I am more and more fascinated by matters of “mindset” and how our thinking and beliefs shape our experience. They seem to determine what we call “reality”.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
A woman on a podcast said her therapist had suggested the following habit to overcome social anxiety:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
Just before you begin any interaction with another person – a family member, a co-worker, or a stranger at a cash register – silently think to yourself, “I love you.”<\/p>\n\n\n
When I heard that, I paused the podcast. Could making this simple thought into a habit influence a person’s relationships and interactions in a significant way?<\/p>\n\n\n
It seems weird and quirky, but I think it could have a profound impact.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
There is a powerful urge in our minds towards consistency. We don’t like to be hypocrites. So if I tell myself that I love that frustrating co-worker, I am more likely to act in a loving way, whatever direction our conversation takes. And if I tell myself that I love that stranger in Walmart, I am much less likely to treat him as an object in my way.<\/p>\n\n\n
I am guessing that mentally reciting “I love you” might take a lot of practice to become a habit, but I am going to give it a try.<\/p>\n\n\n
“Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
Anything that could help me keep the 2nd greatest commandment is worth an effort.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I am more and more fascinated by matters of “mindset” and how our thinking and beliefs shape our experience. They seem to determine what we call “reality”.\u00a0 A woman on a podcast said her therapist had suggested the following habit to overcome social anxiety:\u00a0 Just before you begin any interaction with another person – a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8190"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8190\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8191,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8190\/revisions\/8191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}