life-changing thoughts
We choose every thought we think. And we can create any thought we want. -Carol Tuttle
I didn’t learn this principle until I was in my late 30’s, and it has literally changed my life. Most people think that their thoughts are something that just randomly pop up into their head. Little do they know they have total control over them and can use them to live a more joyful life.
We are always thinking. In fact, we think approximately seventy thousand thoughts each day. -That’s a lot! – When we take control of our thoughts we are also taking control of our lives. Let me explain.
Our thoughts create an emotion (aka our feelings). Our feelings create our actions. Our actions (or in-actions) create results known as our life. Our perspectives and opinions (of ourselves and others) are all based on our thoughts. If we want to change something, all we have to do is figure out the thought that’s creating that result, and then change it to a thought that will serve us better.
For example, if one night no one in my family is helping me clean up after dinner, I might think, “No one’s helping so I must be a terrible mom.” This thought will lead to me feeling sad and depressed, maybe even frustrated. My action might be that I’m cold and distant to my husband and kids or maybe I’m moody and slamming shut the cupboard doors. When I act this way it results in no one wanting to help me with the dinner cleanup, much less be around me.
Let me break it down:
The dinner dishes are still sitting on the table. This is a circumstance. A circumstance is always neutral. There is no drama and no opinion.
The THOUGHT you have about the circumstance is what gives it meaning. “Why can’t my family help out more? I must be a terrible mom.” See how I just gave meaning to the dishes sitting on the table?
This thought causes a FEELING. When I think about being a terrible mom, it makes me sad and frustrated.
How we feel inside then leads to how we act, how we show-up or don’t show-up. When I feels sad and frustrated I ignore my family and take my frustrations out on the cupboard doors.
Our action causes our RESULT/ our life. The result is always evidence of the thought we had. Because I’m moody and slamming doors, no one wants to be around me. I am not showing up as the kind of mom I want to be.
Do you see how my thought created my result or my life in that moment? Of course no one wants to stick around to help clean up dinner because I’m moody and slamming doors.
How to change your thought:
What if I see the dishes on the table, and I choose to think instead “How can I make cleaning up dinner more fun?” That thought will make me feel curious, which might lead me to turning on some music and having a little dance party while I clean up dinner. In the end up I end up having a blast cleaning the kitchen.
Now you try it. Get really curious about the thoughts that are creating the life you’re living right now. Which thoughts are serving you and which thoughts aren’t? Now replace those thoughts with a *believable thought that will serve you better.
*There is a trick to this. The new thought has to be something you can believe. If you don’t believe it, it won’t work.
