raverX

So I've been back to see my psychologist lately, trying to get a bit of help with my anxiety issues whilst also trying to see outside my own perspective as to where to take the business next.

Last session was very much about the business and how I'm taking on too much which is affecting me in my work and personal life, leaving me with a lack of energy and enthusiasm from time to time.

But this post isn't about work, it's about my personal life.

In certain situations my mind (like many other peoples) tends to focus on the negative thoughts that run through it. Apparently we all do it, our minds run at 5000 words a minute and if we're not in the right frame of mind we may sometimes focus on the more negative thoughts and this in turn affects us.

For me I have moments where I am talking to people, usually when I am outside my comfort zone, and I start thinking negative thoughts - usually about what the other person thinks of me. This in turn can often destroy my confidence in the moment and has made it hard for me to interact with some people.

As silly and basic as it may seem I was told to think of positive imagery and thoughts and try and tell myself those thoughts are just negative and ignore them.

A technique I was shown was that of binding a positive memory or emotion to a physical object. The idea being that once you have done this whenever your mind starts to wander you touch the object and this sparks the memory or emotion, thus bringing you instantly out of this "bad place".

To achieve this you need two things.

1. A very strong, powerful memory / emotion - or a collection of them.

2. A suitable trigger object.

Now, I may have to update this later as I might be a bit off on the full process here, but from memory the object is to set yourself 5 minutes aside and relax.

Find somewhere comfortable to sit and and close your eyes. Start with big deep breaths in through your mouth and out through your nose. Very typical relaxation technique.

Once you are relaxed, you start thinking about your positive memories and once you have the memory strong in your mind you then touch, tap or rub the trigger object.

For me the memories are a collection of moments when I have felt special - either as a result of someone else, or as a result of my own actions / success. The trigger object is a fairly basic one - it's a ring on one of my fingers.

In my experience this technique is not perfect and that probably has a lot to do with me needing to spend more time practicing (I'm very slack), however the process of finding positive memories has been beneficial. There have been a number of moments when my mind has started to go the wrong way when I've caught it and remembered those positive memories and this has helped me push through the barrier.

When I first thought about putting up this post it was because of a moment that occurred the other night, during a random conversation as I was sitting there listening - and it made me feel happy. Unfortunately the moment passed, but it was something I felt was noteworthy.

I had no intentions of writing about this technique, infact I had all intention of writing about that moment and some of those other memories for me which make feel special. As typical as my mind is however, that's not what I ended up putting to paper [or keyboard/screen].