Thinking goes on in your mind! So how can anything that goes on in your mind influence the outer world so much?
Often, we engage in limiting beliefs and negative thoughts which hold us back; thoughts like
- “I am not good enough”
- “I have no time”
- “They don’t understand me”
… and the list goes on. This influences our outer world for several reasons and the most important is that your mind does not know the difference between what is real and what is only in your mind. When you think negative thoughts, your mind sends negative messages to your body, you act negatively and the problem is that everybody will notice it.
The first thing to do in order to change what goes on in your life is to change what goes on in your mind. Think positive!
Positive thinking and gratitude help you receive more of what you have. In fact, all thoughts are really requests for more of the same, in good and in bad. This is mainly because of the fact that our mind is not able to process negatives. Here is an example: Try really, really hard not to think of a pink house, don’t think of a pink house. Now, what are you thinking about? Don’s say a pink house! 😉
In order for our mind to keep from thinking about something, it needs to think about it first, then decide or remember that it does not want to think about it and either change one or more elements of that something or think about something else instead. So, what does this say? Well, I wonder what a person who keeps on thinking “I don’t want to fail, I don’t want to stay where I am. I don’t want to feel that way anymore…” focuses on. I wonder what requests he/she is sending out; and what do you think this person is likely to receive?
Thinking positive thoughts means stating what you want as if you have it now. With this I am not suggesting that you need to lie to yourself by saying things that you do not believe in. I don’t want to see things better than they are, I like to see things like they are. Not worse either though!
When you catch negative thoughts, change them right away to the positive versions. Here below you can see a brief diagram showing how to change negative thoughts into positive ones.
This will take practice; negative thoughts will try to come in from all angles and the secret is to persist and reframe each and every thought that you are not entirely happy with and this will eventually become an automatic habit.
Another tool is positive affirmations; start now! Write 5 statements that support what you want to be, have or do. Write statements which remind you of how empowered you are, things which inspire you to take action, things which will fill your mind with inspiration, excitement, enthusiasm and positive thoughts.
Starting today, write positive affirmations on Post-It and place them where you are likely to see them often. Be creative! You can print your most powerful affirmations, frame them and hang them on your walls, you can put them in your wallet, etc.
Every day, take at least three five minute breaks and read these affirmations, possibly out loud in front of a mirror.
Gratitude is another great tool which will enable you to use your mind to reach your goals; the key here is to be grateful for what we do have.
I would suggest you take 10 minutes every night or morning to write all the things you are grateful for, meaning it. Begin from the things that we give more for granted; after all, not everybody has the privilege of waking up in the morning feeling healthy, warm and with food on the table. So be grateful for those things too; don’t live anything out.
Once you have a good list of the things that you do have, for which you are grateful, take that image of what you want to be, have or do, that “You” with that final outcome and notice the difference between that “New You” and You now. What skills does the “New You” have that you do not have now? What resources? Once you have that list of those skills and resources, you will notice that some of these skills are simply behavioural and attitudinal. This means that the “New You” has acquired a different way of thinking, behaving and consequently a different physiology. The others may be skills and things that you need to learn.
It helps to take charge of those things now. You may not have the final outcome yet, nothing however stops you from thinking, behaving and appearing like that “New You” right now; you can easily act as if you are that “New You” now. You could easily imagine what it would feel like being that “New You”, and you can feel those feelings now.
This will amplify your focus on that goal you have, because when you act as if you have it now, you are acting as if you have it, behaving as if you have it, appearing as if you have it and thinking as if you have it.
Do you see what this does? You are focusing entirely on your goal; your thoughts are focused on it, your body is focused on it, your language is focused on it and your behaviour is focused on it.
Now, what is the most important skill in achieving something? That’s right, it’s the FOCUS. And there is no better way to focus than this as this way, without consciously realising it, you are focusing on your goal all day, every day, mind and body.
Also, apart from the already valid benefits above, Positive thinking will help you send a positive outlook of your persona to others. Think about this for a moment: Look at the pictures below; the same person, a different expression, clearly a different emotion and, if you listen to your feelings as you look at those pictures, you will notice that one of them makes you feel ad ease and the other does not.
Who would you buy from? Who would you like to socialise with? Who would you trust?
Although perhaps not so clearly, you are constantly sending out your thoughts with your body and people do feel them. Some people may be able to interpret these messages better than others however, even those with no sensory acuity (body language reading skills) will pick up those messages with feelings; they may say things like “I don’t know what it is but I just feel uncomfortable around Mr Left”.
Think positive and the messages that people receive from your paralanguage will be positive.