Now that you are implementing the patent pending Leave It Practice for Poop and Negative Thinking, you’ll need something to substitute in place of those negative thoughts. The simple answer is of course, positive thoughts; but that’s a rather vague and unhelpful answer, so I’m providing a series of more substantive alternatives.

Poop (negative thought) Alternative #1 is Mantras. For my purposes, a mantra is a short, easily remembered phrase that you can chant over and over in your mind until it becomes your new habit of thought.

An example of a mantra that has helped me immensely is: Don’t Judge, Don’t Take It Personally. I originally created this mantra to help me deal with LA traffic. I had reached the conclusion that either my car was invisible or all of LA had conspired to optimize the misery of my driving experience. I caused myself a lot of unnecessary fury and frustration by believing that other drivers were actually out to get me. Once I realised they weren’t thinking of me at all, I was able to relieve myself of the burden of taking it personally.

But I was still angry because they should be thinking of me. Every driver on the road should arrange themselves to accommodate my vehicular motion and if they don’t they are BAD. That’s a bit of an excessive demand, but really, it’s what we want, yes? Only, I began to notice how I rarely provided that courtesy to others. I might squeeze out the last photon of that yellow, oblivious to the oncoming driver trying to take a left. Everyone is just trying to get somewhere and will all get there faster if focused on driving rather than judging.

This is a great mantra to chant internally any time you find yourself fuming over another person’s actions. Their behavior has way more to do with them than you, so Don’t Judge, Don’t Take It Personally.

When I was in my 20s and had horrible body image issues, I took up the mantra: I Love You. Wow was that hard to say, because it wasn’t true. The thing about mantras is the more you say them the more you come to believe them. Now I can even say I Love You to myself while looking at my thighs. Usually.

My most recent favorite mantra is: Brave Your Fears, Do Your Best. That about sums up the journey that is life. Access the courage that is most definitely inside you and just do the best you can right now.

My challenge to you for the next month is to devise a mantra that counters your most pervasive poopy thoughts. Then, every time you hear your noisy mind blaring that thought at you, Leave It, and chant your Mantra.

[polldaddy poll=8273397]