I ran across my first IG post the other day and I immediately wanted to write more about this on the post but then decided it might be a great topic to do my first blog on, so, here I am and here it is.
I wanted to share about how often we get stuck in our thoughts thinking about past experiences whether good or bad. If it’s a good memory and you’re thinking you wish you could be there again, is it really a positive thought? And obviously if we are having thoughts of bad memories, we often feel those feelings again and well quite frankly that sucks!
My son hates to talk about hard things because he says he then must feel those feelings he felt in the moment all over again. He has a point and I completely understand him. We don’t like to revisit those bad memories because our brain’s first reaction is to remember the feeling we had. Even subconsciously our body and brain have a reaction to that unpleasant memory we had in the moment when we experienced the difficult time. The reaction we have to unpleasant memories or experiences is called catabolic energy. What is catabolic energy? Let me give you a brief explanation.
All matter is made up of energy and as humans we put out energy all the time. Our energy is fueled by our thoughts. If we are in a positive mindset, we put out anabolic energy and vice versa. This catabolic energy breaks down our very own cells in our body. Anabolic energy builds our cells energy and helps keep everything working in better condition. So, think about how often we get upset or stressed out about things in our daily life. That person who cut you off, your boss who criticized what you worked so hard on, the deadline you have to meet, the person in the meeting who has to ask all the questions, your child had a meltdown before school, the nanny was late, your wrinkle cream isn’t working, you didn’t get as many likes on your post, you woke up bloated and 3lbs heavier than yesterday, I mean I could go on and on. All this can cause you to get frustrated, agitated, tense, irritable, annoyed, and worried causing catabolic energy!
Now that you know what catabolic energy is, think about how often we have this in our daily life and are unconscious to it and have become so robotic to it. What happens if you have an argument with your spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend, your boss, your friend, the uber driver, the clerk at checkout, the mailman, the meter person? Aye ya yay! We are breaking down cells all day, aren’t we?
Now back to the good memories. If we have good memories to reflect on and think ‘oh I wish, I could have that again’ isn’t that also kind of negative? I think so. Because we are wishing for something we don’t have in the moment, it’s something we are missing and need or want.
So, what am I saying in all of this. I’m saying, “move forward, good things are up ahead”. What if we moved on from that feeling we got when that car made us late to work, and thought good things are up ahead? What if we thought “I’m not going to let this get to me , I know good things are up ahead” every time we started to feel irritable? I know because I’ve tried it. Good things do actually start to happen. The bad things don’t just go away but I notice them less and less. And since I’ve been doing this more, I am so joyful! You can have that joy too.
