We are once again talking about emotional tools that you can use to help improve your everyday life!
It is your pattern of thought that leads you to how you feel. If you think back you can probably see that your emotions, good or bad, have been triggered by what you are thinking about. The really wonderful thing about being human is that you have autonomy over what you think and subsequently how you feel.
Let me say that again in a different way. You control your thoughts your thought don’t control you. Well, that is true as long as you are conscious and actively using them rather then just taking direction from them.
The Jellyfish Beach will help you to become conscious about what you are thinking. It will help you take back the power you have over your thoughts and feelings, and in doing so will ease anxiety, stress, fear, and worry.
So let’s take a look at how the Jellyfish Beach can help you.
I want you to envision a grassy dune…. Do you have it in your mind?
On that grassy dune there is a path where the grass has been worn away down to the sand, and that sand creates a path. You follow that path right to beach. You try to walk along the shore but it is covered in jellyfish. The sun is blazing and you look around and there are no spots of shade anywhere and the sand is starting to burn your feet. You want to cool off your feet by the water but you can’t because there are too many jellyfish. Even if you were able to get past them and get into the water, you notice there are sharks swimming around. Nothing feels good on this beach; it’s just one opportunity to suffer after another.
This sandy path represents your negative patterns of thinking. Usually a negative pattern of thinking is associated with limiting beliefs that you have adopted or become conditioned to believe about yourself and the world around you. It is also associated with the fight, flight, or freeze thinking that comes from your amygdala.
With every negative thought you walk down that path creating a pattern of thinking. You have done it so many times that the grass won’t even grow in that part of the dune anymore. That path or negative pattern of thinking always leads you to the same insufferable beach. That beach represents the emotional suffering that accompanies those negative patterns of thought.
Now I want you to go back down to the base of the grassy dune. Despite that second nature pull you have to follow that negative pattern of thinking or sandy path that is so clearly laid out front of you, I want you to consciously choose a thought that feels better.
It can be simple to start with, but it has to be a conscious shift. Think of it as a diversion off the old path. With every thought that feels better you are taking a step through the cool grass and finding a new and positive path of thinking. This path is one that is associated with your essential truth, inner alignment, and the higher level thinking that come from your prefrontal cortex.
It may feel a little like work and that is because you are foraging that new path from nothing. Slowing and surely, one thought after another you create something new for yourself that feels so much better.
As you make your way through this new path of thinking you find that it leads you to a new beach. This beach feels very different. The water is so clear and as the waves roll on to the sand it look as if it is glitter in the sunlight. There are palm trees, umbrellas, hammocks and chaise lounges providing shade and comfort. There is a Peña Colada waiting for you adorned with little umbrella. You go in the water and you can see the majestic sea turtles effortlessly gliding through the surf. Everything about this beach feels supportive, comfortable, and right because it represents that aligned higher level thinking place with in you.
Now here is the thing about this new path of thinking. You have only walked down that path once maybe twice, so when you stand at the base of the grassy dune your second nature response is still going to be walking down the Jellyfish Beach path. Patters of thought don’t change over night just as that sandy path won’t all of a sudden grow grass again.
So, you have to stay curious and consciously engage with your thoughts. If you find yourself on the jellyfish beach or path, you have the power to go back down to the bottom of the dune and choose the Peña Colada beach path of thinking.
It only takes a few rounds of square breathing and consciously coming back to your center and you will be at the bottom of the dune ready to choose a thought that feels better. With each chosen thought you have the power to walk down the Peña Colada, aligned path of thinking. This is you activating your metacognition, that ability to witness your thoughts and their patterns and then make a conscious choice about them.
You see the negative path doesn’t have the power to control you, just as your negative thoughts don’t have the power to control you either. Sure the negative thoughts might be second nature to you, but you have the power to choose which path of thinking you take.
The great news is that the more you take the Peña Colada beach path, the more second nature the higher level thinking will become to you. Every time you take the Peña Colada path of thinking you allow the sand to grow up over the jellyfish beach path. Eventually, that jellyfish beach path will grow grass again and it will become harder and harder to find. So as you re-pattern your thinking try to spend equal or more time building up and fortifying your Peña Colada path of thinking.
So which path are you walking down and which beach do you find yourself on most often? The jellyfish beach path will never lead you to the Peña Colada beach and vise versa.
Remember, no matter where you find your pattern of thought, you always have the power to shift over the Peña Colada beach path, and step into your higher level thinking.
Each thought is an opportunity. Your life after all, happens one thought and feeling at a time. So stay conscious and curious about your patterns of thought.
Use this tool often and until next time, know that I am holding a place of love for you where your cozy spot on the Peña Colada beach is undeniable.
