We have to start with love

“The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts” Marcus Aurelius

I recently discovered the Raise your hand. Say yes podcast with Tiffany Han. She has a series of interviews with super inspiring and creative women, so if you’re like me and enjoy listening to podcasts while making dinner, cleaning, or creating something new, give these a try!

There are so many topics covered in these interviews – focus, fear, community, confidence, boundaries, etc.

I listened to a few episodes this past weekend when I was painting, and a common thread that emerged was how we can get in our way (often by accident!), and slow down our progress towards our goals.

This concept is really interesting to me, since I work really hard towards my goals but can also have a tendency towards negative self-talk. Some examples include:

• Not being able to appreciate how far I’ve come (with business or health or relationships), focusing instead on how far I still have to go.
• Scrutinizing myself in the mirror and looking for flaws instead of celebrating the incredible health journey I’ve been on for the past 4 years.
• Immediately saying “This might not work out” in regards to everything from a new project to a new brand of moisturizer.

These little phrases and actions don’t seem to have a big effect in the moment, but then I add them up over months and years and I can see how my ego tries to protect me from failure, criticism, and change. If I paint a new painting or write an article assuming that some people might not like it, then I already have a shield against a negative reaction. While it’s of course accurate to say that not everyone will like everything I do (and that’s okay!), using valuable mental energy preparing for rejection is totally not helpful.

I did a guided meditation recently where we were asked to repeat certain words in our minds (thank you, love, fear, possibility, opportunity) and then simply to pay attention. When you close your eyes, breathe deeply, and then repeat the word love to yourself, how does your body respond in a way that is similar or different to when you repeat the word fear?

I had such an interesting time with this meditation. When I repeated thank you, love, and possibility, my body felt light and I began to breathe more deeply. When I repeated fear and opportunity, my body grew heavier and my breathing slowed.

By giving my mind enough space to consider these words, I was able to feel their impact.

I have included inspirational messages on so many of my paintings for exactly this reason: by surrounding ourselves with positive and loving messages, we can elevate our own energy and ward off anxious, fearful thoughts.

My commitment to myself this week is to re-frame my thoughts whenever possible, to turn “This might not work out” into “Today is another day to learn.” It’s true that certain things might not work out, but what if they do work? What if our success is greater than we ever imagined?

I felt inspired this week to create a second ‘you are loved’ painting in what will eventually become a series. I am seriously loving these colors.

To change anything about ourselves, from mindset to word choices to old ingrained habits, we have to start with love.

Let love in and let’s see what happens next.