Mental Health 101 reminder…

You cannot control the future.  You just can’t.  At first, my client went into some strong “triple d.”  He didn’t want to hear that he can’t control the future.  He didn’t want to hear that he cannot control his Dad.  He didn’t want to hear that he cannot control his bride or his children either.  He didn’t like the idea that he couldn’t control me.

You see, my client, is very much like me.  Funny, huh?

He wants control.  He can’t stand the feeling of being under someone else’s thumb.  He is a border line control freak.  Aren’t we all?

Here’s what you I can control.  We can control this moment.  We can choose how we respond to our Dad, our children, our bride, and our builder.  We can choose in the moment.  We cannot choose now how we will respond in the future.  We cannot choose now, how we incorporate them back into our system at some future time. We just can’t.  Can you control anything or anyone?  Can you control anything in the future?

Why are so many of us, then, so bent on trying?

The answer is that we’re nuts.  We’re not mentally healthy.  FACT.

Mental Health 101, remember, is focusing on the one thing you can control.  Do NOT miss this.  This is HUGE.  You control you, period.  You control you, right now, period.  You cannot control you in the future.  You just can’t.  FACT.

So, why do so many spend so many hours worrying about how they’ll react to something or someone in the future?  I don’t know.  I really don’t.  But something tells me it’s got a lot to do with what they believe.

They must believe that by getting anxious, super stressed, wound up like a ball of twine, and worrying like a banchee that it will make it all better.  Funny, huh.

Today, right this moment,  focus on what you can control.  Practice self control by practicing thought control.  Practice thought control by catching your mind going into the future and pulling back into the moment.  Practice slowing down.  Practice choosing to ACT your way forward.  Practice ACTing in really small baby steps.  Practice ACTing in the direction that you’ve authored.  AND, slowly you will begin to see that mental health 101 really works.  Slowly you will begin to see that ACTION is the antidote to your anxiety.  Very cool.

I’m off…

This moment is meant for me to ACT.