by Bonnie Taylor
Wouldn’t it be cool if we could get a fresh start in all areas of our life anytime we wanted? A mulligan on relationships, a blank slate on household projects, or even a fresh page for writing projects? When it seems like you’re stuck, instead of getting frustrated, you get to try again.
The mind is a funny thing. It can tell you there is no way out, that you’ve failed, things will never change; or it can give you permission to start over. Maybe what we really need is a fresh mindset.
A New Mindset for a Fresh Start
The brain is wired to go to automatic responses. Those responses can be either negative or positive. Very few of them are ever neutral.
The negative pathways are those that tell us we have no choices. That life or whatever we are trying to achieve isn’t going to happen. A negative pathway is actually a dead end, yet we seem to stay there rather than turn around.
Negative pathways can come from our own past experiences, someone else’s past experience or even our DNA.
Luckily, science has proven that we have the ability to rewire our brain and create positive neural pathways. A new mindset is the beginning of turning around at the dead end of a negative pathway. Even if you have always reacted one specific way, you can still give yourself a totally fresh start.
3 Steps to a Fresh Start
It only takes 20-30 minutes and three steps to create a positive neural pathway. I recommend doing this in a journal of some kind because it’s easy to track, but any kind of note-taking tool will work.
1. Start with gratitude. Write down or meditate on 3 things that make you grateful.
2. Take 5-10 minutes and focus on feeling full of light. Inhale positive thoughts and exhale anything negative. If you are the praying type, ask God to fill you with joy. Think about 3 people who could use joy in their life and pray for them or send them good vibes.
3. Take 5-10 minutes to imagine 3 goals that you have set. How will reaching them change your life? How will you feel when it happens? Where will you be when it happens?
That’s it.
Make an Everyday Habit
Doing these three things every day will give you the fresh start that you desire and set you on the track to building positive neural pathways. As you build your positive neural pathways, you may find yourself doing this multiple times a day, whenever you feel the need to have a fresh start.
How do you give yourself a fresh start? What else have you tried? Share your ideas in the comments!
Bonnie is the founder of For Real Life and Discover Your Real Life. www.forreallife.net She is a Professional Encourager, Speaker, Life Guide, Minister, an “Accidental Entrepreneur”. Living out her For Real Life in front of international and audiences in the U.S., she brings authenticity and transparency to life circumstances to all age groups. Her life can be overflowing and she will tell you it’s her husband that keeps her grounded or she would fly into every adventure that came her way. She is the mother of 5 children, 2 she birthed and all 5 that she loves. The Nonna to 2 beautiful granddaughters and Mommy to 2 crazy Boston Terriers.
It’s a good time to do some spring cleaning in my every day habits. It’ll be fun to try these three steps to start my day. Thank you!
Great time and idea to start some new habits!
Fresh start is something I’ve never thought about. It means I have to put an end to something in my life and I cannot think of anything I want to do that too. Even the rough times have made me what I am. They in a way have etched out, created something in my life. I know that sounds ridiculous but it’s true.