The Universe has a funny way of telling us what we need at the time that we need it. This past year I have made it my mission to condition myself for success and that has led me to being open and following the path that is presented to me. In this year so much is coming up for me and I’m rolling with the flow.
This week’s lesson is acknowledging our positive past or celebrating our successes.
You see most people (including me) remember their failures before successes and this is because the brain is hard wired to or more easily remembers events that were accompanied by strong emotions.
When you were growing up, chances are that you parents or teachers left you alone when you were doing a good job, getting good grades and not getting into trouble but as soon as you made too much noise or started getting bad grades they pulled you up on this; so there was almost always more emotional intensity for you around your errors, mistakes and failures than there were around your successes.
One of the ways to counteract this it to consciously focus on and celebrate your successes, it’s a great way to start building up your self-confidence and self-esteem.
Knowing that we have had successes in the past give us the confidence that we can have more successes in the future.
Begin by dividing your life into three equal time period – for example, if you are 38 years old then your three time periods would be 0-12, 13-25, 26-38. Then list all of the successes you have had in each time period. Try to come up with at least 50 successes.
Going through this exercise will take you down memory lane and give you the opportunity to re-live all of the great things you have done in your life and have forgotten about. I had such fun going back, especially to my 0-12 years, I thought I hadn’t had many successes in those years, but I had lots and it was so good for my soul remembering that I was on the first team in swimming and always won all my races, that I appeared on stage as first a mouse and then a fairy in two ballet productions and many more.
Once you have done the exercise keep building on it, as chances are you will start to think of more and more successes. I want you to try and get to 100 successes.
What are the advantages of doing this?
- Well, it makes you feel good and brings out good memories from your subconscious into you conscious
- It builds you self-confidence and self-esteem especially if you are feeling low on both
- It gives you the reassurance that whatever comes at you in life you can handle, past evidence in your life proves it so.
- When you need a pick me you have a handy list that you can refer back to in order to channel your inner bad ass
A question I always ask my clients each time we meet is what successes they have had that week. It’s always amazing how difficult this is for people to answer. They can tell me everything that has gone wrong with their week but it is harder for them to say what has gone well.
So at the end of every day, do an inventory of your day, go through it and pick out what has gone well. Train your brain to flip the switch and start concentrating on the good stuff rather than the bad.
I’d love to know how you are channeling your inner bad ass today so please leave a comment below with one thing that has gone well for you last week.