STEP 6

STEP 5 BEGIN THE SHIFT BY CALMING YOUR MIND

We can’t just override current thoughts and mask them with positive ones. We have to find stillness within, aware of all the noise and voices, to create a healthy and empowering state of mind. This helps us to better observe and control our thoughts. To achieve this stillness, try the following…

Sit or lie down comfortably, with your palms up, in a quiet space.

Close your eyes and relax.

Take three deep breaths in through the nose and exhale through the mouth. Set the intention to still your mind. Become aware of your body and start relaxing, from your head down to your feet.

Wherever you feel tension, direct your breath there, until you feel relaxed and heavy.

Bring your awareness to your mind and thoughts: what is circling around there?

As a thought arises, notice it, observe it, and release the need to think it.

Let your mind be quiet; come back to stillness.

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Continue this process for at least ten minutes. Every time a thought enters your mind, simply acknowledge it and then return to stillness.

With practice, you’ll notice that thoughts arise less and less frequently, and it becomes easier to release them and create complete stillness each time. Just like training for a marathon, mastering your thoughts takes practice, patience and persistence.

★ TALK YOURSELF TO A BETTER PLACE

We don’t always notice how the conversations within our mind affect us, and we tend to gather false knowledge about ourselves. This can be about how we look, talk, act or just how we are, and these thoughts start limiting us. We try to be something or someone that we are not.

Conversely, affirmations are words that state something good within us and help guide our minds towards more positive thoughts. Think of them as the tools that help us rewrite the coding of our mind to strengthen our positive thinking.

Affirmations can be very simple and contain just one or two words, or they can be more complex and formed of whole sentences. The key factor of affirmations is that they begin to create an effect when we repeat them. The more we empower our mind with positive thoughts, the more positive we feel and act, and the more positive things happen.

Choose a set of affirmations from the box (see above) and practise repeating them to yourself in the morning when waking up and at night before going to bed.

Dedicate yourself to this practice and create time and space for it. It could be just for five minutes each time, or during a daily ritual such as showering, walking, running, sitting in nature or whatever you can fit in to your day.

Each time you do the exercise, repeat the affirmations at least three times to let the positive messages penetrate. Continue for one week.

For subsequent weeks, choose a different set of affirmations and repeat the process, affirming them to yourself in the morning, throughout the day and in the evening.

After a while you’ll notice that instead of negative thoughts popping up, these affirmative thoughts will suddenly appear,

‘WE CAN’T JUST OVERRIDE OR MASK NEGATIVE THOUGHTS. WE NEED TO CREATE AN EMPOWERED STATE OF MIND’

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