Lisa's thought for the week - The Emotional Benefits of ‘Shifting Your Focus’

The Emotional Benefits of ‘Shifting Your Focus’

I was singing in the shop the other day and a customer commented I sounded ‘happy’. This got me thinking about what it is to be ‘happy’. Is it really as simple as choosing which thoughts we focus on? Surely not. So I gave it some serious thought. My experience of emotions is plenty of up and down’s. I’ve been experimenting lately with the lower end emotions and I’ve started to look beyond the emotion to see what lies behind it. Once I’ve actually seen what lies behind it it’s then my choice as to whether I stay with it or choose to let it go. This takes repetition as my emotional patterns have built up over 39 years of living. So I’ve been letting go of MANY beliefs and fears that no longer serve their purpose, they belong in the past. I’ve said goodbye with love and I continue to do so.

Where do we focus our attention?

Is it on the good things in our lives? The things we are to be grateful for such as if we can breathe, unaided, hot showers and enough food to ward off starvation or do we focus on the things we lack or don’t like in our lives, for whatever reason?  If I CHOOSE to shift my focus I can CHOOSE how I feel about my life. If I’m honest I have enough to be miserable about in my life as I do to be grateful for. But here’s a question for you:

Which energy makes me and everyone else around me feel more uplifted, positive and dare I say it, happy?  

Yes, grateful energy. There are some days no doubt that sadness and sorrow need to be heard, they may scream so loudly you will have no choice to listen to the pain. Once it’s heard, it’s heard, LISTEN.......Let it come, then let it go, like waves on the shore. CHOOSE..... Choose how you wish to play out your days as you won’t get them back! When you notice a negative focus, honour it, but if it’s unhelpful for your life, shift it. TRUST that you are able to shift your focus. You may shift it in an hour, a day, a week, a month or longer, but shift it you must in order to bring more brightness into your life and the lives of others. Like really does attract like. Become that which you want to attract into your life. Maybe darkness really cannot exist in the presence of light. Choose to be the light as this too shall pass in the blink of an eye and we could enjoy the experience as fully as possible whilst we’re here don’t you think?

CHALLENGE: Over the festive period think about where you can shift your focus in order to make the best of even the most challenging of emotional situations. Remember that which we choose to focus on grows....and grows.....

Lisa Barlow is a Personal Development coach at Bare Health. If you would like to make an appointment to see Lisa on a one to one basis, please call Bare Health on 01260 408413.