“I’m powering through, every single day.”
Some mornings I bounce out of bed like a spring chicken, full of energy, singing the praises of the sunshine and greeting the day with enthusiasm. Other mornings, just lifting the duvet feels like climbing a mountain.
Since turning 50, life has changed. I remember my mum saying, “Lose that weight before it’s too late! it only gets harder as you get older.” At the time, I smiled politely behind gritted teeth. Now, at 53, I realise she was right and knew exactly what she was talking about! Â These days I seem to put on weight just by thinking about cake, and some mornings I feel more like a pensioner than someone in their early fifties.
This morning my husband said something that made me stop and think. “Every day there’s something new that aches or hurts on you.” He wasn’t being unkind.  He was simply pointing out something I hadn’t realised…I’d started focusing on every little ache a bit too much.
“so…I’m going to do an experiment.”
For the next few weeks, I’m going to stop announcing every twinge, groan or new pain. Not because they don’t feel real, but because I wonder if constantly focusing on them and then announcing them encourages my brain to notice even more.Â
There is some science behind this, I’m not just going out of my mind.  It’s called the Reticular Activating System (RAS). There is a network in the brain that filters information and pays attention to whatever we repeatedly focus on. Think about buying a blue car and suddenly you notice blue cars everywhere. There aren’t suddenly more blue cars on the road, it’s simply your brain deciding they’re important and pointing them out to you.
So then, if we deliberately looked for the good instead… The moments of joy, the wins, however small, the things that are working rather than those that aren’t it follows that we will be more abundant of those things.
I’m not pretending it’s going to be easy to feel happy, pain-free or positive all the time because life just doesn’t work like that. It’s going to be a challenge to remember so maybe a few post its round the house with positive affirmations will help.
This should be a fun challenge; to place our attention and notice we have more influence than we realise.
“Anyway…I’m going to give it a go, and I’ll report back on how it’s working for me.”
“Why not try it too? I’d love to hear what you choose to focus on and whether it changes what you notice.”
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