The Power of Focus

We all know that we are free to give our attention to whatever we want. We can focus on the rain outside or we can focus on being cozy inside. We can focus on what’s going wrong or we can focus on what’s going well. We can focus anywhere we choose.

What I have found, as I have learned to trust myself, that when my mind wanders to negative scenario planning, my best course of action is to bring my focus inward and on me. Here is how. I set an intent to return my focus to me. The true me. Then I make it a point to follow my breathing. This puts my attention into my body, on me, and out of me head. Up in my head? That’s where all the negative scenario planning takes place.

To call it worry is to give it a name that makes it sound like a concrete activity. Most of us know when we are worrying. Most of us are aware when we feel anxious about a situation, or someone we love. To me, negative scenario planning is this program running in the background of our brain expecting things to go wrong. It says, here is how this future event could go terribly and here is what you could do today to prevent it from happening.

Those of us who are risk avoiders often have a heightened power to do negative scenario planning. That’s not a bad thing. It’s just a thing. And it’s a thing to be aware of as you live your life.

Negative scenario planning is when you think ahead and say, here is how that event could go sideways. Here is what would happen if I forgot all the things I needed. Here is what would happen if I screwed up. And in that racing ahead, the mind usually comes to this conclusion. Nothing. Nothing bad happens if we screw up. It’s just a chance to learn. Nothing horrific happens if we forget something. It’s just a chance to laugh and say, oh well. Nothing really terrible is coming, even when we negative scenario plan.

Nothing bad happens if we screw up. It’s just a chance to learn. Nothing horrific happens if we forget something. It’s just a chance to laugh and say, oh well. Nothing really terrible is coming, even when we negative scenario plan.

So why do we do it? I like to think that there’s a good reason for every part of me. And the part of me who excels at negative scenario planning is a part of me I have come to love.

When I catch myself planning for failure, it’s my cue to make a deliberate choice to envision success. When I notice that I am spinning off into ways the project could go wrong, I know that I now have the opportunity to tell an opposite story than the one I just imagined. And when I feel like my mind is wandering around unattended, it’s time for me to do some focussed breathing and bring my mind back on me.

The mind has the curious ability to spin out of control. To make up a crazy, untrue story about the events she sees unfolding around her. Be a mind master, and master the art of retraining the mind to stay on you. In your core. In your belly. Here is where you will encounter the true you.