How to Beat a Funk

We all know funks happen.

Sometimes they’re a sign we need to slow down, rest, grieve or simply recognize that something's out of whack.

Are you lonely? Isolated? Uncertain? Bored? Too much Netflix? Spending? Booze?

All those are funk triggers.

We also know that staying there doesn’t help because funks spiral like water in a toilet. Where our minds go, our days typically follow and your life is nothing but a string of days.

So when you find your mind in the tank, you must interrupt the pattern. The longer you wait, the more energy it will take to get out. So don’t wait. You may have to do it 20 times a day but that’s how you train your mind.

HERE’S THE BEST WAY TO INTERRUPT A FUNK: GRATITUDE LISTS.

OMG Erin seriously that’s the big tip? Everybody knows that.

True everybody knows that. Does everybody do it? No. Obviously. Steven Covey said, to know and not to do is not to know. So don’t be just hearers of the word but be doers as well.

Here’s how.

As you sit in your funk, start listing out loud things you’re grateful for. Start small and watch it spiral up because it will, and so will your energy.

🍀 I am thankful for this chair.
🍀 I am thankful I am feeling better.
🍀 I am thankful my old dog is resting by the fire.
🍀 I am thankful for hyacinths.
🍀 I am thankful I can hear and see.
🍀 I am thankful my house is warm.
🍀 I am thankful for my husband….

You get the idea.

Once you’re on item ten or so, thankfulness begins gushing like water from a busted dam. The list is endless when you think about it deliberately, but our default focus is usually lack.

Changing that focus changes your day and, over time, your life because you're changing your brain; you literally become a person who thinks differently than other people.

This is the art of entering God’s gates with Thanksgiving. Try it next time you’re feeling funky and watch what happens.