MAWMonday Motivators 05/22/2016

by: Dr. Michael A. Wright In Blog, Coaching DiaryTagged , , , , ,

MentalHealth2016-paperWith two Mondays left in Mental Health month 2016, I’m nearing the end of a month highlighting mindfulness, optimism, and the power of positive thinking. I know how hard it can be to maintain a sunny outlook when skies only offer cloud cover. Yet, the process is not about just doing it. It is about strategy–techniques you can employ in those moments when stress is high and coping knowledge is most needed. Mental health is a practice that needs continuous rehearsal.

This week, I offer some most useful techniques. Keep these handy. You may even write them on cards to pull out when you feel the pressure rising. Rehearse well today and everyday.

1. Start Mentally
Most of us enter adulthood with what we assume is “realism” or some form of calm, informed expectation. But, why does this version of adult intuition have to expect the worst? Think about it. At the point when you don’t know what the outcome will be, in your mind, any outcome could be equally possible. Truth be told, most of us would rather be right with a bad outcome than disappointed with a bad outcome.

Here’s the technique. Refuse disappointment. Feel the feelings honestly, but refuse that feeling as an ending. Replace it with learning. Not denial, but a reframing using your mind to organize every occurrence without the limitation of finality. You have not lost as long as you continue to progress.

2. Be Strong
Too often, the temptation is not to feel. That’s not strength. Strength is committing to the process, feeling the feelings, and charting your journey. The technique is to remember what you have overcome in the past. And, don’t give in to the simplistic version of events in which a miracle occurred. Trace the steps, the choices, the decisions, and the thought processes you engaged. You made it through the past event. Allow that to be encouragement, but also a potential pattern to follow in any new challenges.

3. Embrace the Friction
I don’t think a life of growth works without friction. You will have situations that grate at your comfortable bubble. That zone of comfort must expand beyond its current boundaries in order to accommodate your growth. Challenges, struggles, difficulties, trials are a version of the lexicon of growth. But, this friction could also be called awakening, seeding, movement, or calibration. Growth gets you ready to hold on to your gains at the next level. Embrace it.

4. Always
You are always moving toward magnificence. So, what’s your job? Believe. Expect that whatever the situation. Whatever happens. It is movement. It is in the direction of your benefit. Always.

5. Project the Best
Envision your mind as a video projector. Consider what movies you play through your projector. Consider the genre, the quality, the plot lines, and the key events. Take control of what you project. Guard what you input.

6. Be a Seer
I got into a conversation last week about two types of people with insight: doers and seers. Doers know about situations and people because they are engaged each day with patterns. When they see the pattern in you, they recognize that pattern. Seers see beyond what is presented because they have an uncanny insight. You must be a seer–one who sees beyond what is presented in order to see the positive, the beautiful, and the encouraging. Rehearse this and other abilities.

Dr. Michael A. Wright received his Doctor of Philosophy in Social Work degree from the University of South Carolina - Columbia. Since 1997, Wright has led MAWMedia Group, LLC, a firm helping individuals and organizations tell stories and translate ideas into capital.