Pay attention to thoughts you resist

Our overthinking, analytic mind doesn’t like some of our ideas.

The quiet ones. Whispers. Nudges.

It rejects them so quickly, they don’t make it into our conscious awareness.

We’re more likely to notice the resistance:

I can’t do that.

Not now.

That makes no sense.

No way.

But the quiet thoughts we reject can be the most powerful ones we ever have.

One summer, while sitting at my desk editing an article, with a window open to catch a late July breeze, this quietly popped into my head:

Go skydiving.

My analytic mind knee-jerked:

WHAT?? OH HELL NO! Not a chance. No. No. No. Not me. Not ever.

I felt like an alien had injected the idea into my brain. I’d never thought about anyone skydiving, much less me. I was terrified of heights.

I believed it would fade away if I ignored it.

But it badgered me. No matter what else I focused on, go skydiving was waiting for me. For an entire year.

I finally decided to do it.

Not because I wanted to. The thought terrified me to the marrow of my bones.

But it was the only way I could stop that damn voice in my head.

On a scorching day in late August, I did a tandem jump, hooked to a guy named Tim with a braided beard.

It blew my mind wide open. So much sky. So much air. So much adrenaline. I screamed myself hoarse.

I loved it.

I did one again a week later, hooked to a guy named Terry with a trim goatee. To make sure I loved the experience and not just the adrenaline.

Sky. Air. Less adrenaline, even more amazing.

I got licensed, bought gear, and made 1300+ jumps over the next 7 years.

It changed my life.

I understood why discontent had haunted me for decades. I’d been playing small when I was bigger and braver than I’d ever imagined.

4 months after I got my license, my chronically unhappy second husband left. He preferred me small.

Later, Terry of the goatee asked me out to dinner. After 15 years, we still shake our heads in wonder at our happiness together.

Learning to skydive is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Mentally, physically, and emotionally. I failed every training jump at least once.

But skydiving is also far and away the most fun I’ve ever had. A playground in the sky for big kids.

, I’m not saying you’ll jump out of planes.

But the thoughts you reject are beckoning you to new experiences.

What to do about it?

Start paying attention to immediately “nope”ing thoughts.

Notice when you NO, then backtrack to the idea you rejected. Become fully aware of it. As best you can, ask your analytic mind to take 5.

Imagine you’re doing it—what does that feel like in your body?

Then imagine not doing it—feel that in your body, too.

One will call you.