Ever feel a little “poodley”? Or what about “moodily”? Maybe “gloomily”? Or even “wootily”?
On this week’s episode of Unleashing YOUR Great Work, Dr. Amanda Crowell discusses the one thing that predicts whether or not we do Great Work: our own minds.
What if you could change your thoughts and operate in a completely different world?
Using the “Cognitive Behavioral Model” as a starting point, Dr. Crowell explains how our thoughts create our feelings, and so, if we change our thoughts, we can change our feelings and, therefore, our lives. Building on this, she then explains how she’s grown her understanding of this to a more nuanced mix of feelings she has named gloomily, moodily, poodley, and wootily.
Have you ever heard the term “change your thoughts, change your life?”
Well, let me start by saying that I AGREE. If you change your thoughts, you will unequivocally change your life.
I sometimes find that people simplify this term into “change all your thoughts to ‘good’ thoughts and then you can have a ‘good’ life.”
This, I take issue with.
Life is not meant to be good- it’s not OK to see something messed up and then ignore it or shame yourself for noticing it for what it IS.
Instead, I wanted a better way to characterize my thoughts. I wanted a way that shared a nuanced and honest reflection of how I really felt.
Introducing The Moodles – four common feelings that TOGETHER reflect how I feel about things. Once I’ve noticed the balance of these feelings then I can decide whether I want to adjust my thinking to adjust my balance of feelings.
For example, today I feel 20% moodily, 50% poodley and 30% wootily, which, honestly is a pretty great day!
Am I a positivity robot? Nope. Do I need to be? No, I do not.
However, if I feel 80% moodily with 20% gloomily, then I want to look at how I might move towards poodley and bring back some wootily.
If this sounds a little nutty, you are right! But it gives me a way to be more nuanced about which thoughts I want to change, so I can change the balance of my feelings.
This feels MUCH better to me.
Do any of these resonate with YOU? Learn more on this week’s episode of Unleashing YOUR Great Work Podcast.
Join us as we discuss:
01:40 If you change your thoughts, you can change your life.
03:02 Reasons you’re not doing what you say you’ll do.
04:59 You can find something interesting about almost everything. If you want to do something, and you don’t currently have an interest in it, you can build that interest.
06:21 Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Model – Another way to talk about changing your mind with the purpose of changing your life.
08:57 It’s the thought that created the feeling, not the circumstance.
11:18 What happens in your mind is what creates your lived experience of it, and you could choose a different lived experience.
13:36 The thing that kept you from fully embracing the idea of “creating your lived experience” is the thoughts and feelings of having not been good enough.
15:32 The Standard Cognitive Distortions – Ways that our mind has a tendency to react in less effective, efficient ways.
17:40 Allows an experience to bring up more than one kind of thought, resulting in more than one kind of emotion.
23:02 Do not change your thoughts from one to another, but instead change the balance of thoughts.
