In this episode, I'm giving you a really simple tool called Thought Umbrellas, and this will help you gain awareness of the thoughts you're thinking and how you can use them in service of you. You ready? Let's do it.
Hello, you are listening to Love Your Life as a Performer podcast. I'm Kelli Youngman, and I am the Life Coach for Performers. I help actors, singers and dancers love themselves and their lives way more. So keep listening to learn how you can love your life, both on and off the stage.
Hello, hello. And welcome back to episode 63 of the Love Your Life as a Performer podcast. Today, we're going to be talking about Thought Umbrellas. And this is a concept that I've been sharing with clients, and it's been really helpful to eliminate some of the stress, confusion, fear, panic, worry, when a bunch of thoughts start creating a spiral in your mind.
And I find that Thought Umbrellas honestly can be useful whether we're using them in a neutral, positive or negative way. And it's just an idea to help you visualize and understand that when you're having specific thoughts, generally thoughts that are like that, thoughts that are similar in nature WILL follow.
And so one way that this shows up is, for example, you go to an audition and you look around the room and instantly you feel like you're wearing the wrong outfit. This used to happen to me all the time, like, oh, fuck. This is a leggings kind of audition. I thought it was going to be skirts. And you realize you didn't pack an outfit and you're like, wait a second. Oh, well, right? And so I want you to imagine that the first thought you have is, Oh, fuck, I'm wearing the wrong thing.
Okay, if you leave that thought unchecked, a million thoughts that align with that thought, that fall under the same Thought Umbrella, will naturally arise. Right? So I'm just thinking about myself. Oh, fuck. I wore the wrong outfit. I knew I should have brought another option. I guess I was on the completely wrong page. This is so embarrassing. Maybe I should ask someone if they have something different. Maybe I should leave. Maybe I shouldn't go in. Right? And I just want you to imagine that when that Thought Umbrella is the one that you're carrying, it's going to be, one, really challenging to focus on the audition that you're about to go and do. Two, it just creates a feeling, a mood, uh, an experience that's amplified if you continue to engage with that same Thought Umbrella.
And so the other thing to know is that the reason why I think it's valuable to just be aware of Thought Umbrellas is because we can then go into this whole second layer or this additional story about what it means to have a Thought Umbrella rather than knowing like, of course, right?
And what I mean by this is like, Imagine I'm having all these thoughts about the audition and then on top of that, I'm like, God damn it, Kelli, why are you so insecure? Why are you so worried about what you're wearing? Like, this is so stupid. This is silly. Like, it doesn't matter, right? But then we create this whole other experience of the judgment of the Thought Umbrella versus knowing, wait a second, I had one thought.
Which, by the way, we have like 60 to 70, 000 thoughts a day. I had one thought that went unchecked that created a chain of thoughts or an umbrella of thoughts that are all the same. So what would it look like to just close the umbrella? I've never said it like that before. What would it look like to just shut it down? To give yourself permission to release that umbrella without then going into trying to figure out or solve for why you're having that experience, right? Again, the Thought Umbrella is just the simplicity of knowing that when you have one thought, an entire umbrella of thoughts that correlate will follow, right?
The same thing could be true in a positive way. And we can use this in a delicious way for you is like, if you give yourself permission to think one amazing intentional thought about yourself, that then you could also create a Thought Umbrella of positive thoughts, of thoughts that are useful and helpful to you.
Right? So imagine if you're, you wake up on the wrong side of the bed and you're just like, Oh, like this day already feels like the worst. But you stop and you say, you know what? Today I'm committed to finding the best things about myself and the best things about life, right? Imagine then the power of using a Thought Umbrella for you. Of like, all right. I'm looking for the best things in my life. And you walk out the door and you think, look at the sky. The clouds are so beautiful and the sky is so blue and everything is working out for me, right? Like we can then intentionally invite in Thought Umbrellas that are in service of us. Because again, when we have one thought, we can expect that other thoughts that fall under the same umbrella are going to follow.
