Shine Your Light on the Good Stuff

Sleep has been a struggle lately. Falling asleep is not the problem. I could fall asleep standing up I think. But it’s the middle of the night waking up that’s the problem. My mind kicks into high gear and sometimes I am up for hours. It’s very frustrating.

I woke up in the middle of the night a while back and I had to go to the bathroom. So I walked to the bathroom, mildly irritated at having to get up, but feeling overall kind of good. Nothing much on my mind. And then, somehow, it was like my mind started scrambling for something to worry about (there’s plenty; it didn’t have to scramble long). But it made me wonder- what is that about? If I don’t automatically default to worry, why am I looking for it?

This past weekend I woke up in the middle of the night and my mind instantly went to worry. No scrambling. It was straight to a lengthy list of familiar worries, with some novel ones thrown into the mix…

Then I thought- “I should be happy.

• My oldest is home from college
• I have all my kids in the house
• It’s Easter weekend
• We have a nice long weekend ahead of us with lots of fun family stuff
• We’re all healthy- no colds or stomach bugs keeping us from seeing people
• It’s already been so nice having everyone together

Why am I worrying right now?”

And it reminded me of the control we have over our thoughts.

It also made me think of this quote that I heard somewhere- that I have still not been able to find- about where you shine the “floodlight” or “flashlight” of your mind, what you choose to focus on in any given moment. Our minds have this ability to focus on things and we can shine our light where we want to shine it- on the positive things, on what’s good, on what’s going right.

We can shift our focus.

This is where all the talk about gratitude comes in too.

It’s important to consciously notice all the good stuff.

But we are naturally inclined to worry and negative thinking. It’s a protective device on the part of our ego, part of our reptilian brain. It’s really quite a downer when you think about it.

We have to make a conscious effort to change our predisposition to negative thinking . To shift our focus. To shine our flashlight elsewhere. And if we want to make changes in our lives, it is so important that we can see things differently. It will allow us to do things differently, to feel differently.

This is not to say we shouldn’t feel anything negative ever. It’s so important to feel our feelings, to process them.

Did you know that if you let yourself feel an emotion it will only last 90 seconds? We can research and debate this tidbit and get more specific about longer-lasting emotions, but the point is many of the our emotions move through the body pretty quickly if you allow yourself to feel them. And you’ll be better off feeling them- even if it’s hard- than pushing them away or avoiding them.

 

 

This is to say that when you start ticking your way through your to-do list and your current and old list of things to worry about at 3:00 in the morning (or any other time) – STOP. Shine your flashlight on something else. Stop the negative thoughts. Shift your mind. Raise your vibrations.

You are more in control than you think.

(Now let’s see if I can remember and implement this when I inevitably wake up at 1 or 2 a.m. tonight…)