The Impact of Hang Nails

The other day while I was busy working I noticed a hang nail on my left index finger. Once I noticed it I could not keep form trying to rub it off, pick at it and even bite it, all to no avail. For over an hour it tormented me as I reluctantly went about my business all the while distracted by this very tiny rough spot bordering my nail until I finally was able to borrow some nail clippers from a kind soul and rid myself of this incredible irritant.
I am sure you can relate to this scenario. Be it a hang nail, a splinter, a mosquito bite, there are times we become inordinately focused on a very small area and can feel nothing else.

It occurred to me while this nail was pestering me the other day how incredibly small a part of my being it was, minuscule in fact. The rest of me was in great shape; healthy, comfortable, safe, fed and so on yet this tiny thing was all I could think about.

How often do we let life's hang nails take center stage?

How often do we focus on that one aspect that is not just right, that one negative comment,  that one thing we screwed up, that one thing missing and let that dictate our mood or distract us from all the other things that are going well in our lives?

I think for most of us far too often.  In fact, for many of us it has become a habit.

It is in our nature to focus on the negative more heavily, part of our survival instinct I suppose, but that part of our nature also undermines our well being.

We get caught up in circuitous negative thinking that gets us further down the rabbit hole and farther away from what we really want, to feel good and be happy. We replay scenarios that have already occurred, remind ourselves of past pains, and catalog our shortcomings.
We allow tiny blips of irritation in our day to throw everything else off. We chose to hang on to the one thing that went wrong rather than all the things that are going right.

It helps to become aware of this habit and catch ourselves when we start obsessively focusing on the small irritating stuff rather than celebrate or at least appreciate the other things that are good in our lives.
Once you become aware you can chose to shift your focus with some of the nail clipper solutions listed below.

Nail clippers to trim negative thinking:

• Gratitude: list what you are grateful for
• Meditate: Slow down reconnect 
• Get physical: Exercise, dance, go for a walk, moving your body shifts your mind
• Forgive: Release the energy and negative emotion from things that have already happened 
• Accept: Everything as it is then deal in reality rather than wishful thinking or regret
• Connect: To what is meaningful to you and brings you peace; nature, friends, animals, reading, music, all can be calming, healing and restorative

The best way to cure a hang nail is to prevent it. Keep things smooth by using these nail clippers regularly. Researchers posit that up  to 90% of our thinking and behavior is habitual. But we have the ability with a bit of effort and repetition to chose what our habits are. 

How might your life change if you spent more time focusing on the good stuff in your life rather than getting distracted and distraught over the hang nails that inevitably come along?

Julia Skeesick, CPC. CEO of LifeScape Strategies works with clients to define and create lives of their own design. She provides private and group coaching workshops seminars and retreats that support more freedom success balance and happiness in both our personal and professional lives, learn more http://www.lifescapestrategies.com