Thoughts create… what are you thinking?
English philosopher, James Allen, wrote: As a man thinks, so he is; as he continues to think, so he remains.
Stoic and Roman emperor, Marcus Aurelius, wrote: A man’s life is what his thoughts make of it.
Our minds are immensely powerful. Yet, most people spend very little time reflecting on their thinking. I mean, who thinks about thinking?!
So often, when we are not feeling happy with our current life, we look at ways to change it. We go about transforming our environment, believing that doing so will create the necessary change we hope to see. We might even buy things for a boost of happiness, travel to escape our problems, or seek substances to numb our minds and help us forget.
For a moment we might feel better, but then we fall back to where we had started: feeling unhappy.
The truth is that the way you think about yourself turns into your reality.
If you want to change the outside, you must first change the inside. You must change the focus of your thoughts because what you think directly influences how you feel, and how you feel directly influences how your body reacts, and how your body reacts directly influence how you behave, and how you behave defines who you are and what you experience in life.
So, if you think you are a failure or not good enough, you will feel like you are not good enough. As a consequence, you will act like you are not good enough, which reinforces your belief that you are not good enough.
With such belief you will, without even being consciously aware of it, look for evidence that reinforces your belief and discount anything that runs contrary to your belief.
If you get the inside right, the outside will fall into place. Eckhart Tolle
So, how do we get the inside right?
- Become aware of your thinking
Our thinking never stops and most thoughts are running in our subconscious mind. It is a conscious decision to become aware of what you are thinking. Perhaps you keep a journal where you document your thinking, so that you can become aware of the negative patterns and then deliberately change those.
For example: If you think that you are not good enough and you become aware of this pattern, implement an affirmation that you repeat many times a day that says: I am perfect. The more you do this, the more this new belief will become imbedded in your mind.
- Be grateful
The more you focus on what you have and can be grateful for, the less time you have to think about the negative. A gratitude journal or a dedicated time in your diary to focus on gratitude can do wonders to change your thinking patters.
- Seek help
Therapy, coaching and hypnosis are amazing techniques to help you in changing your thought patterns. I see it all the time. Clients, with negative and sometimes even destructive thought patterns, come to see me. Even after a few sessions they can already see the difference in their thought patterns. And once this happens, they find that their lives change for the better.
You have immense power and can create a life of misery or a life of happiness with your thoughts. Use your power wisely!
Circumstances do not matter, only my state of being matters. Bashar