Filtering toxic thoughts and re-centering yourself

The Poisoned Tree is an old fable that shares the story of three men who come across a poisonous tree.

Worried that the tree might be a threat to others, the first man says: Let’s destroy it before eating its poisonous fruits.

The second man questions the necessity of cutting down a tree. Instead, he proposes building a fence around it so nobody is poisoned.

The third man offers another insight: “Oh, a poisonous tree, perfect! Just what I was looking for, I’ll gather it’s fruit and use it to prepare medicines.”

This story offers a profound metaphor for filtering the poison of our judgments and thoughts about others.

The first step to processing toxic thoughts begins with awareness. Acknowledging the existence of any judgments towards someone, enables you to view them objectively and perhaps even separate yourself from those thoughts.

The next and harder part involves assuming unconditional responsibility. We don’t always get to choose the thoughts that enter our heads but we certainly have a choice in how we communicate those thoughts. Real courage is asking: “How am I contributing to this unhealthy dynamic? What mistakes and assumptions have I made?”

The beauty of engaging in this level of self-reflection is that it takes away the emotional charge and facilitates better understanding and compassion.

All of this facilitates mutual understanding. Clearing judgments and personal interpretations creates neutrality and receptivity for understanding someone else’s perspective.

Being open enough to explore one’s thoughts while understanding others better, is key to transforming poisonous judgments into constructive conversations.

Using breath to recenter yourself

Contrary to what we like to believe, life isn’t meant to be on an upward roll.

It’s how we choose to respond to difficult times. It’s about expanding through a series of inhales and exhales.

Learning how to self-regulate is medicine for navigating through adversity.

When dealing with a bad day or a difficult moment, just:

Here’s a process called The breath of Life..

Inhale for 7 seconds
Hold it for 3 seconds
Breathe out, into your heart.

Once you get a gist of this, to make it more powerful add these affirmations to each round of inhale-exhale:

💜I love myself
💜I trust myself
💜I honour myself
💜I value myself

When having a bad day, remember you have this process to bring yourself back to your center.

10 picks from 100 episodes of my podcast

Recently I hit 100 episodes of my podcast, Becoming an Epic Being.

It’s been a hard choice to pick these 10 episodes but if you’re a newbie to it, this would be a good place to start.

Whether you’re keen to:

👉🏻Upgrade your mindset
👉🏻Build better habits
👉🏻Ace your relationships or.
👉🏻Become more abundant.

The podcast has something for everyone.

Before you lose your mind in trying to hunt down each of these 10 episodes, I created a list for you.

In case you missed me last week…

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