Mental and Emotional Wellness: Where Do You Put Your Focus?

Where do you put your focus? What draws and holds your attention?

Do you put all your energy into worrying about what is wrong, looking at what is wrong and studying what is wrong... or do you simply accept that something went wrong and instead focus your energy on what is right and what you can now do right to make whatever went wrong whole again?

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One of the things we humans seem predisposed to doing is worrying excessively about what is bad and what is gone wrong, while putting relatively little effort and energy into what is right.

This leads us to one of the unfortunate side effects of the ”old misery loves company” truism, which is that as long as you feel stuck in a place of misery or suffering, it's very hard to find and express gratitude.

I will be the first to admit it can be difficult to find anything to be grateful for when it feels like everything in your world and around you has gone wrong. Even so, it is almost always possible to find something to be grateful for!

Teachers and gurus in the mental health and wellness fields often talk about adopting an ”attitude of gratitude.” There are those who would say that that's just a trite and overused cliché, but it's a simple fact of psychology and neurochemistry that when you are in a grateful frame of mind it's much easier to maintain a positive outlook on life.

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On the surface, I suppose it sounds a bit ridiculous that simply feeling grateful for some minor detail of life is going to improve your day much. But remember, it doesn't cost any extra to pause for a moment — even when you're having a bad day — and observe something like ”even though this day isn't going very well, the weather sure is beautiful today!”

Will it make a difference?

Well, if we keep sight of the fact that most of what goes on in our minds and bodies is the result of electrical impulses stimulated by neurotransmitters then let's consider for a moment that having a bit of gratitude releases dopamine into our system. And dopamine is the body's feel-good neurotransmitter, which also means that on a longer term basis we tend towards acts and feelings that feel positive.

I'm by no means suggesting that we should just ignore bad things when they happen! I'm merely recommending that we stop obsessing over every little "fault" we can find in a situation, and instead choose to make the most of the good parts of what we're facing. It's all about balance and not allowing ourselves to always be on the lookout for what is wrong, all the time.

Thanks for reading, and Bright Blessings to all!


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We empower and strengthen whatever we focus on, and yes, there's a pronounced tendency toward focusing on what causes us anguish and stress. I guess it's a leftover of our animal instinct to survive, it's why we're currently holed up in our dens because a virus might kill us, while we miss out on the most wonderful aspects of being alive.

I do feel this trend is changing, but there's so much hurt in the world to heal... dismantling the general focus on "wrong" will still take some time. Blessings to you!

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You've been curated by @drrune for Natural Medicine's curation project aimed at supporting a spiritual life, including gratitude and kindness practices, yoga & all kinds of meditation, shadow work and living a life of meaning.
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Hi @whitelightxpress, your post has been upvoted by @bdcommunity courtesy of @rem-steem!


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