Do you remember when you first learned to ride a bicycle? When did you go from looking in panic at the ground, waiting for it to jump up and knock you off your bike, to looking ahead in sheer exhilaration as the wind whistled past and all fear vanished? Was it easier to ride while staring at the ground or while looking ahead and focusing on your goal?
In life we can quickly derail ourselves with just one small thought. In a moment of fear we can freeze or make the wrong choice and go from on top of the world to carrying the weight of the world on our shoulders.
It’s all in your head.
Oh, I don’t mean the problems you may face. Those are real. Sorry. Good news though, the reaction, the decision surrounding where we allow our mind to focus… that’s something we can control. Training our mind along with our physical body can make all the difference in the world in how we navigate what we are dealing with.
The mind truly is a powerful tool.The more attention we give our doubts, fears and negative emotions, the more likely we will self defeat. Like riding a bike we can choose to stare at the proverbial ground and wait for the inevitable face-plant or we can focus on the goal, encourage ourselves that we will make it through, learn from the setbacks and feel the exhilaration as we hit our stride accomplishing what we set out to.
When we train our minds, we do so sometimes by tricking ourselves. We tell our doubts, “Ok, I hear your questions and concerns, but I think we’ve got this and our goal is to be healthy and strong, so we are going to give it our all and work until we succeed.” We have to approach our mind with persistence and encouragement and learn to enjoy our successes and not give up when we are met with roadblocks.
So lift that weight, do one more pushup, refuse to be overwhelmed by life’s struggles, and do all of that with the mindset that you aren’t here to fail; you are here to succeed and succeed you will!
Why?
Has the difficulty of managing life or our exercise regiment changed? No. Did the danger of falling off that bike change? Not really. So what has changed? Our mindset has changed, and the mind is a powerful thing.