How To Change Your Perspective In Sobriety

I’ve mentioned changing your perspective a bunch of times, and said it in a way that made it sound easy. But I realized changing how you think isn’t really that obvious, especially when you’ve become accustomed to a certain way of thinking.

So, I’m going to share with you what I did to change my perspective. It’s also only three steps.

On a side note- this doesn’t mean that all of our thoughts will be positive because that isn’t possible. What it does mean is that we won’t keep allowing our negative thoughts to influence our mood and as a result, our lives.

WHY CHANGE YOUR THOUGHTS

I know it can be easier just to ignore the negativity, especially if we think those thoughts are harmless. So we pay it no mind.

Every new thought creates a new neural pathway. The more we repeat those thoughts, the stronger the neural pathways become. With repetition, thoughts become beliefs.

Even those harmless thoughts shape who we become, influencing the decisions we make. And that can help us to create the lives we want, or they can keep us stuck in a version of ourselves that isn’t in alignment with where we want to be.

AWARENESS

The first step is to be aware of the negative stories you’re telling yourself. This is the hardest, but once you’re aware of them, it gets easier. It’s hard because our thoughts are programs that we’ve been carrying around for most of our lives.

It’s kind of like tying your shoelaces. When you learned how, you probably learned with a rhyme or phrase. And you had to keep repeating the phrase while tying your shoelaces until you got the hang of it. Now when you tie your shoelaces, it’s not even something you think about because it’s second nature.

That’s like our thoughts. We have to keep repeating the thoughts we want as our truths. And there’s an adjustment period, but eventually, they become stories that are in alignment with what we want.

THINK THE OPPOSITE

The second step to changing your perspective is to create a thought that is the opposite of what you’re currently thinking. Of course, you can change the wording to how you speak or play around with the words to make it more descriptive and specific.

If you’re thinking:

Nothing ever works out for me.
I’m never going to heal.
I hate my life.
I’m always broke.

Change those thoughts to:

Everything always works out for me.
I am healed.
I love my life.
I always have money.

ADD GRATITUDE

Gratitude is what transcends us. That doesn’t mean we should ignore or dismiss past trauma or how we’re feeling. We need to be honest with ourselves.

But we can also have gratitude for the things we have along with the things that are making their way to us. So, add a thank you to your new thoughts as a token of appreciation.

Thank you Universe/God for making sure that everything always works out even better that I expected.

Thank you Universe/God for giving me the clarity and strength to heal.

Thank you Universe/God for giving me a beautiful life, a life I’m proud to call mine.

Thank you Universe/God for always making sure that I have money to pay my bills and to buy the things I want.

Every time a negative thought pops in your mind, change it to something positive, something that will contribute to the life you want. As long as you keep repeating this, it will eventually become a belief. And those new beliefs will change your life.

I’ll see you soon…in the meantime, love yourself so much that even a Hallmark Christmas movie would be jealous.