Are you picking up what I'm putting down? And so when we have the conscious awareness of knowing that like attracts like. That more thoughts that amplify or add to or relate to the original thought, of course, just like, of course. Right, like, of course, of course, if I'm thinking one shitty thought, more shitty thoughts are going to come. Of course, if I'm thinking one positive thought, more positive thoughts are going to come.
And so, you know, again, the value of understanding this, of being aware of Thought Umbrellas is that one, we can avoid the confusion, right? We don't have to go into spinning out, like, why is this happening? Why am I feeling so terrible, right? We can really eliminate a lot of the solving energy and we can just go back to the simplicity of like, I had one thought and that attracted other thoughts like it.
We can also use thought umbrellas to our advantage when we're practicing new beliefs, which are really just thoughts we keep thinking, right? Our beliefs are our most practiced thoughts. And so when we're practicing creating a new vibration around auditions or our careers or relationships, we can invite intentional Thought Umbrellas in that are in service and in support of us. We can just, again, be so clear about how we're using our energy and what we're filling our minds with. Because, again, 60 to 70, 000 thoughts a day if we're thinking all of the same thoughts on repetition and we're wondering why we're not changing or shifting or feeling something new, we can always just look at what are the thoughts I've been thinking and does that Thought Umbrella support the way that I want to feel, right? Does that Thought Umbrella invite in and connect me to the experience that I want to have? And if the answer is no, we can just so simply close the umbrella.
I'm like kind of loving this whole close and open umbrella thing, right? And we can just know that we're going to shower ourselves, like, hello, umbrella, rain, weather, here we go.
We can like give ourselves permission to be under the umbrella that we want to be under. right? We can give ourselves permission. I'm actually thinking now I have this, I have this video, maybe I'll post it. I have this video of me walking with this gigundo, um, golf umbrella, like huge, huge, huge umbrella in Soho. And I was thinking about like the idea of having a Thought Umbrella that's so delicious. It's like, almost like you're like, Carrying this umbrella over you now I'm getting like even more literal with this umbrella analogy. So fun I was not expecting this. But when you have the umbrella over you then it really is like what's the energy I'm carrying myself in? Is this Thought Umbrella like having some leaky holes in it like does it keep blowing off and like is it flipping inside out am I getting water all over myself because it's like not in service of me, or is this Thought Umbrella like protecting me with love and sheltering me and holding me in my highest regard?
Wow, I really did not anticipate that coming out of me! But it's like, right, we can know that if it falls under the same umbrella. Like attracts like, it's going to be the same experience. And then again, this sort of visual comparison of like, is the energy I'm, I'm covering myself in, is this something that's in service of me?
All right. So that's what I got for you this week, Thought Umbrellas. And one way you can just be mindful of this is pay attention to your thoughts. I will probably talk about thoughts all day, every day, because as a coach, it's one of the things we do, right? It's thought work. It's learning how to gain awareness of your thoughts and knowing that you have an active control and active say in what we fill our minds with.
And so a way you can practice this is just be aware. When you notice a mood, notice if you're carrying the same Thought Umbrella and ask yourself, what would it look like to give myself a new Thought Umbrella, right? And To create a new Thought Umbrella, all you have to do is be willing to practice one thought knowing that more will come because they're all going to trickle down and fall into the same Thought Umbrella, right?
You can create and amplify great thoughts just as easily as our brain will unintentionally sometimes amplify negative thoughts or thoughts that are not in service of us or thoughts that are mean or, or not loving, right? All right. I'll meet you back here for another episode.
Hey, I want to invite you to get started because if this is blowing your mind, imagine the impact of when we actually work together. If you're committed to loving your life as an actor, singer, or dancer, come join us inside of The Performers Plan. You get lifetime access to the program, the community, and high quality coaching for the rest of your career. Go to kelliyoungmanwellness.com/theperformersplan to join us now.
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