How to STOP Unhelpful Thinking
Every morning I would wake up and bang, it would hit me first thing. My very first moment, thought of the day… chronic pain. That constant ache, that umbrella of dread, fear and worry about where I was, what I’d become, what I might have to live with for another day, week, month - who knows, maybe a life sentence? The chronic pain had been menacing for a few years now. All because of that friggen surgery. Why did I do that surgery? It was elective. Man, this whole mess could have been avoided. I trusted people, where did things go wrong? If I didn’t do that I’d have my life back. How long will this pain plague me? I’m sick of this. I want what I had before. Get me out of this, give me what I had. But I can’t. I’ve tried thinking my way out of this a million times before and I land in the same place every time - a mess. This is doing my head in.
Rumination. Those thoughts that love to repeat themselves over, over, and over again. You get distracted, but sure enough, they make their way back into your thinking at some time, like a mosquito that’s endlessly buzzing in your ear no matter how many times you swat it away. They become distorted, but they feel real, ring true. Those thoughts - they send you into a slow and natural death.
I’d been wrestling with ruminiating thoughts for years when I first stumbled across Joe Stanley & Emma Murray’s podcast series, The House of Wellness. Throughout this series, they interview high profile sports stars thorough Australia. The podcast features interviews with stars including sprinter Morgan Mitchell, racing driver Scott McLaughlin, cricketer Will Pucovski, two-time Olympic cyclist Caroline Buchanan, and other high profile sports people. There was a particular podcast that resonated with the challenges I was having - breaking free from those toxic thoughts that I knew interfered with me becoming my best. They promoted me to become my worst! The acronym is simple… STOP. Let’s dive in!
Stop your thought. Catch it. Recognise you’re heading into that same old trash talk.
Take a break. A big deep one. Think about one thing alone - your breath. Interfere the thought.
Observe. Rumination is when your thoughts are drive how you think & feel. Observation Is when your curiosity breaks how you think & feel. Observe the story, accept the story, shift the story.
Progress. Continue with the story you know is the better one, the inner dialogue that will ensure you progress rather than regress. Keep telling yourself the shifted story that is helpful to your situation.
Some of us ruminate, others don’t. For those of us who do, the thoughts can be so intense that they have the ability to sabotage our day, over and over again. Whether it be the inner critic, the pessimist, or just trash talk that gets you nowhere, this simple formula is bound to not only stop the babble but replace it with something that’s constructing and helpful. That helps you be your best.