Something that I work with a lot in my practice is anxiety, worry, and rumination. The power of the mind is extraordinary! People can take a somewhat subtle thought, a passing glance, or a perceived harmless message and turn it into a loud, resounding message that plays on a constant loop through their mind. Sometimes a client will say, "Well, I know that he is mad at me." or "I'm afraid of how she will respond." and both of these statements are based upon assumptions. But people can take these types of statements or thoughts and create fantastic blaming and shaming situations in their minds that keep them from interacting and conversing with those in their life. My question to my clients is always, "How do you know how he feels? Did you ask?" or "How do you know how she will respond?" When my client doesn't have a valid reason for these thoughts, we reassess where those thoughts are coming from and how those thoughts served a purpose for my client.
The real question is this....what if you used that power for good? What if you used the power of your mind to assume positive outcomes? What if those thoughts were, "He is too important to me to let this keep us from talking. I'm going to work this out with him." or "I know she truly cares about me and I know we can work this out." We all need to be aware of our internal conversation and catch ourselves when we assume the worst and make a choice to begin assuming the best.
How would your life be different if you did this?
