I was laying down the other day
And I couldn’t help overhear the TV
(Something I usually just zone out of through boredom to be honest 😂 I can’t sit still for long)
But I heard the phrase
“Helpful thoughts only”
Which suddenly caught my attention.
I look up at the TV
And to my surprise, it’s “Hey Dougy” on CBeebies 😂
They’re walking up this mountain..
And as you can imagine.
Things get hard.
Things change.
The rain comes
“I’m getting wet. I’m cold”
“It’s too hot”
“My bag is too heavy”
“I’m too tired”
And for every struggle?
Dougy has a “reframe” as it’s called in research.
“Is that a helpful thought? What would be a more helpful thought?”
For example:
Rather than
“I’m tired”
Replace with
“When I get there, I’m going to put my feet up, relax and be so proud of myself“
Rather than:
“My bag is too heavy”
Replace with
“How could I make it lighter? Have some of my lunch?”
I could go on.
Why am I sharing this?
Well, the ups and downs are every similar to that of life
And a healthy and fitness journey.
From work/ life / responsibilities getting in the way
To a scales going up and down
To self doubt and self sabotage.
So here are some questions to help you reframe perceived negative events today:
1.What happened / what is happening? (describe the event e.g. I am feeling ill but everything was going so well)
- Why is it positive? (e.g. I can’t exercise today which is frustrating but I can prepare some meals for next week so when I am busy and normally grab something, I have some options)
- What lesson can you extract from it? (e.g. there is always a positive, I just have to decide to look for it)
- How will you apply that moving forward and WHEN? (I will go through these questions whenever I feel myself responding negatively)
Small habits, compound effect
Matt