Notice what you think

Try this:

Sit down. Close the eyes. Notice your breathing.....how your breath flows in and out and how your body feels.

Then visualize yourself in your favourite place in nature, maybe at the beach or in a forest, wherever you love to be. Notice your breathing. How it flows in and out and how your body feels.

Now visualize yourself walking down the road and a driver swerves in front of you, scowls at you, and shows you the finger. Notice your breathing and how the body feels.

Now visualize yourself lying in a warm bubble bath. Notice your breath and your body.

Now visualize yourself looking at a beach that has an oil spill, this goopy stuff with a seagull lying dead on it's side. And again notice your breath and your body.

Now one last visualization: see the cutest little puppy, wagging it's tail, running towards you ready for a scratch under it's chin. Notice your breath and body.

Did you notice a difference in your breathing? Did the breathing change as you thought of different images?

It really is important what you think. If you spend your whole day thinking of things that bring on feelings of sadness, or anxiety, or angry, or make you depressed then that is what happens to the cells of your body. The body slumps, contracts, and you can't breath fully.

You can change your life by what kind of thoughts you think. Choose for the thought that lets you breathe well. Choose for the thought that relaxes the body. Choose for the thought that brings peace and spaciousness.

Think of having a default thought: whenever you find yourself having thoughts that are not allowing you to feel your best choose your default thought. A default thought is a thought you come back to that always makes you smile and feel just a little better. My default thought is visualizing my dog run in figure eights around two bushes in the backyard, with his ears flapping wildly with joy. It sets me up to think of something more and more positive with each following thought.