
I have been a busy bee this week meeting with lovely people, having some fab conversations and supporting my clients.
Not every week, or every day, feels like this. Life has it's ups and downs. What I've noticed is that it's easy to get stuck in the downs and focus too much on what I call "the awfulness of now".
My secret weapon to shift this stuck state and shift my energy is to ask myself:
What would I rather have instead?
This questions allows me to flip my low mood or frustrations and focus on what I want to bring into my life. It's a genuinely open question - there aren't any restrictions or limits so I'm free to call in whatever feels good or helpful, without worrying about "how" those things will happen.
And the magical part?
Thinking in this way taps into your reticular activating system. This is a clever piece of brain wiring that enables you to notice more of what you focus on and reinforces your thought processes.
Our brains are incredibly complex. We can sift through billions of bits of data at any given time. The Reticular Activating System or RAS, for short, is a bundle of nerves at our brainstem that filters out unnecessary information so the important stuff gets through.
Your RAS is the reason that:
when you learn a new word, you then start hearing it everywhere.
you can tune out a crowd full of talking people, yet immediately snap to attention when someone says your name or something that at least sounds like it.
if you’ve seen a new car in a particular colour you like, you keep seeing that make of car or that colour everywhere.
Your RAS takes what you focus on and creates a filter for it. It then sifts through the thousands of pieces of sensory information that you encounter every day, processes it as data and presents only the pieces that are important to you.
All of this happens without you noticing, of course. The RAS programs itself to work in your favour without you actively doing anything.
How awesome is that?!
Your RAS helps you see what you want to see and in doing so, influences your actions.
I believe that you can make use of your RAS by taking your subconscious thoughts and marrying them to your conscious thoughts. I call this positive thought based intention setting.
Some of you may be familiar with the Law of Attraction work - there is a great deal of cross over with the concept of:
Focusing on the bad things and invites negativity into your life.
Focusing on the good things and brings in the energy you are seeking, they will come to you because your brain is seeking them out.
It’s not magic, it’s your Reticular Activating System influencing the world around you.
You can harness the power of your RAS every time that you focus in on the question: What would I rather have instead?
I know from my own experience, and that of working with clients, that using your RAS is an important part of regaining your energy. Taking the time to regularly focus your mind on what you WANT instead of focusing on what you HAVE reminds your brain about what is important to you and what isn't.
Your RAS helps you out. Your brain, your whole body for that matter, looks out for your best interests.
Your RAS filters through billions of pieces of sensory data so you can see and hear and be what you want to be.
Sounds kinda like superpower to me - why wouldn’t you tap into this?!
My challenge to you this week, should you choose to accept it, is to ask yourself at least once a day what would you rather have instead? and see where it takes you!

If you'd like to know more about how you can harness your RAS to regain your energy levels, get in touch!
I offer a 15 minute no obligation Discovery Call to find out more about what's going on for you and how things like this might just be what you are looking for.
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