A simple trick to stop negative reactions before they start!
by Che GarmanNo matter how hard we try to control our thoughts, there will always be times in our life when circumstances get the better of us and our emotions want to take over. Whenever you feel this happening to you, there is a simple trick you can use that immediately puts you back in control. I call this trick "Still Life".
Whenever you are faced with a negative situation - when you start to feel negative emotions rising - follow these simple steps:
1. Focus your complete attention on something nearby that is totally inanimate. Anything static will do, as long as it is not moving. A chair, a tree, a book... whatever is nearby and catches your eye.
2. Now pay close attention to this object's stillness. Notice how it is not influenced by whatever circumstances have just arisen. Don't focus on the circumstances though. Just give your undivided attention to the stillness of your chosen object, and how it is unaffected by whatever is happening around it.
3. Now imagine being in communion with this object - not a communion of thought, but a communion of stillness. Appreciate how it would feel to be removed from the drama or trauma that previously confronted you, and be the chair, or the tree, or the book. Find this stillness within you and stay there for a moment.
4. Now imagine observing the negative situation or issue from the same perspective as your chosen inanimate object. Imagine being the chair, looking back at the problem. As you do this try to maintain the same concrete indifference as your object would.
5. From this perspective you now have two positive options:
a) You can accept the situation as being insignificant - and in most cases this will be the case. This is because it is our own negative beliefs and thoughts which created our emotion in the first place - which means that by changing our perspective we have changed these thoughts. Or...
b) You can now look at the problem, calmly and serenely, and contemplate possible solutions. And then, you can confidently choose the most positive course to follow.
You see, by employing Still Life, you become still life. And it is only from your still, quiet centre that you have the power to stop reacting to life's dramas, and instead choose more positive results.
John Templeton
Practice Still Life.
Find your calm center.
Because it is only from this place that you will be able to find the best possible solutions for any situation that arises in your life.
