Dont sweat the small stuff!!
You have heard this said before and never has it been more true. All those daily events that stress us out, tidying up after the kids in the morning, shouting because they did not do something you wanted them to do, misplacing our favourite shirt, missing the train, forgetting something that you had to do.
Think of all that energy it takes up to be anxious or annoyed, with ourselves and with others. After time all these niggles become part of your day and so before you even get to sit at your work desk you are notably stressed out and worn out.
Asking yourself a simple question can change the quality of your day;
‘what do I want to focus on today?’
‘what do I choose this day to be about?’
Stop now and ask yourself one of these questions, what do you notice? Do you take a deep breath, gasp for air, smile for the first time, become calmer?
Asking yourself a small question that changes your focus can really change the outcome of your day and the quality of your life.
I was sitting on the train last night with my daughter on the way home from a show. We had a fabulous time and enjoyed the production together. Yet somehow we had clashed on the journey home and my expectations of her behaviour towards me was not met. I found myself feeling angry and resentful, both unhealthy emotions and the only looser was me, as of course my thirteen-year-old daughter was absolutely fine!
After a while I decided to look to myself to see what was really going on, and I asked myself a couple of small questions;
‘what’s really going on here?’
What’s going on for my daughter?’
‘Where am I responsible for this?’
Immediately I let go of my anger and took a deep breath, letting go of all the negative emotion I had created.
It really is amazing what progress you can make when you just step outside yourself and look through an invisible ‘observers ‘eyes. What you will see is a different picture and often one where both people are simply being them, doing their thing and not really intending to upset you.
My gift for you over the Christmas holidays is to take a small question like one of the above into each day and don’t sweat the small stuff.
Happy holidays
Jo Barnett
For all your self development/goal reaching/coaching/ mentoring and generally playing big!!
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