The Self GuideCare
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Thought for the day
By Leah Rhodes, Self Care Life Coach
2 About This Guide
The results can be mind-blowing (I can give your personal experiences of results I and many others have!)
Use these simple thought-for-the-day statements to help you focus your mind, improve the quality of your meditation time, or challenge your assumptions. Spend time each day with one of these thoughts. They were specifically selected for their ability to open your mind and generate positive emotion. For faster change and a more powerful experience, select your favorite thought and combine it with a powerful image or picture or photograph of your goal, something you really want. Let both together generate strong, positive emotion and do this every day.
As a Self Care Life Coach, my focus is on helping you make simple yet powerful changes to your thoughts. This is the key to fast and easy self-improvement. Your thoughts rule your emotions and your behaviors. If you want healthier emotions and behaviors, it all starts with making intentional adjustments in your thoughts. It's a lot easier than you think!
3 Introduction
This is the difference Between a Self Care event And a Self Care Lifestyle!
I have studied the connection between the mind and the body since the 1980s when I was beginning my career as a psychologist. In 2012, I created a business as a Life Coach with a focus on Self Care. My coaching includes workshops, printed and digital material (like this), working individually with clients, and using social media to keep you thinking and moving forward. How to contact me: Email: Instagram:coach4selfcare@gmail.com@coach4selfcare
The type of Self Care that I teach is cognitive self care. Many people believe that taking a day off from work or going to the beach or getting a massage or spending time with loved ones is self care. It is! However, these are examples of self care events. My coaching promotes developing a Self Care lifestyle. The difference is creating an entirely stronger outlook and approach to every aspect of your life and yourself. About the Coach
How to Use This Guide
The following Thoughts for the Day are bite sized invitations to expand your thinking, challenge your thinking, and open up more possibilities for yourself. After each thought is the challenge to meditate or journal on this thought. This is how you take it to the next level. This is how to apply it to yourself.
The goal is to give yourself perspective. To stimulate ideas. To break old habits. To free yourself from what is holding you back. It typically takes 21 days to create a new habit and replace an old one. It takes 90 days to make it a lifestyle (a complete overhaul of thought, emotion and behavior). If you use just one of these thoughts for 30 days to create a new habit, you have more than 2 years’ worth of growth and change right here in this book!
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Notice the shift in energy when you switch your focus. You can defeat negative, self defeating thoughts. It takes a little practice but you will notice it getting easier after the third time.
1. You never have enough information to judge another person. It is painful to be judged. It is usually full of unfair assumptions. You have places in the corners of your soul that no one knows. Secrets, hopes, dreams, fears, goals. Even people you know well, are married to or gave birth to; you can’t know all of them all of the time. Suspend judgment. Meditate or journal your thoughts on this.
2. The key is to catch yourself at the moment you are thinking negatively or beating yourself up. Immediately switch to something you are grateful for.
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Persistent thought is a great way to solve a problem but it has a limit. Take a break and come back to it. Let your subconscious do its work to search all the mental files in your head and find the answers. Meditate or journal your thoughts about this.
Thoughts like to flow. When you interrupt the flow of a negative thought, it gets frustrated and stops. So beat it down with gratitude and don’t let it take hold. Meditate or journal your thoughts on this.
3. You don’t have to know all the answers. They will come to you when you need them.
Have you ever had a flash of an idea?
Have you ever had things fall into place at just the right moment?
Have you ever had a dream or sat up in bed from a sound sleep with the answer?
4. It doesn’t get easier; you just get stronger. You’ve been through a lot. Hard times. Adversity. Unfairness. It’s never for nothing. These times make you stronger, wiser, and they give you a different perspective. If you don’t allow yourself to become buried in the pain and negativity, you will notice new strengths and wisdom. Use those strengths to solve the next problem that comes along. Meditate or journal your thoughts on this.
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6. You didn’t wake up this morning to be average. Each new day is a clean slate. A chance to start over. Take it. If you need a better plan, make one. This thought invites you to challenge yourself. Do things you haven’t done before, like ask for help, be the first to reach out, fix a mistake, or take a chance. Shake off average. You are meant for more. Meditate or journal your thoughts on this.
