The Power of Your Hula Hoop

In the last blog, I shared an acronym C.L.A.R.I.F.Y. that I created to help you remember important keys to positive mental health.

C.L.A.R.I.F.Y

C = CLEAR YOUR MIND / RENEW YOUR THINKING

L = LISTEN = LISTEN TO YOURSELF.

This week we are going to talk about the A in CLARIFY

A = ACCEPT yourself and Align Your thoughts and your behavior

Aligning your thoughts and your behavior means to do the things that you can do, that are in your hula hoop - your circle of responsibility to do.

Imagine that you have an invisible hula hoop around you at all times. Your hula hoop is your healthy boundary, it keeps good stuff in and bad stuff out.

I use this imaginary hula hoop along with the serenity prayer.

Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity,

to accept the things I cannot change

Those are things OUTSIDE of your hula hoop

The courage to change the things I can

Those are things that are INSIDE your hula hoop

And the wisdom to know the difference.

Knowing the difference between what you can change and what you can't, will help you align your behavior and accept some things in your life.

It will help you to manage yourself better, after all:

Whose behavior can you control?

Only Your own.

You can influence other people, and you can suggest things, but you cannot control others.

You may be able to control your children, until they get to be about age 4, when they recognize they have a free will. It might even be younger than that, but let’s go with age 4.

The point is, the only person that you can control is you. But most people become so agitated, irritated and despondent because they can’t control the others in their lives, like:

• Spouses,

• Co-workers

• Bosses

• Family members

But all of those people are OUTSIDE of your hula hoop

Keep this in mind today – muster the courage to do things in YOUR hula hoop that will align your behavior with your values and accept the things you cannot change.