Personal Thought Control
In a previous article, I wrote about the importance of making success our mantra; that we must keep our vision of success at the forefront of our minds. I stated that, “ every action we take begins with a single thought. It is our thoughts which determine our happiness and satisfaction in all we undertake.” During a conversation with someone, she commented that she didn't understand how she's supposed to control her thoughts. As far as she could determine, her thoughts just “pop” into her head without any warning. Her question was in regards to stopping a flow of bad thoughts from growing to a point where they are wrecking her day.
Our greatest asset is our mind. Unfortunately, it can also be our greatest handicap if we are one who carries a negative view of our personal reality. The nature of our thoughts are governed by our mindset. How we perceive a given set of circumstances at any time is decided by our personal past experience with like circumstances. Most of us know that if the sky is filled with dark, heavy clouds, we'll probably have a thunderstorm. Those of us who have experienced the negative impact of a severe storm, will take action to guard against possible damage to belongings. We'll roll up the car windows, close the house windows, turn off unnecessary electrical items, etc. Most of us also realize that a storm isn't always the end result of dark clouds. Sometimes they just blow over, moving on to another location. Because of that fact, we may go ahead with a planned outing, carrying the hope that the storm will pass over.
The negative mindset will accept negative possibilities as fact before they transpire, and already be forming thoughts which support their mindset. A person with this kind of mindset will be making decisions about what actions to take when it happens rather than if it happens. Most times the actions are taken in anticipation of getting a lead on heading off whatever “bad” result is expected. It's in this way that our mindset and the successive thinking can wreck our performance. Our mindset also determines how we will view the results of another day spent.
We produce thoughts continually every second of the day. We are not aware of most of our thoughts, because we are not actively focused on producing specified results. Usually we become aware of our thoughts because we have made a choice to follow a line of thinking. It is this choice which determines our mindset and the course of actions to be taken. Once the choice is made, we give power to our thoughts. Failing to examine our thoughts to make sure we are on the right track toward our goals, can result in taking actions that are harmful to ourselves and to others.
The only way any of us can get a handle on controlling our thoughts is to be aware of them. We need to pay attention to our thinking processes and throw out anything that does not honor our personal goals. We don't need to be judgmental and put labels on all our thoughts, but we do need to replace anything negative with something positive. Sometimes it can be difficult to find any positive in a given situation. This is where being a member of a like minded team helps. It's always so much easier to be positive and upbeat when you're surrounded by others striving to do the same.
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