power of choice

I’ve started a new strength-based training programme on Caroline Girvan’s CGX app. On one of my rest days this week I took full advantage of the ‘breathing space’ with a Do Yoga with Me yoga class and a Breathpod breath work session.

On the breath work, there was a focus on awareness of thoughts and how they then present us with a choice in how we respond. In Stuart Sandeman’s Breathe In Breathe Out book, he cites research that of the 12,000 to 60,000 daily thoughts the average person has, 80 per cent are negative, and around 95 per cent are repeated 😳

I am sure that many of us can relate to times when a negative thought results in a downward spiral where we end up catastrophizing a situation. I felt that happen this week before the school run. We’re going to be late leaving. We’ll get stuck in traffic. We’ll be late for school. In fact, we left early, didn’t get stuck in traffic, and had enough time to visit the playground before heading into school 😊

What was brilliant about Breathpod’s breath work session was how he then took that power of choice a step further by inviting us to respond with a positive thought, and saying it out loud.

I placed my hands across my heart and went for it. I am strong. I am powerful. I am motivated. I am energised. I am inspired. I am loving. The list goes on. They just flowed out of my mouth. The best bit was that I could literally feel my heart growing stronger and larger from underneath my hands 💕

My point is that we cannot necessarily stop the unconscious negative bias in our thoughts, but we do have a choice in how we respond to them.

The power is truly in our hands…