“When you run after your thoughts, you are like a dog chasing a stick; every time a stick is thrown, you run after it. Instead be like a lion who, rather than chasing after the stick, turns to face the thrower. One only throws a stick at a lion once.” ~ Milarepa

I must thank Arianna Huffington for this powerful quote that she recently posted from Thrive Global. This quote could single-handedly sum up my coaching practice. We listen to far more thoughts in our head than we should. And just because our mind says it, doesn’t mean it’s right or true!

If our mind says, “Don’t walk down this scary, dark alley at midnight,” we should listen. But more often than not, our mind says things less helpful like, “Don’t switch jobs even though you hate this one; the other one could be worse, ” or “I’m not good/smart enough?” This inner-critic comes up with some real (often untrue) beauties and we can choose to be the dog or the lion.

So who will you chose to be? It’s as simple as Milarepa declared; we can chase our thoughts like the dog or we can look straight at them with the fierce intensity of the lion and decide, “Is this thought good and true for me?” Look, I love dogs, but in this case, I want to be the lion. How about you?

With Gratitude,
Beth