Article n°1 - Challenge 21 - Positives thoughts

​Sunday morning, with a fresh start...
 
I lie in bed, I wake up already exhausted, drained, telling myself that one bad day and one more is coming.
 
And yet, I think...
 
The day I just had yesterday was a very ordinary day of confinement.
 
Today's will also be a day of confinement, ordinary.
 
Nothing serious has happened and I know that there will be other days in my life, confined or not, like this one.
 
I ask myself: "I don't want to get up in this state, I don't want to fight, to resist, to look for excuses or to look for those responsible for everything that happens to me and yes, life is made of frustrations". 
 
But this time I decide to take advantage of this daily life, of these banal days that are my life.
 
I remember a conversation about a book on quitting smoking. The author mentioned that, according to a study done by doctors in neurology, it would take 3 weeks for a man to change his habits.
 
21 days to stop undergoing and get back in control of what's happening in my life.
 
I decide to get up and stop backing down, I have to learn to detach myself from circumstances again and decide who I want to look like every day!
 
I then wonder what would happen if for 21 days I could fully and consciously commit myself to changing my habits, to taking my needs in hand and completely transforming my life by savouring every moment.
 
The "Who do you want to be? What is the "Who do you want to be?
 
The challenge consists in observing the events of the day by controlling positive thinking in front of the event, for 21 consecutive days!
 
3 rules to follow:
I wear a wristband of my choice to remind me that I have committed to this challenge.
I start my day. If, during the course of the day, I find myself disengaging and letting negative thoughts overtake positive ones, all I have to do is change my wristband. When the bracelet changes sides, the countdown starts all over again. Remain positive even if, for the first few days, the bracelet changes sides several times.
It may take several weeks or even months to be able to visualize the events of my life in small, happy bites.  21 consecutive days. The reward is to discover a chosen life in full consciousness in which I feel aligned, happy, positive and loving despite the circumstances.
 
The challenge is difficult, it's true, leading it is already opening the door to the one I want to become, giving a better version of myself from one day to the next, meeting myself, discovering unknown resources, using them for more happiness, for the creation of a world that I decide to look at as better around me.
 
 If you decide to take the plunge, I invite you to introduce yourself on this blog in the section
"21 Day Challenge". BRAVO for this first action " my intuition pushes me to the challenge, and I choose a first positive thought to the challenge as the opportunity to learn how to become who I decide to be " !
 
How do I know if I look at events as a burden or a gift to happiness?
 
How do you look at the events in your life? Do you see them as unacceptable injustices, fatalities, tears, attacks, failures?
 
Do they exhaust all your resources? Do they prevent you from living? From laughing? To love, in spite of everything? Perhaps you run away from them? Or worse, are you ignoring them? Do you make them up with a "Everything's fine, thank you"? Do you consider them a punishment? Do they create a feeling of abandonment, of relentlessness, of rebellion?
 
What is happiness?
 
"Happiness is a state of complete satisfaction characterized by its stability and durability. It is not enough to feel a brief contentment to be happy. Intense joy is not happiness. Nor is it a fleeting pleasure. Happiness is a global state. The happy man is fulfilled. He experiences a form of fulfillment. His situation is stable: it is in balance and only an external element could change it. Being happy is an individual and human experience. It is man who knows happiness, not the animal. A stable and prolonged state in which one lives in total dissatisfaction, unhappiness is the opposite of happiness. It represents the situation fled by everyone, which no one seeks voluntarily.
 
Synonyms: golden age, pleasure, joy, ataraxy, good fortune, happy event, advantage, bliss, blessing, good fortune, good occasion, good meeting, brilliance, calmness, luck, consolation, contentment, delight, happiness, favour, cheerfulness, skill, ideal, joy, nirvana, peace, pleasure, prosperity, success, delight, relaxation, salvation, satisfaction, seventh heaven, success, vein, voluptuousness.
 
What is a negative thought?
 
Why do we have negative thoughts?
 
