Here’s how you can use these three words to have a better life.
Years ago, when I was in graduate school, I learned about the Think Feel Act cycle. I’ve used it many times in my coaching and in my own life. And I’m excited to bring the concept to you.
We’ve talked about limiting beliefs, and core beliefs, that become a part of our personal image. You can see my blog on Limiting Beliefs in our list of blogs on my website. Opinions are, for the most part, thoughts that we don’t question. We just believe it, even if it’s harmful to us.
Transform with Think Act Feel
When you start practicing the Think, Feel, Act cycle, you’ll realize that it’s an excellent tool to change your thinking and create better outcomes in your life. Including getting rid of toxic limiting beliefs. It helps you understand how and why you feel the way you do.
Feel
The cycle of feelings is going on all the time inside of us. How many times do you react emotionally to a crying child, an adorable puppy, or a sad movie? It’s comfortable to touch our feelings when there is so much in the world that we love. And on another level, how many times do you quickly get angry, another feeling. How easy is it to feel irritated and angry when someone lets you down, cuts you off on the highway, tells you things you disagree with, and/or hurt your feelings? There’s the word. Feelings. They’re all feelings: anger and love and everything in between. Once you realize that your feelings are created by your thoughts, you can start sifting through what you want to keep on feeling and what you want to control. They are pretty harmless if we handle them.
- What thoughts are creating uneasy feelings?
- What range of emotions do you feel when you are happy?
- With this awareness, you can learn from both good and bad feelings and continue working on eliminating others.
- What can you do to control powerful feelings you don’t want to feel?
Act
Have you ever acted on something quickly and wished you hadn’t later? Maybe someone asked to borrow money from you, and you said “yes” without thinking? And regretted it later? Or you were angry at someone and shot off an email to them that you wished you could take back? Or how about this one, you saw a commercial on TV and acted on your feelings…you ordered that 12-piece cooking ware that you ended up paying on monthly for way too long and way too much. Yes, we can be motivated to act by how we are feeling. Transforming your life with Feel, Act, Think process prepares you for a calmer life.
- How often do you act without thinking?
- How often are these actions regretted?
- How often are quick and immediate actions the right decision?
- How can you re-learn your brain to step back from immediate actions?
Think
And what about thinking? It’s merely a sentence in your mind. And just because we think it may not be accurate or factual. We all have our own thoughts and may not concur or agree with the opinions of others. The fact that others will have a different view of the same situation happens all the time.
I said earlier that our thoughts are not us; they are just our thoughts. We can observe our own thinking like we’re watching from above. And when you do this, you’re being aware of what’s going on in your mind. And, yes, you can change it. But what you have to do first is recognize it. And once we realize our thoughts, we may find that they don’t serve us; and because we are now aware, we can use our own power to edit them for a more straightforward, stressless life.
- What is a thought you’ve had that created feelings you didn’t like?
- What feeling does this thought cause you?
- How do you behave when you feel this way?
- What is a better thought that creates a better feeling?
So, where do you stand? Are you ready to transform your life in the Think, Act, Feel process?
In the Think, Act, Feel cycle, where are you? Do you think before you act? Or do you feel immediately, then work on the feeling, and begin thinking after? Or do you act first? Then think and feel? Or act first and feel, think in that order?
Most people would say that thinking first is the right way. But there’s no right way. It’s all wrapped up in the circumstance of what’s going on around you. Our circumstances can’t control us, but they do have a part in how we act. And once you become aware of the cycle that helps us manage our behavior, and where each tenet of the process has its own circumstance, you can begin to weed out the way you don’t want to behave and the way you want to.