What you focus on becomes your reality!
My mentor was sharing that concept with me and it really resonates with me so much. Ever since I heard about it, I could experience it in my own daily living many times.
It is so easy to loose focus and getting distracted with thoughts that are not supported the actual process of what we are focusing on. Let me share an example:
Yesterday during my surf session, I have attuned to focus on feeling, not getting caught up in technique but just to feel the wave and then stand up on my board. I was in totally bliss and not having any thought and taking it wave by wave was so refreshing.
How many times are we consumed by our thoughts, running in circles or in the hamster wheel, cannot stop at all. I am sure we all have been there and it's nothing to judge as good or bad, they are just thoughts. It's really also about just choosing to which thoughts we are listen and focus on.
Talking about listening, I was wearing earplugs to keep the cold water out of my ears and I could hardly hear anything, not even the waves but mainly my breath. It was an interesting experience to be blocking out the beloved sound of waves. But also it really got me into focus more. Same applies for blocking out thoughts that can appear as noise in our head. We decide what we are listening to. Surfing away, I lost my focus and started to compare myself to other surfers that were practicing around me and suddenly my mind was racing and I lost all my calm and bliss. So my reality has totally changed from doing the best I ever surfed, to not being able to catch waves well. The noise aka the thoughts have made me loose my momentum I was enjoying so much. A distraction has occurred.
It's really in those moments to catch our breathe and to notice that we are not focused and then the ruminating thoughts became our reality. I was so upset that suddenly my surfing took a downside turn. I remember the concept of what you focus on becomes your reality.
So what did I do?
I have decided to do select my thoughts and do some positive self talk. I have decided to stop comparing myself to other people and accept my current surfing ability as it is. This give me literally "peace of mind" and my thoughts become very calm again. I focused again on the feeling of catching waves and told myself how well I am doing after riding each wave. The feeling has changed from feeling overwhelmed and not capable to a good focused practice time with lots of joy and fun.
It's really being able to notice when our focus is lost and once we catch ourselves, what we are going to do about it. I really recommend making peace, accepting where you are at, it won't last forever and concentrate in the now and what you can do about it. It will take away the pressure and also the negative thoughts will calm down and you are able to focus on what you really want to do. So your reality will shift automatically and you can create space to let me more ideas in on how to overcome a challenging situation.
Changing the focus is very subtle, it doesn't require much, but firstly it needs to noticed. What are some thoughts that keep you in the loop, how do they influence your reality? What if shift your focus, what is happening? Some food for thoughts! :-)
Have a lovely day everyone! With love & light, Sabine
