WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND?
DO YOU CONTROL YOUR THOUGHTS OR DO THEY CONTROL YOU?
If someone were to ask you if you were living the life you dreamed about, what would your response be? You would probably say an emphatic, no! Yet, your thoughts and ultimately, your words, create where you are in the present. Every action begins with a thought and where you are today is a result of a decision you made yesterday. Our minds are constantly working. This is something that is natural. So it is important for you to learn how to control your thoughts instead of your thoughts controlling you.
How often do you find yourself having negative thoughts run through your mind? As much as you try to extinguish them, they never seem to leave. Negative thoughts can become very powerful as you repeat them over and over again in your mind. The more you focus on them, the more powerful they become. Let’s think about this scenario: You may be having a difficult time paying your bills. You begin to worry about, think about or dwell upon, how you are going to make ends meet.
Whenever you get around family and friends, all you talk about is your financial situation. It seems that no matter how hard you try, your bills seem to just increase. It becomes a vicious cycle. It’s like the more you think about your problems, the worse they become. You think about debt, you speak about debt, you create debt. That’s the cycle of think, speak, and create! This same cycle repeats itself in all areas of your life, your health, relationships, career and every circumstance that comes into your mind.
Have you ever started your day by saying, “this is going to be a bad day!” and guess what, it becomes a bad day. The reason for that is, you programmed your mind to interpret the events of the day as negative. This reinforced what you originally thought, and the process continues throughout your day. If you start your day with the intentionality of having a good day, your mind, then, is open to perceive circumstances in a positive light.
There are many ways to change the way you think by planting new and positive thoughts into your conscious and subconscious mind. If you were to take an inventory of your thoughts right now, you’d probably see that most of your thoughts are along the same vein.
That is, if you see the glass half empty, most of your thoughts are going to be centered on what you don’t have or what you wish you could have. If, on the other hand, you see that same glass as half full, you don’t dwell on what you don’t have.
You tend to look at what you do have and what you need to do to get what you want. It’s a pretty good chance that these are the same thoughts you had last year and maybe the year before that. Since your present state is contingent upon earlier thoughts, you’ve created your present reality!
That is why you have to guard where your thoughts come from. Everyone shouldn’t be in your ear. If someone brings bad thoughts to you, more than likely, this person is not good for you. The battle between right and wrong is waged in your mind not in your actions.
It’s your thoughts that make a difference in your life. Negative thoughts produce negative words which produce negative actions. When your mind is negative, it releases poisons into your bloodstream, which causes more unhappiness and negativity.
Positive thoughts, on the other hand, produce positive words and positive actions. This leads to you living a longer, happier life. Once you learn how to control your thoughts, you have unlimited potential to get the most out of your life.
Controlling your thoughts and changing your thought patterns takes practice. Here are some helpful tips to start you on your way to healthier, happier thoughts:
- Make a conscious decision to stop negative thinking – Sometimes, you can become a victim of yourself. You attach yourself to a certain problem or issue and you keep inviting those thoughts. The first step is for you to be aware of these thoughts when they enter your mind, be aware of their negative impact and stop the repetition. This step is paramount in you controlling your thoughts.
- Determine where these thoughts are coming from – This challenges you to determine the origin of your thoughts. Whenever a negative thought appears, ask yourself, “where is this coming from?” Are you still angry and you can’t remember why? Are you still unhappy about something that happened long ago? By asking these questions, you will be able to stop those thoughts as soon as they appear. You are not a victim of your own thoughts. It is you who either rejects or gives life to them.
- Replace negative thoughts – One of the most powerful ways to stop thinking negatively is the start thinking about everything you have. Gratitude is a powerful emotion! Be thankful for your home, your car, even that job that you hate. When you start to be grateful for what you currently have in your life, you begin to send out positive vibration with happy thoughts.
Your thought patterns are a result of everything you’ve been taught since birth – good and bad. The good news is that these patterns can be changed. You can learn how to take control of your thoughts and ultimately, your life.
No comments yet.