"We are what we think.
All that we are arises
With our thoughts.
With our thoughts
We make our world."
-- Gautama Buddha
"It is the mind that maketh good or ill,
that maketh wretch or happy, rich or poor."
-- Edmund Spenser
"A man is literally what he thinks."
-- James Allen
I used to read or hear quotes like this, and go, yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it. All I have to do is to think positive and my world will change to be the way I want it. I remember learning about PMA, or a positive mental attitude in my twenties, and since I was in sales and sales management, I heard it presented in so many different ways. Indeed, I taught it myself, though truth be known, I didn't really have a hold on it.
That reminds me of a couple young kids we were mentoring a long time ago. One was a cousin and he was a bit slow at learning because people just kept moving him forward even though he wasn't getting it. What we found was that he could learn, memorize, and recall the information, but he didn't really understand it. Looking back on myself during those years, I didn't understand it either, but I was pretty good and learning it, memorizing it and recalling it, or teaching it.
Isn't that just the way it is with a lot of things? How could I tell that I didn't really understand it? If I did, the results would have been different.
What I understand now, and it's even getting more clear each day, is that it is not about having a positive attitude. It isn't about having positive thoughts. It's about feeling good. It's about feeling good when I think thoughts and it's feeling good about the thoughts I think. But, more than these, it is just feeling good.
You see, before, I would have a positive attitude, I would do my best to think positive thoughts, and during that I would feel like crap. Sounds strange, but maybe you know what I mean. It was because it was forced, as if I were saying to myself, "I'm going to be positive and upbeat if it kills me!" It had nothing to do with feeling good back then, it was about making a show, and trying to manipulate people's attitudes (something which cannot really be done) and their behavior to obtain certain results. It never did work the way it was supposed to. A few seemed to get it, and then I would overhear something that made it clear they didn't--or worse--I would overhear myself and that made it clear that I didn't get it.
Now, I know what kind of thoughts I am having solely by how I feel as I think them. If I am feeling any negative feelings, such as fear, overwhelment, frustration, or the like, I know that I am helping to create something I don't want. If I feel good, hopeful, excited, love, and the like, I am on the right path toward something I really do want. In this, I can make changes quickly and thereby feel good almost all the time. That creates a world I want to live in, and a world that I adore.
It Is So Much Easier Now To See How I Create My Own World By My Thoughts.
Spread Some Joy Today--I don't think there is anything more wonderful and joyous as realizing that we each have so much more control of our lives. It's not about behavior, it is about how we feel.
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