Is That Good For Me?

Not everything we do in life is good for us, but sometimes we are so busy simply getting on with life that we do many things automatically and don’t always recognise that maybe if we just changed our thinking and in turn what we do, we would feel so much better as we begin to do more things that are good for us.

Thank you for your kind messages, thoughts and continued support.

Transcript

As we live each day,

Doing the best we can,

Making hundreds of decisions and making choices for so many things,

Is everything we are doing good for us,

Or do some things drain our energy and not allow us to live our best lives?

Hello,

My name is Jacqueline and welcome to my Tranquil Spirits podcast.

Not everything we do in life is good for us,

But sometimes we are so busy simply getting on with life that we do many things automatically and don't always recognise that maybe if we just changed our thinking and in turn what we do,

We would feel so much better as we begin to do more things that are good for us.

One of my top ones is procrastination.

I can easily lose myself in the television or social media for hours instead of getting on with things which I should be doing,

Such as writing or illustrating my next children's book.

I can easily talk myself out of doing important things.

I'll just make a cup of tea and watch TV for 10 minutes is one I use a lot,

Instead of just getting on with things which need doing.

What I have found helps me with this is instead of making the tea or sitting down to watch TV for 10 minutes,

Which I know will turn into an hour,

I do some sort of movement,

Whether that is tuning into an exercise workout on YouTube or simply going outside for a walk.

As soon as I finish some sort of movement,

I feel energised and ready to do something constructive with my day and procrastination goes out of the window.

Now,

I've just mentioned social media,

Which is good in many ways,

But is experiencing hours of it good for us?

I know if I don't pay attention to what I am doing,

I can lose hours just scrolling whilst watching people doing nothing of importance and certainly nothing which is teaching me anything useful.

But the other thing about social media,

Or quite possibly our phones in general,

I notice more and more people,

Grown-ups and more especially children,

Are on their phones,

Absorbed in many things which are staged and not real life,

In some cases making the watcher feel inadequate in their own life,

Which I will touch on later.

But I sadly feel the time we are spending on social media can cause us to lose socialising skills,

Such as conversation with feelings and emotions and probably more importantly,

Personal interaction with eye contact and a real live smile.

I believe being with people in the flesh is so important and having a physical hug is like nothing else.

Using emojis to show we are laughing at something a friend has written in a text cannot replace hearing someone actually laugh out loud when they are right beside us.

So although social media has its place in today's society,

The importance of actually socialising in person is priceless and cannot be replicated with the use of our phones.

Dwelling on the past,

Where our thoughts go to negative memories,

Really drains us and is not good for us for an extended period of time.

It's not about forgetting the past and never going there again.

We have to process our thoughts and actions to move forward in life.

But constantly dwelling on the past is not good for our mental or physical health.

I find when I catch myself doing this,

The simple thing which really helps me is to change my environment.

Going into another room can really help,

But going out into nature is the best way.

I can lose myself in the beautiful surrounds as I experience the joy around me.

Breathing in the fresh air really does invigorate us and make us feel so much better.

Dwelling on the past can also lead us to negative thinking,

And social media can play a huge part in this.

Seeing people having or doing what we want really can have a negative effect on our well-being.

And the longer we stay with that mindset,

Our thoughts increase and our negative thinking grows.

Our minds are so powerful,

And whatever we think about,

We will attract more of the same,

Be that positive or negative thinking.

By taking control of our thoughts,

By recognising when we are thinking negatively,

And then making the decision to not stay there,

We can move our focus onto things which make us happy and encourage our thoughts to become positive.

If social media is your thing,

Simply by changing what you are viewing can help.

Watch people doing funny things,

Etc.

I like to listen to music which makes me want to dance,

Or I flip through photos of great memories.

I also enjoy breaking open the chocolate or phoning my fun friends who always has a joke or two for me.

Be prepared with the things that make you happy,

So changing from a negative to a positive mindset becomes almost a natural habit.

This brings me onto self-criticism.

How often do you tell yourself how wonderful you are,

How beautiful you are,

How much you love yourself?

Many people don't do this at all.

They are too caught up with thinking that they need to lose weight.

They don't like how old they are becoming,

Or they compare themselves to others,

Especially after looking at all the beautiful young bodies on social media.

And that sets them off into more self-criticism.

By focusing on gratitude we can change the way we think about ourselves.

Being grateful for our heart which beats constantly,

Our legs which carry us around,

Our hands which allow us to feed ourselves as well as touch the people we love,

Are just a few of the simple ways to be grateful for ourselves.

We have so many things to be grateful for,

And one of the big ones I think is gratitude for waking every day.

No matter my age,

I know that many unfortunately don't reach my age.

So each birthday I make a point of celebrating being alive,

And not necessarily my age number.

The more we can practice gratitude,

The more things we realise we have to be grateful for.

And hopefully by doing this we can appreciate how amazing and unique we are as individuals.

These are just a few of the things I feel are not always good for me if I dwell on them.

But by taking notice of how I am feeling multiple times a day,

And asking the question,

Is this good for me?

I can turn things around and make my life more enjoyable and my mind so much happier.

By being in control of your life and paying more attention to your actions and the words you use,

You will be living your best life and enjoying virtually every moment on this beautiful planet.

And remember,

The choice is always yours.

So what are you going to change today to keep yourself in control in order to live your best life possible?

Send me a message and let me know.

And if you have any other tips or tricks you use,

I would love to hear about those too.

Thanks for listening.

Have a beautiful day.

You deserve it.

And remember,

Always follow that dream.

Thanks again for listening and I'll speak to you again soon on my next Tranquil Spirits podcast.

Bye for now.