Episode Transcript
Think meditation is hard? Do me a favor, take a slow deep breath in and now breathe out. Congratulations, you just meditated. Hi, I’m Krystal Jakosky, and this is Breathe In, Breathe Out: a Weekly Mindfulness and Meditation podcast for anyone ready to own their own shit and find a little peace while doing it.
Welcome back to Breathe In, Breathe Out. I'm Krystal Jakosky.
There has been this running theme lately. People have been asking this question. I've been getting it from different perspectives, different angles, family, friends, and podcast guests. It even comes up a couple of times in shows and random videos that I've watched and you know me. You've got to know me by now that if it's coming at me from so many different perspectives, I'm going to mull it over. I'm going to ponder it. I'm going to sit back and see what this message is that I really need to embody and breathe into. Hold on for a minute. The gist of this statement or the mood, the thinking, this theme that has been coming back over and over again is basically what you focus on grows. If I focus on my pain because I just stubbed my toe and it hurts like a mofo, it just seems more intense, all-encompassing, and overwhelming.
If I focus on trying not to cuss, I really want to cuss even more, and it's not until I decide that I'm going to put weight on that foot and I'm going to take a step forward and I'm focused on walking, that the pain subsides and I'm able to move forward. Things shifted. If you focus on joy, you're so excited, you're so happy, you're anticipating something that is coming and you are, if you're like me, who might be bouncing around a little bit, hopping from foot to foot cuz you're so excited about what's going to be making you feel that excitement, they feel that joy and it keeps growing, keeps getting bigger and bigger as you wait, multiplying, getting even more joy until that moment comes and it's so fun and so wonderful and you get to sit. The word is to enjoy "E N J O Y." But when I say enjoy, sometimes I think "I N J O Y" - I get to be in joy in that moment.
Waiting for it, waiting for something to happen just builds on that. I'm focused on it and it gets better. In the same aspect, if I focus on things that I don't have, I don't have time, and the more I think about it, I don't have time and more things get put on my plate and more and more things come up that I need to do. I don't have time and that wall keeps building and I get more and more frustrated because I'm focusing on the fact that I don't have time. It's a wall and it's holding me back. It's blocking me from experience, relief, and peace of having time, of knowing that I can accomplish whatever it is that is put before me. If I focus on growth and healing, it's unbelievably common that the more I focus on my own healing and my own growth opportunities are attracted to and thrown at me, and I have more and more opportunities to heal, to grow, to learn.
So if I say I'm ready and I want to learn and I need to focus on compassion, you bet your butt things are going to happen and I will learn compassion. I will learn patience. I will learn to understand. I will learn to heal because I'm focused on healing that spot, that needs it. If I'm focused on healing a shoulder injury, I might be doing physical therapy and going to doctors and icing it, doing everything that I can to heal that physical injury. In the same aspect, if I want to heal a childhood challenge, a childhood wound, if I focus on it, if I spend time on that, I spend time on understanding and finding the gift. In that moment, I'm focusing on the positive part of it, which grows instead of the challenging, difficult, overwhelming part of it, which continues to grow. Do you get this? What do you focus on?
Growth. Think about your last challenging encounter, boss, or partner. Maybe it was a friend or a complete stranger. This encounter left you upset and frustrated, and at that moment you just kept focusing on that issue. How annoying it was, how they were so wrong or maybe they pointed out where you were wrong, which does not sit well with any of us to know that we've done something incorrectly. So you focus on it, you mull it over, and it sits in your brain. You might have to talk to somebody about it because you're so irritated and upset. At what point did that anger subside? At what point did the upset begin to fade and diminish? Was it because you communicated to find a solution to the issue or maybe your attention was simply pulled to a different subject? Maybe you went to sleep thinking about it and you woke up with a completely different thought in your head and magically whatever, upset and frustration that happened earlier the previous day is somehow not as big of a deal because you're now focused on a new day, getting up and moving, getting ready, making coffee, breakfast, getting to work.
You're focused on all of those things, and so that upset and frustration are not as all-encompassing as it was before. I've really been playing with this concept and I hope that you take a moment and do the same thing because it's a little eye-opening. As long as I say I am tired and stressed, I am so overwhelmed, I am so weighed down by everything that's around me. I'm telling you everything is difficult because that's where I'm focusing. I can feel, literally feel the weight on my shoulders, pushing me down, holding me down. If I change that mental thought from I am so weighed down, I am so stressed, I am so overwhelmed. If I change that and say, How can I feel better? I'm feeling less stressed. I'm feeling encouraged. The focus has shifted to hope and the likeliness that things will absolutely. without a doubt improve.
Focusing on that shift means that healing and opportunity grow while the overwhelm and stress shrink away. As long as I say I can't do this, I see that block in front of me because I am focused on how I cannot achieve something, and yet when I say I can, I will. When I start focusing on how I am able to, it changes and I can find joy and excitement, and there's more hope that I actually can achieve whatever it is that I've decided that I can do. When you shift your focus, what you focus on changes, seriously, take a minute and think about it. What you focus on, where your mind dwells and ruminates is going to grow until it's all-encompassing. You have the power to change it. You have the power to shift it. You have the power to do something different, something new, and bring more joy and more peace into your life by simply focusing on something different. When you're lost, how can you be found? Find some direction When you're down, ask how you can pick yourself up, create a new movement, watch the shift, play with the idea, and I'd really love to know, maybe you put a little note in the comments and say what you decided to focus on and how things changed for you. I hope you enjoyed this little inspiration, this little tidbit. I really hope that you apply it and see where it takes you and we'll see you next week here on Breathing. Breathe Out.
I hope this moment of self-care and healing brought you some hope and peace. I’m @krystaljakosky on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube and I hope you check us out and follow along for more content coming soon. I look forward to being with you again here on Breathe In, Breathe Out. Until next time, take care.
