What are you expecting?

If you’ve been reading my recent blogs  you know I’ve been obsessed with giving up my addiction to thinking. Easier said than done. Take a look at some facts I read online this week about our thoughts:

  • The average person has about 50,000 thoughts a day. This translates into 35 thoughts a minute – 18 thoughts every 30 seconds!
  • 80% of those thoughts are negative says the report.

Do you find this information staggering? I do. No wonder I need to go on a diet. Sounds like maybe we all do. The 80% are also the creators of our negative expectations.

Last week life delivered me a prime example of some of my negative thoughts/expectations. After writing out a lengthy “to do” list, I realized I was more dreading than looking forward to doing them. Spontaneously, it occurred to me to observe my thoughts as I was contemplating the list. Well, my thoughts had negative expectations projected onto the outcome of most the items. No wonder I didn’t want to take on the list.

This was a shocking realization, while also feeling familiar. I write and talk about the power of your thoughts, and yet once again I had slipped into a state of lethargy and an old thinking pattern – one as old as childhood — when disapproval seemed to be the norm so became the expected.

Doesn’t this all seem obvious? — I can just see you reading this and rolling your eyes. However, I’ll bet I’m not the only one who sometimes becomes oblivious to the obvious. Sometimes, throughout our day stuff happens and our minds react with old, unconscious thoughts and negative expectations.

Here’s a reminder when something like this happens to you. These moments of awareness, while not feeling so good, really are a gift. They are opportunities to make a shift in consciousness.

What happened when I decided to experiment — to see what might happen if I consciously chose positive outcome thoughts ?

  • Instantly, the energy within me shifted
  • Immediately, I felt better and was actually excited to tackle the to-do list.
  • I imagined the feeling good when the positive outcomes came my way.
  • As I made the calls and wrote emails it felt like miracles were happening all around me.
  • The results were more positive even than my expectations!

After telling my son this story, he gave me permission to share his similar, personal experience with you. Being a San Francisco taxi driver, in the past he often found himself reacting with angry behavior when grouchy, complaining riders got in his cab. One day it dawned on him — their behavior had nothing to do with him. They were strangers — didn’t even know him. He decided that instead of reacting irritably to their energy, he would respond with acceptance and a positive vibe. What’s happening now? In most cases there is a turnaround in the energy of his passenger. The rider becomes pleasant, and my son is finding more joy in his work.

I offer a challenge to you – be a conscious observer of yourself this week. Whenever something doesn’t feel good or doesn’t feel right, check in with the thoughts going through your mind. Are they running with negative expectations? If they are treat them as an experiment. Don’t make them wrong – just see what happens when you infuse your mind with positive energy and shift your expectations.

Have a rich week, and if you feel like to share your experiment, that too would be rich.

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