Often, we hear, "When life gives us lemons, make lemonade." The lemons that show up in your life may include:
- Not reaching your personal or professional goals
- Illness or your body not performing like it once did
- Losing your job
- An important relationship ending
- Having a challenging time navigating through changes in your life
Here is the thing. Life is going to hand us lemons every now and again. If you want to make really good lemonade you have to change the way you think about these situations.
Recently, a colleague shared with me that her husband had lost his job. Surely, it's not what you want to hear when you say, “how was your day, dear?” He experienced the normal feelings that coincide with loss; worry, doubt, fear. However, it didn’t take him long to recover and shift his mindset to: “this is going to be an adventure!”
Some may say he was tapping into the power of positive thinking. This is a strategy I share with clients regularly.
Recently, a colleague shared with me that her husband had lost his job. Surely, it's not what you want to hear when you say, “how was your day, dear?” He experienced the normal feelings that coincide with loss; worry, doubt, fear. However, it didn’t take him long to recover and shift his mindset to: “this is going to be an adventure!”
Some may say he was tapping into the power of positive thinking. This is a strategy I share with clients regularly.
It is often said that affirmations, the act of affirming what it is that you want to create, is the welcome mat to manifesting your desires. This practice works for many, yet not for all. Some have a hard time wrapping their mind around affirming something that’s not already present in their lives.
This is where Non-Negative thinking, changing the destructive things you say to yourself when you experience the setbacks that life deals us, may work better.
The next time life hands you lemons, here is your new recipe for lemonade:
1. Look at the lemons long enough to know what you need to do with them.
2. Feel whatever feelings you need to feel.
3. Consciously reframe what you are saying to yourself about the situation. No need to continue to beat yourself up when lemons show up.
4. Pour over ice and enjoy—essentially do your best to chill out and roll with the change. Take time to look at the situation from different angles, objectify it as separate from you. Know there is a lesson and that it may take time to see it. Trust that the universe will take care of you. You've been given an opportunity to reinvent. Embrace the change and know it will bring what you need.
I know this is easier said when done, however with practice, the act of non-negative thinking becomes easier and eventually falls away, replaced by different words and a more efficient mindset for moving forward.
It is from this perspective that you can enjoy the juicy sweetness of life.
This is where Non-Negative thinking, changing the destructive things you say to yourself when you experience the setbacks that life deals us, may work better.
The next time life hands you lemons, here is your new recipe for lemonade:
1. Look at the lemons long enough to know what you need to do with them.
2. Feel whatever feelings you need to feel.
3. Consciously reframe what you are saying to yourself about the situation. No need to continue to beat yourself up when lemons show up.
4. Pour over ice and enjoy—essentially do your best to chill out and roll with the change. Take time to look at the situation from different angles, objectify it as separate from you. Know there is a lesson and that it may take time to see it. Trust that the universe will take care of you. You've been given an opportunity to reinvent. Embrace the change and know it will bring what you need.
I know this is easier said when done, however with practice, the act of non-negative thinking becomes easier and eventually falls away, replaced by different words and a more efficient mindset for moving forward.
It is from this perspective that you can enjoy the juicy sweetness of life.
Now that’s delicious.
~Thanks to Wendy Watkins
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