Shift Your Mindset to Shine

By Kristi Dear

One day I realized something that changed my life, and it could change yours too!

Have you ever been so upset that it was all you could focus on? You may have even started to feel the physical effects of this, such as headache and fatigue, and when you tried to switch your focus it seemed impossible because it consumed you. In situations like this you may even start to become irritated with people around you for no reason, and then it starts to affect your quality of life.

When I was at my lowest point, I was overweight, depressed, and unhappy with my circumstances. I felt stuck, and my “lack of” was all I could focus on. I wanted to be happy, successful, healthy, and full of life—but it just seemed like nothing ever worked out. Then one day I learned about the power of our mind, something clicked, and I decided to make a SHIFT.

During my transformation I recited the scripture, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”—Philippians 4:13

After reading this verse, I realized that God was waiting and wanting to bless me, but he wanted to work through me. But first, I needed to start with changing my mindset.

I started to become more aware of what I was thinking, speaking, and focusing on. I could pray and ask God for help all day long, but if I was sabotaging it by thinking negatively and having a poor attitude then I would continue to stay stuck. I believe that when we pray God doesn’t just give us the strength to succeed or hand us a positive mind—he allows us the chance to be strong and positive. He doesn’t promise that every day will be easy, but with a new perspective we can find good in every day.

That day, I started to become a different person! I realized that this stuck, unhappy place I was in resulted from what I was choosing to think, focus, and speak about. It wasn’t the events going on outside of me that needed to change—it was how I responded to the events.

My transformation needed to begin on the inside.

I realize that some days it’s easy to get caught up and focus on everything that is going wrong in our lives. It takes no effort at all to focus on this—all the stressors we have, the goals we haven’t achieved—but this mental focus only keeps us stuck. What we focus on we will see, and it will become a part of us. This leaves us with a negative mindset, feeling unfilled and unsatisfied. The good news is we can change our mindset to start thinking more positively by switching what we focus on, think about, and speak about. We can start to concentrate on all that is going right in our lives, everything we are thankful for, and all we have achieved. The little things can be the biggest contributors to our overall happiness and success in life. Negative thinking can become a habit, and we may not even realize we are doing it. However, we can break this habit by continuously focusing on the positive.

A great way to help switch your focus is through the power of visualization, and it was a key factor in my transformation. As I prayed and started to switch my focus, I also created a vision board for the positive goals I wanted to achieve. I grabbed a poster board and filled it with scriptures, affirmations, and pictures that symbolized what I wanted to achieve. I put this vision board by my bedside so that I would see it throughout the day.

When we start to visualize and think about our goals and dreams, we start to affirm that it is possible in our unconscious mind.

To create your own positive vision, try this exercise: Close your eyes and create a picture in your mind of yourself achieving your priority goal. Turn up the brightness of the picture, hear all the sounds, and feel all the feelings of that perfect outcome. Take about five to ten minutes to sit quietly and really make a detailed mental picture of the outcome you want. If it is difficult to formulate a picture, then just focus on your feelings and how good you will feel when you achieve your goals. Whenever you catch yourself having a bad thought, quickly replace it with this new mental picture or feeling. This will also help you to create those new positive habits in your brain so that each time you have a bad thought it will more quickly shift to a positive image or feeling going forward.

Within just a few months of using these approaches, I witnessed my whole life transform. I believe that God wants to bless all of us—but we first have to allow the blessings by having a healthy mind. We can focus on all that is wrong, sit around, dream, hope, and pray about change, but when it comes down to it—we are responsible for the choices we make, the responses we have, and what we fill our minds with.

I believe that there is a beautiful light that lives in all of us. Let today be your day to SHIFT, and bring out your inner light to SHINE bright for the world to see.

Kristi Dear is a Certified Master Life Coach, Personal Trainer, Author, & Motivational Speaker.  Kristi once found herself in a tough place. She was depressed, unhappy with her self-image, and felt stuck. One day Kristi decided to make a SHIFT and took back her personal power. She changed her mindset and changed her life. She lost 75lbs, was featured in Fitness Magazine on all the local Dallas news channels, opened a successful women’s boot camp, and created Get Fit Kids exercise DVD’s. Through Kristi’s transformation she discovered her true self, and realized her purpose was to inspire others to DREAM BIG, know their worth, and ignite their inner light  to SHINE bright! Visit www.KristiDear.com and www.SavannahBootCampBabes.com.

This article is a chapter from the book Transform Your Life! written by 60 real-life heroes and experts and available at Amazon.com, BN.com, www.Transformation-Publishing.com and all ebook formats.

 

This entry was posted in Inspiration. Bookmark the permalink.