I have been reading a lot of articles on how to change your focus, and so far they all seem to have missed the most important point. And that is, if you are going to redirect your thoughts – it’s very important to direct them towards something that you enjoy thinking about, something that you find pleasure in contemplating.

So many of these “self help gurus” get really invested in telling us that we should be focusing on the “good.” Well, OK, I can agree with that, but I also think that the “good” has to be interesting, it has to be true, it has to be pleasurable, it has to be seductive to the mind. Because if it isn’t any one of those things, you’ll meet an inner resistance and it will all be for nothing.

So, for example, if you are constantly finding yourself focusing on “I don’t have enough money.” It’s not going to be very helpful to say to yourself “The Universe provides for my every need.” or “I have enough money for today.” or other so called positive statements. It’s not going to be helpful unless you really believe it’s true. And if you really believe those statements to be true, probably you aren’t spending most of your day telling yourself that you don’t have enough money.

Here are some ideas for how to refocus that thought:

•  My daughter has been switching her “I need more money” mantra  to “I want more money.” This makes her feel more “in control” and less needy. So far, it’s working for her.
• “I love my money.” I’ve been using this one a lot. I think about how fun it is to have dollar bills in my hand, and I imagine myself petting them, and kissing them. It sounds really silly, and so it makes me smile because I know it is silly. And now I’m smiling instead of whining.
• Changing the subject altogether. This is a good one. Just bring something completely different into your mind. For me, this usually consists of ideas about my website. But it could be anything, something funny that happened, something interesting that you read or heard.
• Distract yourself with a mind game. For example “If I was an animal / plant / vegetable / etc what kind would I be?” And then extend the game to your family, friends, co workers, people on the street… etc..
• Imagine wild scenarios. Here is another thing I do to distract myself from too much negative mind chatter. I start imagining “Boom! and then the crazy mean dog I’m bathing exploded into a shower of butterflies and diamonds.” or “Holy Moly! Everything suddenly just turned yellow! WTF?”

Just because it works for me, doesn’t mean it will work for you. Spend some time today coming up with your own ideas for alternative thoughts when your mind chatter goes south. Just remember, whatever you use to refocus your thoughts and redirect your attention, it must be something that feels good to think about. If it doesn’t feel good to think about it – find something that does.