Feeling Lucky?
The brain doesn’t like to be wrong.
It will decide on something (negative or positive) and then spend time looking for reasons to back that thought up. It's called Psychological Consistency.
Emily Fletcher, the author of Stress Less Accomplish More, holds a global meditation on Instagram every Tuesday at 3 pm PST. The lesson yesterday (the day before St. Patrick’s Day) was on luck. It was all about seeing luck differently & using affirmations to make our brain back it up. (You can watch the replay here.)
“You are what you say you are. The trick? You have to believe it.”
When one struggles with depression & anxiety, our brain will prove the lies the depression tells us.
And we all know depression is a lying bastard.
Those lies put us in the wheel of endless rumination & spiraling down in a black hole of doom.
I've been there. I still sometimes go there. It's not fun.
Emily invited us to practice an exercise for the next seven days.
Dump, Affirm, Manifest.
Here's the practice:
DUMP - For one-minute (use a timer!), dump/rant out all the things that are bogging you down. It might sound like this "I am so sick of winter & staying inside. I hate my job. I need new friends. I can't stand my loud neighbor!" etc. It's pretty easy to rant during these times. LET IT RIP!
(If you don't feel the need to rant, then skip step 1.)
AFFIRM - After your one minute rant, take a deep breath & say:
“I am the luckiest person I know. Lucky things happen to me. I am lucky.”
MANIFEST - Part of luck is getting very clear on what you want, why you want it, & saying it aloud. Sit in the feeling of already having it. Write it out in your journal or say it out loud to yourself.
During my rant today, not only did it feel good to yell aloud the things that were upsetting me, but surprisingly I started laughing. Bitching them out loud to an empty apartment (except my dog Max, he did look at me curiously), I began to hear my Inner Brat, & a smile miraculously formed in the chaos.
It's nice to be able to laugh at her finally. (Curious about the Inner Brat? Read "Maybe it's You" by Lauren Zander.)
If you still aren’t feeling lucky after the seven days, Emily suggests being someone else's luck. Buy someone coffee, leave a stranger a note, tip too much, or pull a favor for someone 'just because.' The act of creating luck for others may give you insights into how fortunate you really are.
I am lucky.
Lucky things happen to me.
I'm the luckiest person I know.
XO,
Cole
