that is more empowering and believable when you are ready! This is amazing work! It takes a lot of practice, patience, and conscious effort. If you’re wanting to take the jump, and do this work, remember… you totally got this!

If you have any questions about anything that we have talked about in this email, I would love to hear from you! Please email me with any questions or comments you might have. Also, if you find any of my newsletters to be helpful or enjoyable, I would love it if you could share it with your loved ones, friends, or family. Thank you for all the love and support.

XOXO

-Sav