It seems to be a rarity these days but this headline actually filled me with a little optimism this week.
On reading it, I felt how refreshing it was to read some positive news around the future rather than the usual doom and gloom. it's
Obviously, it’s not all rosy but I thought about the parallels between my experience reading this headline and how I like to approach working in therapy.
Most people start therapy wanting something to change in their lives. Usually this out of necessity or reaching some sort of crisis point.
Given that we don’t have much (if any!) control of things other than our own bodies and actions, We’re the ones that need to do the changing.
Once on this journey of change, I have found that it's generally much more powerful and enticing to move towards something positive that fills us with hope rather than using fear as a motivating tool.
For example:
Why do you want to stop drinking/gambling/bingeing/using etc?
To stop feeling so bad?
Or
To have more energy and make more of your life?
Which one feels like more of a motivating factor when you ask yourself that question around an area in your life that you’d like to change?
If you can construct positive reasons to change, they tend to be easier to stick to and can increase motivation when the times get tough. You’ll be moving towards something that’s important to you and is personally valuable. This can be incredibly powerful.
If you use fear as a driver, when you get far enough away from your start point, the fear will drop and your desire to stick to any changes may dwindle. However if you’re moving towards something, it’s easier to adjust the goal to something else which will add to your life and broaden your horizons.
I hope that collectively we’re able to bring this powerful tool into the consciousness to help us develop behavioural change that will not only benefit us as individuals but the planet too. If we’re able to construct an imagined future where we’ll be living better lives, perhaps we’ll be more motivated to change. Let’s hope we don’t go too much further down the line on our treatment of the planet and we can collectively move towards a greener, kinder and more sustainable future.