The power of intentional thinking and how you can learn how to reduce stress and anxiety by being intentional with your thoughts.

There’s so much stress and worry and fear of the unknown for people. Things like social distancing are causing some people to feel alone and isolated, uncertainties around school is causing stress and worry for parents and families, loss of business is causing financial stress for people all over the world.

Statistics are showing that since the pandemic more people are suffering from stress and anxiety and there has been a greater need for mental health support.

How are you feelings? What are your thoughts?

No one is immune to this….so It’s important to pay to how you’re feeling and your thoughts. With all that’s going on I want you to ask yourself these questions:

Do you find that you are you controlling your thoughts? (you’re in the driver’s seat) or are your thoughts controlling you? (you’re in the passenger seat). 

Are you going throughout your day with dread, angry, overwhelmed, fear, anxiety and just waiting for the other shoe to drop? Or are you starting your day with expectation, intention, clarity, or perspective?

If you answered that you start your day the first way, you are not alone in that. 

So you are not alone. As a licensed clinical mental health professional and a mental fitness consultant, I spend a lot of my time talking about the brain and the power of our thinking. And the importance of getting control over your thinking.

Gain control over your thoughts and reactions

It’s so easy to get hijacked emotionally and just react to things going on around but today I want to provide you with information and strategies on how you can become more aware of your thoughts and emotions and instead of reacting to everything that’s going on, that you gain control and respond in ways that are healthier for you. 

The first thing, I want to do, is to talk about what it means to be an intentional thinker. Being intentional means being present, making thoughtful and choices in your life, and living a life that’s purposeful and deliberate.  It’s about making conscious choices and decisions to ensure that what you do each day enables you to focus on what’s really important to you. 

Goals vs Intentions

I’ve been asked what’s the difference between setting a goal vs intention. 

* And goals are normally focused on the future, or a destination or specific achievement * whereas intentions are in the present moment, it’s something that is lived each day, regardless of whether you achieve the goal or not and intentions are about your relationship with yourself and others

So by learning to set your intention first and combine with goals, you will become someone who enjoys both the journey just as much as the destination. 

That is a huge point, as we can get so caught up and this is where the stress, the anxiety, the depression, and the feelings of failure kick in…..Because in our head we have goals, or our dreams or what we’ve placed on the vision board and if they haven’t happened just yet, or they are here just yet, it can create a sense of failure and we that we miss everything that is happening in the present moment.

Being intentional allows you to focus on HOW you want to be in the moment, regardless of the outcome, winning or losing.