What am I Not Doing?
I know what I need to do – am I doing it? If not – why not?
To be where I desire to be, I know all the things I should be doing. After reading and listening to countless self-help, self-improvement, money-management, mindfulness, psychological, inspirational, and similar books and articles – the answers are here before me.
The key is doing.
Thoughts and feelings each make up a third of mindfulness and conscious reality creation. The final third is action. Doing.
I am not doing enough.
This is not about the actual things I am doing with my life. In that regard, I am doing plenty. No, this is about the more esoteric, intangible things I should be doing.
These are things like how and what I think about. From there, the feelings I am holding onto.
I am largely mindful of what is going on in my head. However, while I am aware of it, I am not necessarily doing anything about it.
What am I not doing with my thinking?
There are always thoughts inside my head. That’s true for everyone, right?
But when my thoughts are dark, dreary, and on things I would prefer not to give my attention to – the only person who can alter/change/redirect them is ME. It is wholly up to me to choose to take care of that and make any necessary changes.
Do I? Not as often as I should.
Especially during this period of necessary isolation – I am spending too much time on Facebook. It is a rabbit hole – and all too easy to read all about this conspiracy theory, those awful people protesting idiotically against necessary restrictions – and don’t even get me started on Trump, the GOP, and the utter and total disaster that is the US Government during all of this.
That overwhelming info takes up residence in my subconscious. There, it manages to plan roots of distress, concern, anger, disbelief, and fear that’s just unpleasant on multiple levels.
My thinking, thus, is influenced by all that negativity. What am I doing about it? That’s where it gets complicated.
I am not being mindful of my intake. Then, I am not being mindful of releasing that negativity – and instead am being a sponge and absorbing more.
I should read less Facebook. This is something I know, have stated before…and yet why am I not doing?
To change my thinking, I need to step away from this thing that is such a cause of negative thought. I know what I should be doing – now it’s on me to do it.
As Yoda said – and I repeat constantly but don’t to heart as well as I should:
“Do or do not. There is no try.”
By not doing what I should with my thinking this impacts my feelings, of course.
What do I not do with my feelings?
Falling down the Facebook rabbit hole and allowing my thoughts to be influenced by all that negativity absorbing into my subconscious inevitably leads to negative feelings.
Sadness, uncertainty, confusion, anger, distress, ire, outright rage, and other negatives become rooted deeply in my psyche. They keep me feeling off-balance and generally make me feel uncertain.
To be fair, it is necessary to be aware of what is going on – and feeling distressed and angry about aspects of it opens you to seeking means to change it. I need to feel these feelings to see what I can do to impact the world at large for the better.
That’s all well and good – until I do nothing with those feelings. If I let them fester and do not release them or act on them in some way – that just makes me feel anxious and depressed. Is it any wonder so many people are currently having issues with anxiety and depression during this situation?
I know I am not alone. And I know these feelings are natural and normal. But I also know that not acting on them or to release them just amplifies them.
I need to find a better outlet for them. It may be time, for example, to start journaling for myself again. I used to keep a journal of inner thoughts and feelings – in fact, I have several old books of them here. Perhaps I need to write them out to release them again.
Or its time to create more articles to share to express my anger and concern – and do what I can to help others in the same situation. Then, take it further and email political leaders to remind them who they work for.
Express or release. That’s what I need to do with my feelings.
The doing is in the actions
Acting on or in release of thoughts and feelings in a generative way is up to me. Doing nothing has no impact except to hold onto negative energy. When you hold onto it, it grows roots deep into your psyche where it can hold on and impinge on reason, logic, and rationality.
When I am not doing something constructive with these negative thoughts and feeling they become more frustrating, reduce my desire to act on them or much of anything else, and seek comfort in distractions, including food, the internet. and other things that are counterproductive.
Of course, it is ok to have moments of doing nothing. Sometimes you just have to let the thoughts and feelings sit there – especially when you are starting to feel overwhelmed by them. But it is necessary to move on at some point – and choosing to be proactive rather than reactive can open you to possibility and potential.
I know what I need to do. The onus is on me to act and make with the doing.
Doing isn’t hard, but it does require action
Knowing that action is a third of mindfulness and conscious reality creation, while thoughts and feelings make up the remaining two-thirds, you can see the necessity of taking action to impact yourself and the world around you. When you make the choices for what you should be doing, you put yourself in control over the only thing which you truly can control, and that ultimately empowers you.
When you feel empowered, your mindfulness increases, you become more aware overall, and that can spread to people around you. It can create a feedback loop of awareness and positivity.
As such, you can build more positive feelings and discover more reasons to feel positivity and gratitude. That can be the impetus to improve numerous aspects of your life for the better, generating yet more positivity and gratitude.
Then, that can spread to change the world for the better.
An attitude of gratitude is an attitude of immense positivity that can generate even more good energies – and that, like you, is always worthwhile.
This is the three-hundred and twenty-seventh entry of my Positivity series. It is my hope these weekly messages might help spread positive energies for everyone. Feel free to share, re-blog, and spread the positivity.
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