(This is blog six in a series of eight, taken from Lesson 5, “Discover Your One-of-a-Kind Genius Zone and Set Your Current Top Life Goals” in Happy School, Where Women Learn the Secrets to Overcome Discouragement and Worry. You can access all 8 blogs in Lesson 5 HERE at JulieNGordon.com.)

I talked to a lovely 40-year-old woman this morning. She is balancing middle-schoolers, a household, and a job. Over the years, she has repeatedly told me that her main stress, her main WMD (What’s Missing and Disappointing) is an unwanted issue with her health and it still occupies much of her thinking. 

If you will carefully listen to the Parade that Marches Across your Brain when you are upset, discouraged, or annoyed, you will always hear a WMD that you were just thinking about. You must learn to recognize when you are thinking about a WMD. And as you now know, you do this by listening in to your own self-talk. 

My friend said to me, “Negative thoughts about my health issues are trying to bury me. I am doing everything I can to overcome my problem: praying diligently over it, trying to research answers, and talking to multiple doctors and health professionals who might help me. But after I’ve done all that, I know I need to quarantine my negative thoughts about my health and instead, think about my goals and purpose.” (Then she listed a couple things that she was excited about). 

I almost shouted, “Hurray!” as almost every time I’ve talked to her for the last few years, she has repeatedly dwelled on her health issues. (I do get this as health issues can appear to be overwhelming.) I said, “Wow, that is such growth for you. You are fighting the incessant discouragement of your health issues (her WMD). You are winning by knowing that you’re doing everything you can to fix them, but then after that, quarantining those disappointing thoughts by Moving into Another Room. Bravo for you!” 

You’ve got deep neural pathways that try to pull you back down into ruminating about your WMDs. Now that you’re listening to your self-talk, you will be able to hear it more and more. After Lesson 5 in Happy School, hopefully you will have identified your Genius Zone so you’ll always have a predictable, productive, helpful Room to Move Into (but making a grocery list works, too). (For more on finding your Genius Zone, click HERE.)

Quarantining your WMDs and then actively engaging in your Genius Zone will truly change the emotional landscape you live in. You will love having this secret to pull you out of even the darkest discouragement. You must have a Room to Move into and nothing is better than the room of your Genius Zone and calling.  

Blog #7 out of 8 is next and is entitled Achieve Mastery in Your Genius Zone. You can access all 8 blogs in this series HERE at JulieNGordon.com.

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