A look at what it takes to perform well and access mental freedom no matter what's going on in your life.
Is it possible to perform well and access mental freedom no matter what’s going on in your life?
These are questions I pondered today and I want to share my insights with you.
Sometimes even when we feel like our life’s falling apart, we experience amazing flashes of clarity. Have you noticed that?
It’s lovely when we feel inspired and life’s unfolding just as we want, but let’s be honest, it often doesn’t go that way.
Whatever area of life where we feel pain, whether it be in work, health, finances or relationships, it’s tempting to think we can’t perform well when we feel mentally low.
And sometimes we don’t perform well when we’re upset and in a bad mood. But other times we can do really well even when we feel like sh*t!
Last night I didn’t sleep much. I wasn’t feeling well and I had a lot on my mind. If I took my thoughts as seriously as I used to I might have been useless today. Fortunately I’m been very busy with the launch of my new book, “Living Fearlessly,” and had an interview to attend this morning.
It’s funny because during the interview I completely forgot I was tired and had a lot on my mind.
In “Living Fearlessly,” I write about how we’re all incredibly resilient in the face of disaster. I see this more clearly each day in my own life and in working with my clients.
Our ability to create and achieve things isn’t connected to how we feel. We can do something well and feel bad or we can do something badly and feel well.
This is because we only ever feel our thinking in each moment and this is what creates our experience. When we don’t know this, life is confusing because we don’t know what’s going on.
This gets interesting when we suffer a blow and feel sad. If we think our mental freedom comes from another person or circumstance, it makes sense to attribute our sadness to them.
But when we understand how life works, we discover this is never true. It’s never down to them. We are always mentally free. We are free to think fresh, new thoughts even on our darkest days. We are also free to make a new choice and to change what’s in our power to change.
This is true freedom and it’s always available to us even when we’re so lost in painful thoughts we can’t see it. Thoughts are like buses; I promise you another one will be along in a minute.
It’s not obligatory to wallow in our sh*tty thinking so if you’re having a bad day, it’s okay. Your mood will shift just as naturally as your thoughts shift. There’s nothing to do but surrender to the flow of life.
