by Beth Clardy Lewis, LPC-S
Founder, Creative Director at Vervewell

What if I told you that you can combat your anxiety by changing your thoughts?

What if I told you that you can begin experiencing joy and bliss instead of anxiety?

What if I told you that you are here to give something powerful to your world, something beautiful, something that makes a difference?

For me, I find this to be exciting because this notion allows me to be in the driver’s seat of what I THINK, how I FEEL, and what value my life holds.

The RERank Method is empowering to me, and long overdue. Anxiety has kicked my ass more times than I care to admit. Feeling down has left me feeling as though the world and all its challenges are happening TO me, leaving me simmering in a life that feels average on a good day.

Enough already. Destructive thoughts be damned. Constructive thoughts begin.

By using the RERank Method, you direct your thoughts, and your best life awaits. It is here right now. It is yours for the taking. It is this dramatic.

Grab a pen and jot this down…you’ll want to refer to this whenever you experience those harder feelings running you over. You’ll want to remember that YOU are the driver of your feelings. And you drive your feelings by choosing your thoughts. That’s total freedom.

Here we go…

My thoughts
elicit my feelings
which cause my actions
which determine my results.

Say it again.

My thoughts
elicit my feelings
which cause my actions
which determine my results.

Give yourself the slightest bit of pause when something, anything happens in your day that drives you to feel down, destructive. Take note of what you’re thinking in such a moment. Our thoughts are full of rankings. We rank a billion things each day. And the direction of those rankings elicits the direction of our feelings.

Are you ranking things constructively or destructively?

If destructively, take a minute to RERank the thing that is happening. RERanking is the word I use to redirect my thoughts from destructive to constructive. I use this RERanking Method with my clients and they love the results it offers them.

For instance, maybe you get stuck in a traffic jam on the way into your office. Typically, you rank a traffic jam as a complete inconvenience, peppered with a few select, colorful words (destructive thought). Your blood pressure raises as your anger takes lead (destructive feelings). Once you’re finally at work, your mood is crappy and your desire to work is at a low (uninspired action), and your boss is breathing down your neck, making note of your low performance (result).

The goal of RERanking is to THINK constructively, therefore, FEEL constructively, not destructively. And to yield strong results day after day. Goodbye to anxious feelings, hello to joy and bliss, clarity and purpose.

Gratitude is a brilliant way to facilitate this RERanking, to generate GOOD, constructive thoughts, therefore, constructive feelings.

Remember, YOUR THOUGHTS drive your FEELINGS.

So, as you sit in that slow moving traffic, you can assist this RERanking method by taking a breath and thinking about all the things for which you hold gratitude in that moment.

I am grateful my car is full of gas, I am grateful I have the money to stop to get gas if my car is running low, I am grateful for the song I hear playing in this moment, I am grateful for the clothes I am wearing, I am grateful for each breath I am experiencing, I am grateful that my heart is beating one strong beat after another, I am grateful for the air conditioning in my car, I am grateful for my creative mind allowing me this thought process of gratitude, I am grateful for this opportunity to strengthen my patience, and so on, and so on.

As you slow your breath and THINK of the things for which you are grateful, and as you RERank the slow traffic from inconvenience to opportunity, begin to experience the constructive FEELINGS that show up, over the destructive, old feelings. Perhaps joy or bliss begins to show up.

Let’s do this traffic jam experience again. This time, you rank it as an opportunity to slow your breath, to gather some strong head space for your day ahead (constructive thought). As soon as you RERank the traffic from an inconvenience to an opportunity you experience a shift from anger to peace which will cause you to relax during your drive (constructive feeling) which can lead to the rest of your day holding more focus, more calmness, thriving strides and an accomplished day of completing tasks (inspired action), and a boss who is leaving you alone to do your inspired work (result).

Some uncool things will happen that typically will bring your thoughts down, therefore your feelings down. Such is life. The goal with my RERank Method is to learn strength in navigating your thoughts, not to alleviate uncool things altogether. That simply isn’t reasonable.

With the RERank Method, when the uncool things rear its ugly head, we choose to pause, and to RERank this thing in a constructive energy, not a destructive energy. This constructive RERanking lifts your thoughts, therefore lifts your feelings, which causes inspired actions, which determines beautiful results. A strong habit of RERanking will allow the constructive version of YOU to show up. YOU, with all your gifts, all your talents that will make a constructive mark on the world, shine a light on the value that is your life.

Practice, practice, practice.  All the while, knowing, BELIEVING that YOU are made of exactly what it takes to drive your thoughts, elicit your feelings, cause your actions, determine your results. The world needs your mark.

Beautiful, now repeat…do it again.

The RERank Method is explored with more depth in Beth’s upcoming book entitled, All Is Very Well; missteps and thriving strides

Click here to pre-order her book.

Click here to schedule a therapy session with a Vervewell therapist.

Our therapists are rich with inspired action.
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With love,
Beth Lewis, LPC-S
therapist offering therapy
Vervewell.org