POSITIVE THINKING
THE MiX Carla Rieger
Len Grinke Photography in North Vancouver
Mind Stories L
©iStockphoto.com/ALVISIONN
ast year, I was travelling and speaking a lot.
At one point, I got into a panic about missing my flight. I’m getting off one flight and realize I have only 56 minutes to get to my next flight. I discover I must • leave security, • exit the terminal, • take a bus to the next terminal, and • go through security again to my gate. I get to security and the line is a mile long. My flight is leaving in 18 minutes. I start to panic. Even if I jump to the front of the line, there’s still a 15-minute walk AFTER I get through security. Of course when you panic, your brain capacity goes down and you tend to catastrophize. I start envisioning missing my flight and therefore missing my speaking engagement and all the negative consequences of that reality. Then I take a deep breath that I know can shift brain chemistry. I remember about the Mind Story process to get “unstuck.”
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Mind Story Process: 3 Steps 1. NEGATIVE MINDSET I identify the negative mindset “I am worried I won’t make my flight.”
2. POSITIVE MINDSET I choose an opposite mindset: “I have chosen to be confident that I can make my flight.”
People often think they can’t solve a problem because of an external circumstance, when actually it’s their mindset that is holding them back. 3. MIND STORY I remember a time I was in a similar situation and DID make my flight. It was 11 years earlier. I relived exactly what happened . . . I asked an airline rep to fast-track me the whole way there. I doubt that will work again since I can’t see an airline rep anywhere in sight. I leave my place in the line and tell a security agent about my plight. He whips me through the priority lane. Then they escort me to an airline rep standing on the other side of The Society of Notaries Public of British Columbia
security. She hails an airport golf cart. While I am speeding my way to the gate, she contacts the gate agent who is just closing the door. They hold it open 5 more minutes. I arrive just in time for my flight. People often think they can’t solve a problem because of an external circumstance, when actually it’s their mindset that is holding them back. Remembering a time when I was in a similar situation helped me solve the situation again. You may be thinking that’s just common sense but you’d be surprised at how often people lose their common sense when they are letting a negative mindset such as worry overwhelm them or they are letting confusion dictate their thinking. You can use the 3-Step Mind Story process on yourself or with others. You can use it to solve a simple situation like the story above or for a more complex situation such as how to solve a cash-flow crisis or how to make a life-changing decision. Here’s how you’d use it to help someone else. I was working with a client who was disappointed because he’d pitched himself as a consultant to a huge company and lost out to a competitor. Volume 26 Number 3 Fall 2017
