It is the New Year and time to focus on the third and most important component of Wellness – Thinking Well. If you can’t stop the barrage of negative thoughts, then it doesn’t matter what you eat or how much you exercise. Unfortunately, if left to absorb whatever we hear in any given day, our mind fills up with criticism, insults, complaints, and gossip. Sound familiar? “Did you hear what happened to the Smiths?” “What a blah day out today.”
Most people are not even aware of what they think about most of the time. We need to learn to cultivate our thinking, the same way we plan exercise or healthy eating in our day. We all know we can skip a few days of good movement (exercise) or get away with a few meals that are not overly healthy. However, we generally get back on track because we know that eating and moving are important to good health.
So how can we improve our thinking? Easy, change up your routines. Think up some good things to say to yourself and don’t worry about being repetitive as long as they are good. Say some positive things about all the good things you have going in your life … your spouse, work, house, family, friends, etc. And DO NOT focus on the bad stuff.
Seven Routines to help you Think Well:
- The Grateful Exercise – Once per day, either first thing in the morning or just before sleep, say 3 things you are grateful for and then make it a habit to look for the good things in your life.
- Showing Appreciation always – Whenever someone does something for you, say thanks, but also consider smiling or adding an additional comment about how much you appreciate them for what they did.
- Giving honest compliments – Make sure these are from the heart and HONEST. This habit seems to come naturally to some people, most have to form the habit.
- Smile – It’s easy and it shows others you are friendly and happy.
- Keep active and eat well.
- Get adequate rest.
- Move away from people who stress you out, when possible.
- Finally, to keep your thinking machine working well, you may need some Chiropractic adjustments to improve the functioning of your brain, the main component of your nervous system.