A THOUGHT ON THOUGHTS

  A THOUGHT ON THOUGHTS

A small and simple thing that is very powerful is a thought. The thing to remember about thoughts is that we become what we think about most of the time. Where you are today, what you are today, is the sum total of all the thoughts that you've had. If you remember, feelings, actions, outcomes, they all start with thoughts. So what you've thought up until now has got you to where you are today. That same process is working right now second by second, this very moment.  If you want to make a change, you need to change what you're thinking, and how you're thinking. An important fact is that what dominates your thoughts influences your results. What you think about most is affecting your results. Now here's where it gets real interesting. A simple yet extremely powerful key is that you've got to start thinking about what you're thinking about. We do this by asking ourselves questions like, "Why do I think that?" "Why am I saying that?" "Why do I feel like this in this situation?" "How do I feel about feeling angry?" "How do I feel about feeling frustrated?" So the place to begin is to start thinking about what you are thinking about!

MANAGING OUR THOUGHTS

MANAGING OUR THOUGHTS

Thought management is critical to making effective changes in our lives. Our thoughts are so powerful! If we don't manage our thoughts, our thoughts will manage us. Here are 7 ways to manage or control your thoughts. 

STOP

You are the boss, so as simple as this sounds, the first thing you can do is to send a command to yourself, say Stop (STOP!). A direct command, given with a firm order tone, will interrupt the behaviour, like stopping you in your track.

SWAP

You can replace a negative thought by a positive one; I like to do a double swap, so, not only swap one for another one, but swap one for 2 other ones. Keep a list of positive, happy, healthy, constructive thoughts, and swap away.

STORE / SHARE

You can store it AND this is only half of the strategy; remember, you do not want to store it, as in ignore it, you want to store it, and re-access later, by sharing it with a supportive person: a friend, a colleague, a coach, a mentor. Someone with an outside perspective, an objective one, who will help you move forward.

SWITCH

You can do something else: call a friend, watch a movie, go for a walk, a run… there are so many things you can do; here you want to select an activity that you can do straight away, once the negative thought comes in.

SHHH

You can go to sleep or meditate, to free your mind; you can either meditate on your own, in silence, or have your favourite music on, or thanks to a relaxation cd /track or, a visualisation, guiding you to think of something else and relax.

SPECULATE 

This comes from Dale Carnegie, who said in his How To Stop Worrying And Start Living book, “First ask yourself: What is the worst that can happen? Then prepare to accept it. Then proceed to improve on the worst.” So, ask, accept and proceed.

SCRIBE

You can start writing; from head to paper, write about what you are thinking to free your thinking place. Whatever is it that you are thinking as long as it stays in your head, it is a jumbo-mumbo mess (!), so write it down; and write it exactly as you are thinking it.

VISION

            VISION

Decide for this year that you owe it to yourself to live an extraordinary life and inspire others to do so in the process. 

Decide the kind of life you want to have and more importantly the type of person you want to be. To have this desired life and to become this person, we must take control of our thoughts. Our thoughts always precede any action or behavior. It is also our thoughts that come together and create our vision or image of our desired life. If everything follows thought, if our world is shaped primarily by our visions and how we respond to them, then this gives us the power and choice to choose empowering visions. It seems to be the case that great achievements follow persistence of a vision. Time after time, those who have achieved great status, influence, and success in society, those who are both internal and externally satisfied, have all held on to a strong mental image. This sounds like and appears to be a small and simple thing, but it is those simple things that bring very big results!

I KNEW THAT WOULD HAPPEN

I KNEW THAT WOULD HAPPEN 

There was once a young artist who had just received a commissioning to paint the portrait of a local builder. To celebrate, he went to a local cafe to enjoy a nice meal. While he was eating, he noticed the headline on a newspaper that was laying on a nearby table. The headline read,"HARD TIMES ARE COMING" The headline was a little disturbing to him but he continued to eat his meal. While eating, he couldn't help but think,"HARD TIMES ARE COMING!" The words began to weigh on his mind more and more. He began to think, hard times are coming, this is no time for me to be sitting here unnecessarily spending money on a nice meal. I need to get to work. He called to the cafe owner and requested his check. The cafe owner said," you seem upset, is everything okay?" The young artist responded,"hard times are coming and this is no time for me to be unnecessarily spending money like this. I need to get to work!" He paid his check and hurriedly left the cafe. Well, the cafe owner got to thinking, hard times are coming? The more he thought about it the more anxious he became. He picked up his phone and called his wife. He said,"sweetheart I need you to call the tailor shop and cancel that order for your new dress for the chamber of commerce ball. You see, hard times are coming and this is no time for us to be unnecessarily spending money like that." She said,"okay, I'll let them know." She called the local tailor shop and told them,"I need to cancel my order for that new dress for the chamber of commerce ball. You see, my husband the cafe owner said hard times are coming and we shouldn't be unnecessarily spending money like this. I'm sorry." The order was cancelled. The tailor shop owner got to thinking, hard times are coming? The more he thought about it the more anxious he felt. He picked up the phone and called the local builder. He said,"I need to cancel that contract and plans for expanding my tailor shop. You see, hard times are coming and this is no time for me to be unnecessarily spending money like that. I'm sorry." Well,  the local builder got to thinking, hard times are coming? The more he thought about it the more anxious he felt. He picked up the phone and called the young artist. He said,"I need to cancel the commission to have my portrait painted. You see, hard times are coming and this is no time for me to be unnecessarily spending money like that. I'm sorry." The young artist, now discouraged and depressed, went back to the corner cafe to drown his sorrows in some wine. While he was drinking the wine, he saw the newspaper with the headline "HARD TIMES ARE COMING" still sitting on the same table. He picked up the paper and noticed that the date on the paper was ten years old. It had been left on the table when the cafe owner had been unpacking dishes earlier in the day, yet the headline managed to infect the thinking of the young artist and ultimately the entire community. The artist believed hard times were coming and by virtue of his and everyone else's behavior they predicted and then ensured hard times would come. 

How often have we done something like this in our own lives. We tend to get what we expect. If you expect to have a bad experience somewhere, your subconscious mind will trigger the behaviors within you that will ensure you have a bad time.  Change expectations and you can change your life!