workplaceissues.com Monday Motivating Moment: Let it Go!

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Monday Motivating Moment

May 5, 2008

Your Weekly Attitude Booster

"Let it Go!"

Few things will thwart our peace of mind, happiness, and success more than being emotionally chained to past situations and events in our lives.

Tanya can't let go of anger at an old high school boyfriend because he betrayed her. She expects the same kind of behavior from every man she has met since that time and interestingly enough, she attracts non-faithful and immature men into her life.

Sean continues to be angry with his former wife and will tell anyone who will listen about what she did to him. Needless to say, his friends and acquaintances are worn out listening to the same stories over and over again.

Chelise had a bad experience with her previous boss and has brought the unresolved anger into her new workplace. Her distrust of authority figures has impacted her relationships with peers and supervisors in her new workplace.

What do these people, and many others, have in common? They are hanging onto grudges. They are emotionally handcuffed to the very people who they perceive have wronged them. At some point in time, the lesson from any situation must be extracted and the experience tossed aside.

It is extremely difficult to move on with our lives when we make the choice - and yes, it is a choice - to keep playing the same old tapes over and over again in our minds and experiencing the same negative emotions. Why do we do that? One answer might be that we are getting something from feeling the same pain again or repeating our "Somebody has done me wrong" songs. Perhaps we need to feel like a victim, perhaps we need the attention, or perhaps it has become a habit to share our stories with others.

Regardless of the reason, our choices can be counterproductive. So what do we do?

Stop playing the old, negative mental tapes. As soon as your mind starts playing them, switch tapes- look for and play your tapes of newer and more positive experiences.
Refuse to be held prisoner by negative experiences. This requires making a choice and being disciplined enough to stop entertaining your negative thoughts.
Keep the lesson and throw away the experience. Many events in our lives are designed to get our attention in order that we might correct our course. If we continue to focus on the event, we may miss the clue inside the event that may be an important life changing clue.
Refuse to be a victim. It is difficult to feel power-filled when we perceive ourselves as helpless over situations.
Be gentle with yourself. When you slip back into old behavior patterns, or when the old tapes begin to play again-simply issue the command "stop" and then congratulate yourself for recognizing and interrupting the self defeating pattern.

Affirmation for the Week:

“I monitor my thoughts and evict the unwanted intruders that hold me prisoner to unhealthy patterns. I will stop the mental thief that robs me of my peace of mind and happiness.”

Have an awareness filled week!

Mary Rau-Foster,

Copyright 2008 by Mary Rau-Foster. All rights reserved.
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Read the previous issue - “It Is Not What We Say, It Is How We Say It”

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