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5. There is nothing wrong with you. You are unlearning old behaviors and healing from generations of dysfunction. This sounds more like therapy, not coaching. But consider this: breaking with the past frees you to move into your future without anything in tow. You are probably the change maker in the family. The one who says “enough, this will not continue into one more generation.” That includes toxic thought patterns and unhealthy behavior Fixpatterns.itifyou can. Move on when you are ready. Meditate or journal your thoughts on this.
You don’t know their journey. You can’t know all the reasons they do what they do. Keep your nose on your own face and mind your business. Use that energy to overcome your own issues. Meditate or journal your thoughts on this.
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If you were raised by human people, you are messed up! Humans make mistakes (see #7).
8. Life is not fair for anyone. Everyone suffers. As a therapist I heard over and over how people thought they were the only ones who have hard times. Really? There are 8 billion people on the planet and 8 billion stories of pain and difficulty.
Just because life is not fair doesn’t mean you can’t overcome. That is the purpose of life, to develop strengths from the things we suffer and to make something of our time on this planet. Meditate or journal your thoughts on this.
7. Everybody makes mistakes. Just differently. This is another invitation to recognize the tendency to judge others. It is also an invitation to STOP!
10.The struggle you are in today is developing the strength you need for tomorrow. Because tomorrow will always come, life keeps throwing its best at you. Enjoy the times of relief and then gather yourself when you feel the resistance. Do you ever look back and see how far you’ve come? Do you ever look at the “before and after” version of yourself? Meditate or journal your thoughts on this.
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9. Never discourage anyone who is making progress, not matter how slow. Especially yourself. It takes many attempts and many resources to get what you want. Progress is the right direction. It’s the journey. Stops and starts are normal. Even a few steps backwards is normal. Discouragement comes when you judge your progress or feel a lack of progress. Meditate or journal your thoughts on this.
11.We don’t control what happens to us. We can control how we respond.
12.Once you become fearless, life becomes limitless. You have skills, talents and gifts that are unique to you. You know what they are. You are in your comfort zone when you use these skills. You are more fearless in those moments. Now go ahead and sharpen not only your current skills but new ones. Notice feeling limitless when you are in the zone. Use this momentum to keep working on your goal. Meditate or journal your thoughts on this.
Start noticing how you respond to things. Would you like to take a different approach? Look at the cues like your thoughts and your physical cues. Do you clench your jaw or get ready for a conflict? Do you expect failure? Practice responding the way you want to, not the way you have been taught. It’s a process but it’s possible to get there sooner rather than later. Meditate or journal your thoughts on this.
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13.Someone out there is grateful that you exist. You make a difference in the lives and experiences of others. Many times you don’t even realize it. But somewhere there is someone who speaks your name with reverence! Isn’t it nice to know that your innate gifts and talents have a positive impact. It’s not ego to recognize this. It’s gratitude. Meditate or journal your thoughts on this. 14.If you wouldn’t take their advice, why would you take their criticism?
If they aren’t getting the results in their life that you want in yours, they probably aren’t someone to take advice from. Unless you are a glutton for criticism, hard pass. You don’t owe anything to anyone who criticizes you. There is no such thing as constructive criticism. It’s still criticism. There is feedback, which is helpful and then there is criticism, which is destructive. Feel the difference. Meditate or journal your thoughts on this.
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15.Setbacks often clear the path for greater growth. Didn’t get the job? Didn’t get picked for the team? Do you feel you lost out on an opportunity? Wait for it. Maybe the Universe is clearing your path for something better. Look for something better. Meditate or journal your thoughts on this.
16.Watch and learn from the calmest person in the room. Why are they so calm? What do they know? Calmness often comes from experience. Experience creates patience. Patient people tend to make fewer mistakes. Watch and learn from that person. Meditate or journal your thoughts on this.
18.The ability to observe without evaluating is the highest form of intelligence. Remain curious. You’ll learn more. Snap judgments will rob you of this gift. Stop yourself when you feel the judgment sneaking in. Practice withholding judgment and instead remain curious. Practice this and observe your results. It’s fascinating. Meditate or journal your thoughts on this.
Overthinking means your mind is overloaded. Writing is a great way to move it out of your head. So is exercise. On the other hand, feeling blank and searching for ideas could mean your mind needs to be fed. Read something of value, something stimulating. Meditate or journal your thoughts on this.
