Are you herding cats?

I love cats, I love dogs, rabbits, gerbils, anything that is even slightly cute!  We all know cats have minds of their own, they do things on their own terms and their sense of self worth is really high.  As I see on Facebook memes - dogs have family, cats have staff!

Are your to do list and your thoughts about your life like a herd of cats?  Wandering off by themselves with no regard for you?  I felt like that last week, everything I needed to do seemed to have a downside and I kept focusing on that.  It is so unlike me but my energy level was low and that is what happens when your energy is low.

When you look at your life, and the times that were not going well, with real clear discernment, you can always see that those times were when your energy was low.  Unfortunately, it is a self fulfilling prophecy.  You have low energy so you react badly to things, this leads you to talk negatively to yourself which lowers your energy yet again.  It is easy to get to a point where you don't want to help yourself.

Whatever you choose to do, do it with intention.  If you choose to stop everything and sleep, which often feels like the best plan when your energy is low, make sure you do it happily.  Don't lie down and spend the time thinking about what your mind tells you that you should be doing.  Take the time, enjoy the rest but set at time that you get back up.  My best way to do this is to have a huge glass of water before I go to rest and then I physically have to get back up to go to the bathroom!

So what is the best way to herd those random thoughts?  This is the point where you look at your body as a blessing.  No matter what it looks like, how you feel about it, without it we would not be here.  It also gives you a wonderful opportunity to get your thoughts in line.  If you find yourself in a negative spiral of thinking or just "simple" overwhelm, stop and rub two finger tips together.  It really is that simple.  Focusing on your body, stops the thoughts wandering off by themselves!

Focus on the feeling of the ridges of your fingers rubbing against each other.  Command your mind to stay focused on this.  When it wanders, bring it back.  Yes, this is really simple, but it is scientifically proven to help, believe it or not!