Life Coaching Tip: If you ever base your happiness, productivity, or peace on a circumstance that you can’t control, then I encourage you to start practicing new, inspiring thoughts about these situations. It’s never your circumstances, but it’s your thoughts about your circumstances, that determines your joy. You have the power to make a shift!
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At the start of autumn, as I began to hear my clients and other folks express concern about the isolation of the winter months, I created a guide to help people learn to shift their mindset called, “5 Fun Ways to Make Your Own Sunshine!” And not only did I offer this complimentary guide to my clients, but also to my newsletter subscribers and social media followers. The overall response was great and well received!
However, there was a comment on Instagram that caught my attention, and I found it fascinating. A woman from California provided a vastly different perspective of the sunshine I was offering to help people create in their lives.
This is part of what she said:
I love winter. I miss the rain and cool weather. The “endless summer” of California is a nightmare. The relentless heat, the boring monotony of day after day of sunshine with no variety or reprieve. I’ll take winter, fall, and spring all day.
Then she went on to say she found temperatures in the low 80s sheer misery. And added, I’d give anything for rain.
Basically, she was hating on sunshine!
This made me giggle.
“Wow,” I thought. “I had not anticipated a response like that!”
This is such a fine example of how it’s never our circumstances that we must change to feel inspired and delighted with life, but it’s our thoughts about our circumstances that we must manage.
And it’s not always easy to do this because we often see our beliefs as facts, when they are actually just thoughts we’ve been practicing for a long time, sometimes for years.
Like, I just assumed that everyone loves sunshine and would prefer it to a gray, overcast sky. However, my new Insta-friend taught me that when I am feeling grouchy about a dark, rainy day, I don’t have a weather problem – I have a mindset problem.
And that very statement might make you want to voice an objection like, “Umm, no Tracy! That person is just an oddball,” and I get it. (No offense, Insta-friend!)
But the truth is, the reason we know that a sunny day is just a neutral circumstance is because there are differing opinions about it.
So much of what I do as a life coach is about helping my clients manage their mindset, because our thoughts create our results. And that’s not always obvious to us humans, because we almost always want to blame our circumstances.
But if being in a good mood depends on sunny weather, many of us would be screwed!
In the Cleveland area where I live, there’s an average of only 168 days of sunshine each year. So, if that were the determining factor, I could plan on being an unproductive, gloomy grouch for more than half of the year!
Whelp, I don’t think I’m going to let the weather be in charge of my moods and outcomes. Obviously, a mindset shift would make more sense!
Do you ever base your happiness, productivity, or peace on a circumstance that you can’t control?
Do you have thoughts like:
I’ll finally be happy once I get that job (sale, promotion, bonus).
I’ll be able to focus on my goals once the pandemic is over.
After my candidate wins the election, then I can be at peace again.
If so, you may want to start practicing new thoughts about these situations. Your mindset is something you actually have the option to shift, and you are more empowered than you may realize.
Remember, sometimes you’ve gotta make your own sunshine!
Or rain, or sleet, or hail, or clouds, or snow – whatever you prefer! (giggle!)
It’s Worth the Effort: Keep Going!