Your Focus Determines Your Feelings

by Dr. Andrew T. Brady, Chiropractic Physician

We all know people who are constantly sharing their diagnoses and health problems with everyone they talk to, almost as if their illness is what defines them as a person and often is the excuse as to why they can or cannot achieve something. These people tend to focus on the health problems they have rather than the solutions for achieving health and healing. What most people don’t realize is that what you choose to focus on will determine the feelings you have or experience. Let me give you an example.

I had a patient who suffered from anxiety for years. He had weekly panic attacks and felt that it was getting worse and worse. It was starting to impact his social life and his career because every time he was in a meeting or out with friends, he wasn’t able to be fully present with people. Now, I am no psychologist, but I do know that what you focus your thoughts on will determine how you feel. I asked him if he has any routine thoughts – good or bad – that he focuses on. He sat for a minute and said well, yes, there is. He said that for some reason, he is always thinking that he’s going to drop dead of a heart attack, and when this thought comes up, he focuses on this and actually believes he may have a heart attack. The more he thinks about it, the more anxious he feels.

This patient was spending the majority of his days, weeks, and years focusing on having a heart attack. You can probably see why he was having anxiety and panic attacks; he had literally convinced himself that he was going to die suddenly on a daily basis! Instead, he began focusing his thoughts on something that brought him feelings of joy and gratitude, because it’s impossible to feel stress, fear, and anxiety at the same time as feeling joy and gratitude. With daily repetition, his anxiety and panic attacks went away, and he eventually got his life back.

I think I can say with confidence that everyone wants to feel good. If you are someone who deals with stress, worry, fear, anxiety, and feels a lack of energy and passion, try changing your focus and thoughts! Refuse to remain in the realm of negative thoughts by cultivating an attitude of gratitude. Change your thoughts, change your life.

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