Inner courage Image

 

1 Your mind learned to be negative bit by bit. That’s how you will re-train it – bit by bit. Don’t treat your feelings as a light switch. Make tomorrow a bit better than yesterday – keep doing that and it’s what we call success. How good will next year be, when you’ve done this for a year?

2 When you are feeling down, your mind will naturally look for the bad. Make a real conscious effort to see the good in something. Give someone the benefit of the doubt and look for the good in others.

3 If you are hanging around negative people, you need to start to bring positive people into your life. Get out and meet people who see the good. Avoid spending time with toxic people, if they drag you down limit their opportunity to do so.

4 Get some light exercise. Your mind will do better if you take a 30 minute walk regularly. 5 days a week is ideal. Just walking is fine, but any exercise is good.

5 Laugh every day. Don’t know how? Go onto YouTube and find a comedian you like, or some video that brings a smile. You use different parts of your brain when you feel good and it changes your brain chemistry for the better. It also cuts stress!

6 Be social. Even if it’s just with one friend. Find someone whose company is fun or pleasant and spend a little time (or a lot) with them each week.

7 Lower your stress levels the way recommended in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks-_Mh1QhMc
(20 minutes of your life well spent).

8 Find a short term goal you want and will enjoy doing. Do it and enjoy the process. It could be baking a cake, or registering for a course that you’ve been putting off, or just taking an hour of your time and using it to do something you want. Not something for others, or because you feel you ‘should’ do it, but something you want to do for yourself. Do this once a week and build your mind’s ability to see that you have control and can enjoy something.

9 Focus on what is in your power. Do the things you can do. Make time each day for you and do something you want to. It’s much better for you to build small things you can change, than to focus on some big thing you can’t change. Take control of the small things in life and it can build big changes.

10 It’s OK to feel down. Don’t beat yourself up about it. But, no matter what has happened or been done to you, no matter how unfair it was, whoever did it or caused it is unlikely to sweep in now and fix your life for you. You can do that though. You are in the best position to make tomorrow better than the past. Do it one step at a time and take pride in each step. Don’t linger in a bad feeling, build a better feeling.

Change is easier than you think.