November 09th, 2020

This evening in my group, I talked about a way that we can control our worries and make pro-active choices about where we spend our energy.
The idea of 'Circle of Concern' and 'Circle of Influence' is Stephen Covey's. It is a really useful way of thinking about what we spend our time thinking about.
The circle of concern are the things that we worry about but can't control. These may be things concerning other people, or our future. These things cause us stress.
The things that lie within the circle of influence are matters that bother us, but we can actually take action to improve. Here are some examples:

* Perhaps you worry about your child's reading, you can make a pledge to yourself and them to read with them everyday.
* Maybe you are unhappy about a work situation that involves you, this is something that you could map out some ideas to solve.

I believe that when we are aware of what things lie in our circle of influence and what things lie in the circle of concern, we are better equipped to know how to deal with them.