Today Can Be Whatever You Decide It Should Be
By: Mj Blehart
Tags: Self Improvement, Mental Health, Mindfulness, Personal Development, Life

Every single morning you have a choice. Face your day with trepidation, or excitement. Be enthusiastic, or lethargic. Look forward to what lies ahead, or dread what’s coming.

This is a choice. You might not always feel as if that’s the case, but it’s the truth. You get to choose how to begin your day, and where to take it from that point.

If you decide to approach your day from a negative perspective, chances are you will draw in a negative day. Conversely, if you begin your day from a positive approach, odds are you will draw in a positive day.

Yes, this is a generalization. A great many of the things you encounter on any given day are completely neutral. Neither good nor bad, they just are. However, if you are feeling down that will impact your overall experience.

This is why mindfulness matters as much as it does.

Awareness of your mindset is telling

When you are aware of what you are thinking and what and how you are feeling, you gain the power to influence and control them. Often, the basis of both thought and feeling is rooted in your subconscious. What that means is that everything you have encountered previously, as well as anticipation or anxiety about upcoming matters, will create your mood.

Mindfulness is a product of the now. Being aware of your thoughts and feelings, in the now, helps you to really know them, and work with them. A lot of the time, because you have routines and schedules to keep and errands to run, the day goes by with your thoughts and feelings driven subconsciously. When you do that, you actually lose mindfulness of what you are thinking and what and how you are feeling.

Without that present mindfulness, the past and future overwhelm the subconscious.

Why does being present in the now matter?

Last night, when I went to bed, a bunch of different things were running through my head. Concerns about my finances, my weight, and trying not to disappoint the people who care about me. When I woke up this morning I felt as if someone was sitting on my chest. Not a physical discomfort, it was a sinking feeling, an intangible dis-ease, and I just was not sure what to do with it.

I was thinking about disappointment, both from myself and those I care about. My feelings were down, low, a mix of unworthiness, concern, and other negative emotions. I found myself lamenting mistakes of the past and anxious about the future.

I have to make a choice here. Continue to allow my thoughts and feelings to run subconsciously outside of my influence and control…or stop, analyze what’s going on inside my head, and be present in the now.

Once I am present, I can explore what has caused me to think and feel this way. By bringing this to my consciousness, rather than leaving it in my subconscious, I am now aware, in the here-and-now, of what I am thinking and what and how I am feeling.

The why is not as important as the what and the how of the subconscious mindset, at least not immediately. Getting to the why in time, though, helps you understand the point of origin for such a mindset, and work to change that in the future.

The point of this is that I am no more or less worthy and deserving of choosing to have a good day than you are. I have a choice, and so do you. This can be a bit of a challenge, and it can be super uncomfortable — but it is utterly worth it.

Being present can make or break your day

When you allow your subconscious behind the wheel, it can and will take you to places you’d rather not visit. Shady neighborhoods, vast and empty deserts, and any other metaphor you can think of for an experience you’d like to avoid or not have at all. Because your subconscious is almost entirely based on a combination of past thoughts and future concerns, it has the potential to drive your new day into negative places.

Why? Because if you are anything like me when you are not present in the here-and-now, conscious of what you are thinking and what and how you are feeling, you tend to revisit past experiences and “what if?” future happenings.

Does this seem familiar? You look back at things you did in the past — maybe only yesterday — and feel disappointment, annoyance, embarrassment, or some other negative emotion related to a thing that happened, and worries about it. Then, with that worry, you feel anxious about making the same mistake again, or going forward making some new error or another experience that will go badly.

When your subconscious takes you there, THIS day, as in today, is affected.

Maybe you are fortunate enough to largely experience positive thoughts of the past and excitement for the future. That’s great if you can. I am looking to do that myself. The best way to do that is through mindfulness in the here and now.

As Lao Tzu said:

“If you are depressed you are living in the past. If you are anxious you are living in the future. If you are at peace you are living in the present.”

This is why being mindful of the here and now is so important to your day.