What Are You Seeing?

Every night my husband uses this one baking dish – and every night I wash it.  We share the kitchen duties: he cooks, I do the dishes and we are both happy.  It’s ideal.  Well, it was until recently.  The thing getting under my skin was this one baking dish.  See, we don’t have a dishwasher – GASP, I KNOW!  I do the dishes by hand – GASP again!  And this one baking dish kept showing up and it began to irritate me.  Oftentimes it had to soak and it ended up being in the sink the next day because I would forget that it was there and I’d have to start my day by washing it.  Silly, right?

I needed to shift my perspective because this thing was really aggravating me!  I decided to look at this differently to see how it could serve me.  I began to think how this dish makes me happy.  My husband uses it to make us really delicious and nutritious meals.  Those are wonderful meals that we share together.  I came to recognize how the dish is a good thing and that my irritation to it was not.  My lesson here is about making a shift in thought from something that is annoying, irritating, aggravating or even a pain in the butt to something that is joyful, happy, supporting or even fun!

It happens.  You get annoyed, irritated, aggravated and even PO’d at something in your life.  It’s normal yet it doesn’t feel good.  I find that many of my clients are frustrated that they feel this way and look at it as a bad thing.   I tell them it doesn’t have to be!  It can be used as a tool to turn things around and feel more of what they want: joy, happiness and peace.

Are you intrigued?  I hope so.  See, once you see that you can change your perspective to work for you, it’s amazing what will appear in your life.  Let’s take exercise for an example.  You hate it, it’s grueling, it’s horrible, and it’s annoying.  Yet, I choose to exercise because it helps my body become and stay strong.  It helps me look and feel great.  It helps reduce my stress levels and makes me a happier, healthier person.   So, let’s turn it around.  By changing how you perceive exercise, you shift how you feel about it and can make it work for you! If you looked at exercise as something that fuels, supports and shows love to yourself, how would it make you feel?  You’d love your reflection (wink)!

Your turn, what turn-around would you like to experience?

Maybe it is a turn-around about how you view a certain task.  One of my clients is amazing at executing things; she is a ‘task-master’.  Yet she gets frustrated because she finds she is leaving things until the last moment.  This doesn’t exactly support her way of being – which is to be peaceful!  With my help, she decided to re-think how she went about planning, scheduling and executing her tasks.  And viola, she went from struggling to completion in no time!

Here are a few easy ways (you know I’m all about the ease) to transform how you think so that you may change how you feel about something that you are struggling with:

• Start by determining what it is you really want to feel.
• Ask yourself, “How will looking at this differently, and in a supporting way, help me accomplish what I want to accomplish?”
• Make it fun!  Come up with a strategy that works for your personality and work style.
• Celebrate your success!

So then, where can you make the shift that lets you feel more joy, happiness and peace?  I can’t wait to hear what you have to say below!

© Copyright 2012 Kim Ravida Coaching. All rights reserved. Feel free to use the material from the article in whole or in part, just makes sure you include this complete acknowledgement including the live website link and let me know where the material will appear: “Kim Ravida, owner and founder of Kim Ravida Coaching, is a Certified Professional Coach and a personal and professional motivation mentor. In essence, she motivates people to stop beating themselves up and helps them get off their butts so that they maximize their time and energy to quickly get what they want in their lives… and love their reflection! Kim produces a weekly ezine where she shares insights, inspirations, tips and ideas for setting and reaching personal and professional goals. To get more information or sign up, please go to www.kimravida.com.”