17.Overthinking? Write it out. Underthinking? Read. It fills your mind.
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20.Live as if this is all there is.
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Don’t forget to appreciate all that you have, the quality of your relationships, the closeness of your friendships, the depth of your inner peace, your skill level at your chosen vocation and so many other details of your life. Gratitude fills in the gaps. Meditate or journal your thoughts on this.
Knowing how to think is the beginning of Critical Thinking Skills. It takes more discipline but brings much better results. Many problems are solved by asking Who? What? Where? Why? When? How? You will discover so much more than simply being told what to think. If you want to know yourself, think for yourself. Meditate or journal your thoughts on this.
19.Knowing how to think puts you beyond those who only know what to think.
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21.You are the thinker, not the thoughts. You don’t have much control over the first thought that pops into your head. But you have complete control over the second. Do your thoughts naturally reflect growth or defeat? Light or darkness? This is your chance to decide to control that. Meditate or journal your thoughts on this.
22.You are awesome even on your worst days. It may not feel like it. You may be confusing your ultimate value and worth as a person with your performance. Bad days come and go. Mistakes come and go. They are not a statement of your worth. Shake it off. You are awesome. Meditate or journal your thoughts on this.
People with stronger self esteem get over mistakes and setbacks quicker. Mistakes are a part of every life. Don’t focus on avoiding mistakes. Take time to learn from them without judgment. Move on. Meditate or journal your thoughts on this.
23.So you made a mistake. How long will it take you to bounce back?
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24.Cherish those people who challenge you to new ways of thinking and seeing life. Good teachers, parents, friends, and mentors are priceless. Learn from them. Then become one. Meditate or journal your thoughts on this.
26.It is ok to grow up and take full responsibility for your life, at any age. The process of maturing takes time. Wisdom takes a lifetime. These are earned by personal responsibility and accountability. Meditate or journal your thoughts on this.
25.If you want to reach a goal that you’ve never reached before, you must do things you’ve never done before. It will take a different way of thinking. It will take a new approach. It will require a different level of effort. Go for it! Meditate or journal your thoughts on this.
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27.It is ok to move beyond the limitations of others. You can still love and cherish them and still move ahead. Your journey is your own. Be true to yourself and never forget who helped get you there no matter their limitations.
Meditate or journal your thoughts on this.
Calming the nervous system balances both mind and body.
28.Find harmony in body and mind.
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Imbalance creates distress in every system. Your best performance happens when all your energies are aligned.
Meditate or journal your thoughts on this.
Find a problem. Figure out how to solve it. Document the steps. Repeat on the next problem. Hint: ask questions, be observant, ask for help, risk mistakes, use every resource you can find, don’t give up. Meditate or journal your thoughts on this.
29.All that matters now is that you be good to yourself. People who are gentle and kind to themselves tend to be good to others. It generates positive regard for self and others. Pass it on. Meditate or journal your thoughts on this.
30.Create a template for solving problems.
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star; anything
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5. Take a deep breathe. 6. Go back to the 0 10 scale. Now what is the number?
Using a scale from 0 10, find your level of stress right now in this moment. Give it a number. The first number that comes to your mind is accurate. these steps in order: Breathe deep. Hold your breath. Exhale breathe forcefully. Repeat. Happy little that is short and Repeat.
birthday or twinkle, twinkle
Do
2. Hum a short tune such as
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easy. No words, just hum the tune. 3. Count 1,2,3,4,5. Now count backwards 5,4,3,2,1. 4. Without moving your head, move your eyes and look up, look down, look left, look right.
How much did it reduce? Notice a shift in energy?
Your mind is now clearer and your body is calmer.
What is the science behind this technique?
feels great. Notice how the tingly anxiety leaves with each forceful exhale. This step alone is powerful. Practice is anytime you feel anxious.
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Humming uses the right hemisphere of your brain. Counting uses the left hemisphere of your brain. Eye movements to each quadrant integrate the left and right sides of the brain for whole brain activity and focus.
Breathing stimulates every organ in your body. Filling your lungs deeply with oxygen, calms the limbic system in your brain and expands all of your organs. It’s like an internal Exhalingmassage.forcefully
