~ installment no.2 in Trying to Be a Better Me ~
- the subtle art of not giving a frick.
- choosing to occupy a positive mental mindset.
Along with choosing not to take things too seriously by simply ‘not giving a frick’, another way that I believe I can best care for my mental health is by making a conscious effort to occupy a positive mental mindset. This might be better phrased as ‘positive mental attitude’, purely because you can shorten it to PMA. But same thing.
Choosing to think within a positive frame of mind is closely linked to my previous blog post on consciously choosing to not give a frick, to choose to look at the lighter side of things, to laugh and to breathe and to let go of things that honestly do not matter in the grand scheme of things. And this is because both of these involve actively choosing to train your brain to look upwards and see the silver linings above that grey cloud you’re (temporarily) sitting in.
This is a gorgeous pic I took last week whilst exploring the uni area with a new pal. Was really happily surprised to find such lovely ‘green’ areas in the centre of the city. How lovely is the little heart shape the swan and goose are (unknowingly) making?! Positivity breeds more positivity! Made my heart smile for sure! ❤
I am really enjoying my new university and the transition has gone super smoothly, 99% of which I’m sure is due to me not setting myself expectations of how things should go and massively lowering anxiety by NOT GIVING A FRICK!! Going with the flow, along with due preparation, truly works! TELLING YOURSELF THAT YOU WON’T GIVE A FRICK TRULY WORKS, PEOPLE. Mind over matter; mind over mind; whatever, the subtle art of not giving a frick works wonders for me by putting things in perspective, because I tend to give things too much weight that simply don’t need to take up so much weight in my mind.
Ok, so, listen. The food and the thoughts that you feed your brain WILL strongly affect its function, so it only makes sense that you use this to your advantage!
Become your own alchemist of external energy.
You can’t prevent people or situations from hurting you, but you DO have control over your response and how you react to each situation. This is what makes you, you.
It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.
–Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore*
Wield the vibes of the world to best suit you as if you’re a freakin wizard!!
There’s this YouTube channel called Infinite Waters that I like to watch from time to time when I’m feeling a bit meditative and in need of a peaceful pick-me-up. The guy, Ralph, makes an AWESOME point in which he defines emotions as energy in motion.
Emotion = Energy in Motion.
Emotions are pretty much the most defining aspect that separates us living beings from inanimate objects. They also screw us over sometimes. In fact, I heard that our emotions are the LAST thing we should trust; don’t get mixed up between your emotions and your gut feeling. Follow your gut feeling. Don’t follow your emotions.
Emotions are beautiful. They make life so meaningful. But Emotion is temporary, kinetic, unreliable energy that will lead you astray if you follow it blindly.
Instead of being that daft, we can wield this temporary energy in a way that will benefit us and the world around us. It’s about finding perspective on a situation. And we wield temporary energy through the choices we make, through our responses to what happens to us (and through our actions – the energy that we put out into the world).
Today I almost left my empty coffee cup on the train because I couldn’t really be bothered to juggle it with holding my coat and my bag and my phone. But I caught the eye of an elderly gentleman sitting behind me as I stood up. I instantly felt bad about the action of leaving the cup behind. He probably wasn’t judging me about the cup at all; he might not have even seen the cup. But I took that cup with me and I put it in the bin, because A. it really wasn’t that hard to choose not to be lazy and not make someone else clean up after me and B. I honest-to-God believe that it’s the little things like that that allow us to put out good energy into the world!! Otherwise, I might’ve made someone feel negative energy if the only free seat had litter there! (Surely it isn’t just me who’s overly sensitive to minor things like that.)
Rambly anecdote aside, I should point out that using a disposable coffee cup was a really poor decision environmentally (blog post to come), especially as I do have a resuable plastic uni cup at home. I don’t usually bring it on outings; I’m not a coffee drinker and I just really felt like a hot chocolate whilst waiting for the train to arrive. It’s damn near impossible to be a perfect human being in this respect, but if we all at least try our best to think positively and act like a positive human, it will make the literal world of difference!
Sending all the positive, warm and content vibes your way today. ❤
*harry potter nerd alert. it’s still just too much fun to say his full name ok !!!
Charlie-Jo 