You Control Your Thoughts...Right?

Recently I have been having conversations about the podcast with both teachers and students. And what has consistently come up is the realization we have of relatability. What is relatable to a student can also be relatable to an adult.

This feels very obvious but it reminded me of a trip I had taken a few years back to Barcelona. While I was there I had the opportunity to go to Montserrat which is just outside of Barcelona in Catalonia. The name actually means "jagged mountain" in Catalan. It's an abbey at the top of a mountain, it's beautiful. And it's the main attraction is the black madonna, which is a wooden statue that was carved of the Madonna ( Jesus's mother) and over time darkened hence the name. She's the patron saint of Catalonia and therefore a pretty big tourist attraction. This leads me to my experience when I was waiting in line to see her.

A social worker was in front of me and we started talking. She shared that she works at a nursing home. I said something along the lines of how that might be difficult being with people that are most likely in the final stages of life. She responded. The most difficult part was to get them to move past the stories they have always told themselves. They share how they never measured up to their parents' dreams, how they wish they would have...fill in the blank. or they get stuck repeating the same stories of the people who betrayed them or did them wrong.

You hear people say- It's like listening to a broken record. You wish you could just tell them to pick up the needle. Stop playing the same songs. She said I wish I could tell them to just flip the damn record over. Remind them there is a whole nother side, filled with songs you haven't even heard!

It made me think about the stories we tell ourselves and the thought patterns we repeat. The incessant looping. How important it is to be aware of how to talk to yourself.

And know that you can change the dialogue. Who says you have to keep telling yourself the same stories?

Try this: Any time you find yourself in a thought pattern that does not serve you, interrupt it. That may look like taking a deep breath, feeling your feet on the ground, or bringing awareness to your surrounding by listening to the noises around you. Awareness is the first line of defense.

Mel Robbins has a trick when she finds herself talking smack to herself about herself. “I’m not having this thought right now” It's a way to gain control.