Swatting away negativity flies
/I recently read Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends On It by Kamal Ravikant, and wanted to share a learning that I gained from it. The book talks about the absolute power of self love, of looking at yourself with the same loving eyes you would a dear friend or family member. I've been working on upping my self-love quotient for some time now, and Kamal's process really struck a chord with me. He suggests that by changing our mental loop to one of positivity and self-love, we can in essence change our lives for the positive through the law of attraction. This idea isn't new. I've read it in pretty much every book I've sought out of late. But his suggestion is fairly radical in its simplicity. Kamal simply repeated the phrase "I love myself" over and over and over. He started a new mental loop, and though at times he struggled to believe the words he was saying, eventually his mantra began to work its magic. This week, I decided to put Kamal's tool into practice for myself. For me, it seemed like a particularly interesting idea to help battle the negative thoughts that fly into my brain, often multiple times per day. I've started to think of these thoughts as flies that need to be shooed out (or, aggressively swatted. Negativity is nothing but damaging). Many teachers suggest that consciousness is the first step to beating thoughts that don't serve us, and I absolutely agree. So, this week I focused on being mindful when a negative thought entered my brain. Instead of dwelling on the thought or trying to dissect it, this time, I leaned on the new mantra. I silently swatted the fly away, repeating "I love myself" mentally a few times until I felt focused and present.
And let me tell you - it worked! In just a few cycles of the mantra, I was able to feel more at ease. The more I practiced, the easier it became.
This is the most conscious effort I've made to observe my thoughts and adjust my mental frame of mind, and it's astounding how frequently thoughts that just aren't helpful come into my mind. SO much more than they should, thanks mostly in part to fear and anxiety. But I'm starting to feel like I have the power to change my thought patterns. And I think it can really, really stick.
Because when it comes down to it- why spend so much time in worry? Why beat myself up for things big and small?
My most important job is to love myself. And that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to work at it. Hard.
It's time to break free. It's time to roll up the biggest, fattest magazine I have and whack the shit out of some flies.
Here goes nothing. xx
