Close the Doors (or Keep Them Closed) On People, Activities, and Practices That Bring You Down (Part I)

To live an empowered life, you need to let in, that is, open the door to particular people, activities, and practices. You also have to close the door to other people, activities, and practices. If you haven’t thought this through carefully recently, this might be a good time. Here are some prompts to get your thinking going…Do you need (and want) to close the door to:

1. People just dropping by your house (or just dropping by your office, unannounced).

2. Going to visit family at the holidays (or going to visit friends at the holidays).

3. Buying presents for adults who seemed perfectly capable of buying them for themselves.

4. Eating out (or eating out at certain times of day).

5. Cooking (obviously someone couldn’t choose both this one or the one above or they would just waste away….I’m just saying that some people close the door on one and some on the other–well, unless you open the door to a service that brings your food in…hmmmm). Anyway, back to our list:

6. Negative people (really, why wouldn’t you want to close the door to negative people)?

7. People who only want to complain and never look at the upside (ditto).

8. Loud people (or quiet people; it’s your list to make).

9. Needy people (I don’t mean financially needy. I mean, “Please get a counselor” needy).

10. Pets (or life without pets).

So this is one list of 10 (And look for my second post of another 10). You have your own list of 20 or 15 or 55. Just number a piece of paper and begin to think about what you might have deliberately closed off in the past and you still want to have those doors closed now.

Also, think about what you NOW want to close off. Make a list. Consider those people, places, experiences, lifestyle issues, money considerations, tasks, projects, or anything else that you have kept out in the past and/or you want to start keeping you. Making the list and acknowledging what is on that list is the first empowering step.

“The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.” ~Flora Whittemore

We explored the idea of “decision doors” in the Staying Positive Society and those recordings and materials are available for you at Staying Positive in a Freaked-Out World.