Our mind is constantly bombarded with thoughts. If you’ve ever sat by yourself and observed your mind, you know very well how thoughts can appear out of nowhere. One remote thought about a past memory can trigger dozens of subsequent thoughts that build upon each other until you suddenly realize the dream escapade you’ve been on.
What kind of thoughts does your mind bring up?
Are you thinking about the past or future? Are the past memories joyful or regrets? Are you imagining the future to be bright and full of opportunities or full of troubles? Our thoughts create our possibilities. What we can think and imagine is what we’ll eventually be able to create around us. They are the beginning of our possibilities.
This is because our thoughts create our energy. We know this because positive thoughts and conversations fill us up with energy. Negative thoughts and conversations leave us drained no matter how well we handle other areas of our life. We’ve all experienced this at a personal level in one way or another. This is why it’s often recommended to eliminate ‘energy drains’ from our lives — whether they be people, places or things. Energy naturally leads to actions and it’s up to us how we direct it. And finally, actions lead to results. How and where we direct our actions, determines the results. Yes, there are other factors but focus on what’s in your control and the rest will take care of itself, perhaps even in your favor if you so believe.
What topics does your mind think about? Career, Money, Food, Sex, Kids, Party? Here’s a simple exercise. Sit quietly for 10 minutes in a room by yourself with eyes closed with a pen and paper nearby. Notice and write down all the thoughts and subjects that come up. These are the subconscious tendencies of your mind. Once you can shine a light on your own tendencies, you can then begin to morph them to be what you would like. You don’t need to be a slave to your mind. It’s a tool at your command and you can use it for what you’d like to create.
What do you tend to do with your thoughts?
If your mind is reflecting on past regrets and/or worries about the future, do you immediately counter that thinking by imagining better possibilities or do you give in and sink into its worries? Many just simply go along for the rollercoaster ride of the mind thinking that any thoughts that come up, reflect their own reality. But, are our thoughts really our reality? OR just a bunch of mind chatter flying around kind of like untuned radio stations of the mind?
So, what can we do?
What we choose to do or not with our thoughts will decide how we’re utilizing the present moment to create our future. On one hand, we could cave in and start to sympathize with our regrets or future troubles. On the other hand, we can use that same moment to counter our previous thought and define a path forward. You can do this for everything in life — career, money, relationship etc. The potential is limitless!
Our thoughts literally create our destiny because they create all the downstream effects.
Begin to notice your thoughts. Notice the patterns and subjects. If you like what you see, stick with it and build on it. If you don’t like what you see, take charge of your thoughts and you’ll begin to become in charge of your destiny.
If you regret something in your past, accept that it’s reality. It has occurred but it no longer needs to keep reoccurring within your mind. Time, like water, has flown under the bridge and no amount of contemplation will change what has occurred. We can only reflect, learn and then declare our intention going forward. If there’s a corrective action that can be taken and feels right, then perhaps make that part of your declaration but focus on moving forward. Declare an intention that you’re ready to move beyond past regrets and would rather focus your time and energy on what needs to happen going forward. Define what needs to be done, when it can be done and then do it.
If you’re thinking about future trouble and come across a thought that you don’t like, immediately counter it and start to think of the positive possibilities. Most people focus on what they don’t want. We spend so much time and energy there that we forget to define what we actually WANT. We then act surprised why things are going the way we’d like. Sound familiar? It’s because you haven’t taken the time to focus on what you actually want. If you don’t define what you want in life, who will? If we leave it up to chance, then chance is all we get.
Are you ready for the secret to success?
Focus on what you want. What is the goal? How does it look and feel to achieve this goal? What positive effects will achieving this goal have on your life? What immediate actions can you take to support the outcome? Focus on what you want.
Slowly as you decide to take charge of your thoughts and your mind establishes new patterns within, subsequent supporting thoughts begin to show up. Your mind says, alright, we got our marching orders. What can we do? Let’s go crazy thinking about all the ways we can succeed. You could be starting a new job or new assignment and be worried about the challenges ahead or you could imagine the success you’d like to achieve and how it looks and feels in reality. You could focus on potential challenges, but instead of worrying, declare that this challenge will be solved and then go to work contemplating the various ways you might conquer it. Your mind then starts to say, alright, we’re going in this direction, let’s start rowing. Let’s make this awesome!
Our mind is an incredible tool that can help us achieve great things and turnaround any difficulty we face.
That’s if our mind is well trained and within our control. Notice the differentiation between you and your mind here. This differentiation is often the clearest when you find you are talking to yourself — debating a particular situation, contemplating different paths and trying to choose one. Often we find that a particular path makes practical sense but doesn’t ‘feel’ right. This feeling is your intuition, your deeper self trying to break through your analytical mind to reveal itself. Your mind may steer you away from the unknown as it tries to protect you while your heart and intuition lurch forward fearlessly, striving for it’s fullest expression. Use intuition to connect with your deeper purpose in life and your analytical mind to help pave a pathway towards achieving the desired outcome. It’s not about choosing one or the other. Choose both and use their combined powers to live an amazing life.
Your mind has been taking you on a joyride without you recognizing. It’s time to reverse that pattern and become an owner of your own mind. Change your thought patterns to chart a path towards a great and fulfilling life.
Remember -> Thoughts create energy. Energy leads to action. Actions lead to results. Change your thoughts, create a domino effect for the rest of your life and you’ll never look back.
Happy thinking! I’d love to hear what came up for you.