Negative thinking is a survival strategy that leads us to look for what is wrong in order to protect ourselves from danger.  It's archaic, there's nothing we can do about it. It's how we're programmed. It was very practical in the days when lions and other ferocious beasts were served as appetizers. But it's much less convenient in our modernised society.  Our thoughts actually create reality. So instead of preventing bad things from happening, we tell our unconscious mind to do everything it can to make them happen.
 
We are also influenced by our parents, teachers, the media and society in the way we think. If those who raised us thought negatively, we have learned to do the same. Our negative beliefs about ourselves and the world make us think negatively. If you think you are stupid, your thoughts will support that belief.
 
Negative thinking includes the words you say and think. It also includes negative visualizations, self-talk and metaphors, as well as, mentally, remembering unhappy memories.
 
Many times we don't even recognize negative thinking. So let's take a moment to clarify ways of thinking that hide negativity. Becoming aware of it is already a huge task.
 
Synonyms: generalizing by thinking "always" and "never" is "everything" or "nothing", judging "labeling", exaggerating, taking everything for oneself the situation or behaviour of others, predicting the negative future in relation to what might happen, estimating and confusing emotions as facts, blaming others or the circumstances of one's misfortune.
 
Of course, sometimes I would have the natural need to express my discontent, sorrow or pain. I can spend my life asserting, judging, accusing, suffering everything I don't want and this suffering becomes my reality. Instead of preventing myself from moving forward, innovating, daring and above all enjoying life and these magnificent moments why carry events like suitcases "heavy with constraints, irritation or brakes". And why not? Dare then, and try to communicate, to think positively about what I want and to feel grateful for what life is leaving me today at the entrance of my door and that I can also call "a gift for more happiness" and look at the event as an opportunity, my whole life would be profoundly changed.
 
How many times a day do you have thoughts on average?
 
As a human being, we all have negative thoughts running through our minds.
 
Some studies will say 30,000 thoughts a day and others even 60,000 thoughts.
 
It is therefore a certainty: we have many of them and they are as many positive thoughts as negative thoughts.
 
How long does it take to succeed in this challenge?
 
In general, people who take this challenge seriously will need between 4 to 10 months to be able to spend 21 consecutive days without choosing to think negatively about the events that occur. It's not an easy challenge but it's worth it!
 
If I think negative thoughts silently in my head, do I also have to change my wristband?
 
When I started the challenge, I tried to control my thoughts in my head but it was impossible and finally quite unrealistic. I then discovered that this challenge would be feasible and just as beneficial if I changed my wristband only when the negative sentence came out of my mouth. By forcing me to change my words, little by little the negative words in my head were able to disappear.
 
How can I get people around me to stop thinking negatively?
 
I set an example, as an inspiration to others. When I started to change my own life by stopping seeing everything in black, I became an example of positive living and an inspiration to others around me. Moreover, by no longer participating in the negative messages of those around me, others will be less tempted to think negatively around me.
 
How can I control negative thoughts?
 
I offer you tools every week for 21 days in my blog.
 
Today, it's up to you to start your challenge!
 
Write down your little positive thoughts as little joys during this week!
 
Each day, at the end of the day, write down on a piece of paper a wish to be fulfilled, the most pleasant positive thought that crossed your mind during the day and put this paper in a transparent vase. If, when you arrive at 6 p.m., you do not think of anything in particular, provoke this little positive thought, this little happiness: call, for example, a long-lost acquaintance and get back in touch. Every day, a wish, a positive thought, a little happiness. Little by little, your vase will fill up. And if you have a little "slack" one day, put your hand in the vase and read some of your papers again. You'll see that you've forgotten some of those "pleasure thoughts" ... remembering them will help you stay on track and keep the challenge "Who do you want to be? »
 
Please leave a comment if you feel like reacting to this article, share it on your favorite social network to benefit as many of your friends as possible.
 
Thank you for reading me!
 
Next week, I will share a different tool.
 
Have a good week,
 
Laurence