It has been suggested that we have around 60,000 thoughts per day. That is an astonishing number. What is more astonishing is how many of those thoughts are self-defeating ones. How easy it is allow our train of thoughts jump from one track of thinking or subject to another.
How difficult it can be to stop an old mental tape from playing over and over again about a frustrating conversation that we had with someone at work or at home. We replay the mental tape until we are exhausted-and yet where have we found ourselves? In the same place we were before but now with wasted mental, physical and emotional energy. We have solved and resolved nothing.
Do our thoughts shape our lives? Albert Einstein believed so. He said “The world we have created is a product of our thinking; it cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” James Lane Allen, author of the book “As a Man Thinketh” states, “You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you.”
How do we take control of our thoughts? How do we direct them from self-destructive thinking and behaviors to self-constructing thoughts and behaviors? By making a decision to do so and then committing to a thought controlling program, we can begin to take charge of our lives.
After the decision and commitments have been made, we must implement a mindful state of being; that is living a life that is mindful of what we are thinking and what we are doing.
I recently realized the importance of living a mindful life because I decided that I wanted to live a more peace-filled life. I wanted to have more of a now presence and not a life of wondering. I wondered about where I had left things, I wondered how time passed by so quickly.
I wondered why I could not remember things. I wondered why I did not seem to be enjoying the things and people around me more. I then wondered what I could do about it.
It was then that I went on a mindfulness program. When I eat, I am mindful of my food, the texture, the color and the taste. When I drive, I am mindful of what is going on around me without being lost in (mostly negative) thoughts.
I have been amazed at how much more enjoyable life is when I am controlling my run away and non-productive thoughts by being mindful of what I am doing, where I am and extracting the joy that is omnipresent in my life.
Affirmation for the Week:
“I have a ‘be here now attitude’ and focus. I make it a point to stop the old tapes from playing and replace them with ideas that nourish me on all levels.”
Have a thoughtful week!
Mary “Motivator” Rau-Foster