Take the Thirty-Day Challenge!

I’m going to cut the chase on this one: your thoughts and beliefs create your life, period. It can sometimes be difficult to see how this is so because much of the time our beliefs our embedded deep within our subconscious minds and we are not aware of them. However, if you dig deep enough they are always there and they are always in direct correlation with what you create in your life.

If you think it’s impossible to lose that last ten lbs., good luck keeping it off! Even if you do lose it through diligent exercise, don’t be surprised if you start eating more to get back to having ten extra lbs. on your body. If you think you will never find friends who are supportive of your long-term goals, expect that to happen too! Even if you happen to meet brand new friends who are the most positive, supportive people out there, you will still find a way to interpret their support as something other than positive support. This is good news, though! If our beliefs create our reality, then all we have to do is become aware of our beliefs and change the ones that aren’t working for us in order to create better results in your life.

I created a challenge for myself a few days ago and I encourage you to try it yourself. I’m calling it my Thirty-Day Challenge, and I’ve already had significant results even though I’m only on Day Four! Here’s what you do: Every time you find yourself getting stressed out, anxious, upset, etc. (basically whenever you feel anything other than great), take a moment to get in touch with what you are telling yourself in that very moment. Figure out exactly which particular belief or thought is floating through your head at that instant and causing you to feel upset, anxious, sad, etc. Then grab a piece of paper and write that thought or belief down! Don’t just say it in your head, actually write it down so you can see it on the piece of paper in front of you. And then (here’s the good part) look at what you’ve written down and see if it’s really true or not. Look at the statement you’ve written down for a few seconds and then start to question its reality. *Be forewarned that this requires you to actually acknowledge that it’s not your spouse, or your boss, or your teacher, or some situation, etc. that’s upsetting you. It’s actually the thought or belief you are having about the situation that is causing you to feel that way.

Here’s an example for you, taken from my own Thirty-Day Challenge: I’ve noticed lately that I get extremely stressed out in the morning. Even though I get up hours before I have to get to work (and it literally takes me a ten-minute walk to get there), I find myself getting just completely stressed out! So the other morning when I was feeling anxious, I asked myself, “what am I telling myself in this moment that is freaking me out?” The answer, “I have so much to do.” I wrote that down in a little notebook I am using for my Thirty-Day Challenge, and really looked at that statement for a few seconds. Immediately I saw why I was getting so stressed out! Here I was telling myself every morning that I had “so much to do,” and trust me, my reality was reflecting that. Before I even got to work, I was checking email, posting updates on Twitter, emailing friends, sorting laundry, putting dishes in the dishwasher, etc., all before I got to work. No wonder! I had this belief in my head that I had “so much to do,” and my behavior reflected that. The minute I really looked at that belief, though, I realized how silly it was. In reality, I don’t have to do anything in the morning other than wake up, shower, get dressed, and go to work! (Well, technically I don’t even have to do any of that but you get the point.) Immediately I felt relief come over me, because I realized that I no longer had to do all those things every morning. I could have peace and tranquility in my mornings rather than stress.

You can use this technique for any area in your life that is not going exactly the way you want it to. For example, do you really have to respond to that email right this very second?? Is it really true that there are no more good men/women out there, not a single one on this entire planet? Feel free to also use this technique in areas of your life where things are working out, so you can see what you’re telling yourself with respect to that area. Then you can start telling yourself that in other areas of your life you’d like to improve.

I encourage you to try this out for yourself for thirty straight days, and see if things improve. Even if you only write down one belief a day and question it, that's a great start! I’ve noticed huge changes already, just by writing down my beliefs and realizing they aren't true at all. It doesn’t even matter where they came from at this point, just that they’re not true and that I no longer need to buy into them.

Self Help Tip: If you like this sort of process, The Work by Byron Katie is extremely powerful in releasing negative beliefs. Once you’ve identified a belief you’d like to change, you ask yourself a serious of four questions about the belief: Is it true? Can you absolutely know that it's true? How do you react when you believe that thought? Who would you be without the thought? (For a much more in-depth explanation, go to Byron Katie’s website here.)

Psych-K is another powerful process that helps you really become aware of your subconscious beliefs and change the ones that are not serving you. This process involves finding examples that disprove your belief, so you basically have no choice but to drop the belief! Get more details here.

Self Help Goddess T-Shirts: If you missed this last newsletter, I created Self Help Goddess t-shirts!! They are super fun and help to promote the site:) Keep checking back because I will also be offering additional t-shirt designs and styles, as well as other merchandise like stationary, coffee mugs, magnets, etc. Check out the t-shirts here.

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