Tired of feeling irritated so much? Well your life is about to get a whole lot better because I've got 5 quick ways for you to stop being irritated so much.
First off, you are never wrong about how you feel. How you feel is 100% consistent with the way your own mind is engaging in some very specific psychological processes that I could explain to you. But that is not the purpose of our conversation. Let's just cut to the chase. One of the things you get to do is stop blaming other people for how you feel. Realize that your feelings are based on how you personally are perceiving and processing the information that comes into you through your world. It's really easy to blame other people for how we feel especially if they are being irritating. “Of course, I'm going to feel irritated.” Or not. What if it were a choice? What if it were a choice to be irritated or to not be irritated? Which one would you choose? Now, you might have some resistance to that because it's like, “Well, they're being irritating.” Yeah, but you still have a choice as to whether you are going to be irritated. So, while we're on that issue of choice, let's take a look at what our choices are.
In the first tip as we connect with your thinking that is causing the feeling. It isn’t necessarily something outside of ourselves. Ask yourself if you have any choice or control over your own thinking? What would be an alternative to what I am thinking now? What if you could choose a different response?
That's the second of these 5 tips, and this is powerful. What if you could choose for example instead of being irritated to be amused. Could you do that? I think you probably could. I was having a conversation with my wife, Vicki and she asked me, “Aren't you irritated by this person?” And I said, “No, Actually, I'm quite amused.” I had chosen that response as an alternative. What if you could do the same? Choose to be amused or entertained. Just thinking that changes how you show up in the interaction.
Picture the person that irritates or annoys you. You know who it is. Picture having an encounter with that person right after you are done reading this blog. What would it be like for you to go into that interaction expecting to be entertained by their antics? Wow, that opens up some possibilities. Choice is so powerful because until you see it as a choice, it's not. And your brain will simply roll with whatever it's already conditioned and programmed to do. Choose a different response.
A certain percentage of you who are reading this are doing so because of a co-worker or a boss. It's in the work setting where you are feeling irritated and annoyed. If that is you or even if it's not, just consider this tip: Think about what you are getting paid to do your job. And let's just pick an arbitrary number. Let's say you're getting 50,000 apples to do this job. That's your compensation. You get a big old box full of apples as your salary. Now, let's change it up. Let's say that instead of 50,000 apples, you're only getting 20,000 apples. How would you feel about that? Oh, that wouldn't feel so good. I used to be getting 50,000 now you're telling me I'm getting 20,000. That's worse, right? So, you don't really want to work for 20,000 apples. But 50,000 sounds good. So, what if your employer were to tell you this: “Okay, we are only going to pay you 20,000 apples to do the job that we're hiring you to do. We are in the position to offer you an additional 30,000 apples if you will simply put up with that co-worker, that boss that irritates and annoys you. Over half of your salary is simply to work with that person. You're getting paid to do this. Does that change things for you? You're not going to feel nearly as irritated and annoyed if you are getting paid to do it. How do you know that that's not the case? What if your salary at least half, maybe more than half of your salary, is simply for you to put up with this thing? See what that changes in your mind.
Irritability is driven by a lot of factors. And this next tip has to do with things that have nothing to do with the person who's irritating or annoying you. Let's get down to some of the root principles behind this. Your irritability is partially driven by your physiology. So, this tip has to do with taking care of your body including your brain. Remember, your brain is part of your body. There are 4 sub steps to this one. Get enough sleep and you know if you are or if you're not. Sleep is an important way to maintain the equipment. And you'll find that if you're sleep-deprived, you're much more irritable. You're more easily annoyed. Well, that's because you're a human. So, get enough sleep. Next, get regular exercise. And most of the study I've seen on this suggest that you need to be getting a good aerobic workout 3 to 5 times a week for about 30 minutes. Get the heart rate up, get the blood pumping. Nice aerobic exercise. That's another way to manage your irritability. Number 3, eat a balanced diet. Taking some healthy fuel because that affects how you feel and therefore your irritability. And number 4, regular periods of prayer, meditation, mindfulness, centering. However you choose to do this, it's important for you to have some clearing of the space. And some of the ways that I mentioned to you are the most common ways that people practice that. Those four sub steps are what we call brain maintenance and it's going to help you be less irritable.
The last tip that I have for you today is to get good at positivity. What a surprise coming from Mr. Positivity. I love this topic because of the power that it gives you… And this is not a trite-fluffy-just think-positive sort of video. I'm talking about the science behind positivity. Get good at the processes that make up what I call positivity. Positivity changes everything because it changes your position or your attitude about whatever's going on in your life. Irritability is driven by a particular attitude about someone or something. And as you apply these 5 tips, I think you're going to get on top of this irritability.
I'm not going to leave you hanging about how to get good at positivity. You can sign up for my Positivity Power-Up course at www.Drpauljenkins.com. You can also schedule a session at www.drpauljenkins.com/breakthroughcall with one of our Live On Purpose Coaches.