Now that we’re well established in the practice of watching our minds, it’s fun and interesting to notice the thoughts that happen automatically. Some pathways run deep. Changing thought patterns takes time and effort. The first step is to notice. As we become more rehearsed at paying attention to our own thoughts, we can notice them like a cloud floating by. You can watch the thought enter your mind, pay attention to it, and then decide if it’s a thought you want to keep or allow to keep passing by. 

When we get better at watching our thoughts, and recognize how they affect our feelings, that gives us power over how we feel about ourselves. 

I’m going to talk about a specific pattern many people have. Comparison. 

I often hear things like “I’m not as fast” or “I’m not as strong”. You might even hear “my struggles aren’t as big as theirs so I shouldn’t feel as bad as I do.” 

Everyone has a different life journey. Different struggles. Different strengths. Different awesomeness! 

When we notice ourselves watching these thoughts of comparison, it’s important to recognize where we are in our own journey. And acknowledge that everyone else is in a different place in their journey. 

When we scroll through social media, walk into the gym, or see people on the race course, we see them as they are right now in their current place. What we don’t see is what things brought them to this current place. We don’t see their struggles, their pain, their successes, their failures. We don’t know how hard they fought to get where they are. 

One of the most poignant things I ever learned was as a “regular” competitive runner, I believed that the elites had it easy, that running is effortless for them because they were “born with it.” Then, while looking for inspiration, I read several race reports and books by different elite marathoners sharing their experiences of struggles. Elite runners experience feelings of self doubt, fatigue in their muscles, or worry that they won’t be able to finish the race. They feel elated about their success and devastated about their failure. Just like me. 

Then I started realizing that I might also have things about me that other people admire and compare themselves to. And so do those people. And so on. Everyone, every single person on the planet has a journey that brought them to the place they are now. Everyone has unique things about themselves that are awesome. That people admire and look up to. Everyone. 

But it’s not about having things that other people wish they had. It’s not about anyone else. It’s about you. It’s about noticing, recognizing and owning your journey and all the parts that came together to bring you to this place. That is awesome. You are your own special brand of awesome. It’s time for you to start admiring yourself and your own awesome. You can have your awesome and your friends can have their awesome and we can all celebrate each other’s success and when that happens it’s magic! Awesome starts multiplying itself when we love and accept our own awesome. 

Isn’t that awesome?!