I woke up this morning feeling anxious, but not sure why or about what. 

Then I remembered the night before, at dinner, my husband shared how he’s been thinking about the next few years, and planning when to step away from the nine to five. 

Hearing that, I noticed there was a part of me that felt alarmed for our future financial security. Not because our future financial security is actually at risk, but because it would be a change that I’m not yet familiar with.  

“Newness”, a.k.a. the unknown, puts our nervous system on alert, even if that newness is positive.  

And my subconscious chewed on those worry/”what if” thoughts all night long. So it made sense that I felt anxious when I woke up. 

I am so grateful I’ve learned that as infinite beings having a finite human experience, we get to say “yes” to a thought, and we get to say “no” to a thought. We have that capability, it’s part of our innately intelligent equipment.

But, our tendency is to believe that the thoughts that scare us must be “truth” – as if they come from some all powerful entity outside ourselves. 

When the real truth is that a thought is just a thought. And we have the power and the authority to decide what thoughts we energize with our attention.

This is great news, because at any given moment, you and I always have the option to give our attention to a thought that empowers us, to a thought that opens up a way to a solution for some of our most significant problems. 

So, what did I do with those fear and worry thoughts?  

• I noticed them, took a deep breath, and recognized them for what they are: a hardwired survival pattern of thinking, or in other words, a part of me that wants to keep me safe. 
• I thanked that part of me, (because it’s doing a good job at alerting me to potential future danger).
• I reminded myself of the bigger truth: the worry thoughts are a pattern of thinking, they’re not who I am. I generated those thoughts, they don’t define and shape who I am today, unless I agree with them.
• Then I replaced those thoughts with a “bridge” question, “What’s a more empowering thought I could think?”
• And I generated a feeling of gratitude, by deciding to take my attention off the fear and worry thoughts and put them on that which I DO have and that I’m grateful for.

This is a powerful practice – building your “decision muscle” to focus on what brings you an inner sense of expansion, when what’s going on around you feels constrictive and daunting.  

The only two things we control are:

1- Where we place our attention ( ie. the thoughts we energize)

2- The steps we take to serve the ideas we care about

When it looks and feels like the “@#%!#@” is hitting the fan, everywhere we look, empowering ourselves by energizing “high vibration” thoughts, like gratitude, is the most positively influential move each of us can make. 

Because, when one is doing their best to generate and embody gratitude, one takes actions that tend to serve not only themselves, but everyone around them.