Of all the lessons learned in this life, “thoughts are things” has been the most powerful.
You see, for as long as I can remember, my well-meaning family always taught me to watch what I say (hard for my filter-challenged brain), watch what I wear, be careful who I hang out with, etc.
They meant well. Most of it really is great advice. But they left one MAJOR thing out. They never taught me to be careful with what I was thinking about – what I was focused on-what was occupying my imagination. Maybe they just didn’t know how powerful our thoughts are.
Thoughts are things.
It’s a truth that we aren’t taught in schools, in church, at the playground, at our jobs or anywhere else – unless you seek it out. Thank goodness I had someone teach me…
Thoughts ARE things. That’s a fact. It sounded so “out there” and “woo woo” when I first learned this concept about 10 years ago. I was introduced to a very powerful book called “The Power of the Subconscious Mind” by a mentor of mine. It is one of the few books that literally changed my life. My copy is old, ear-marked in about a million places and well-loved like an old teddy bear. I buy that book for a lot of the people I work with – it is seriously that good. It was the first time I had ever really heard of the concept that the thoughts we think bring on the things in our lives. Literally, thoughts are things.
But it goes so much deeper than just “thoughts are things”.
That just scratches the surface…. Over the last year or so, I’ve really dived into self-development. I decided that my happiness was the most important thing in my life. As a result, the “thoughts are things” thing keeps showing up in various ways … In books I read. Podcasts I listen to. Periscopes that I watch, blog posts I read. I guess its like that phenomenon when you are wanting to buy a red jeep (which I want) and then all of a sudden you see them everywhere.
If you think about it…. Isn’t where you are RIGHT NOW the outcome of what you’ve been thinking about for the past 6 months or so? This works for happiness as well as sadness… Whatever you focus on, you create.
So, let me ask you… Are you careful about what you think about? What you daydream about? What you talk about with your friends & family? Do you catch yourself thinking a negative thought and then STOP yourself?
It takes practice – and mindfulness – but it can be done.
Just a week or two ago, I was chatting with my life coach and was talking about how my business hasn’t grown as fast as I’d like it to. Don’t get me wrong – I’m super-excited to be pursing my dream of owning my own business. I’m making some money and having fun doing it. I just want it to be bigger & better!
So he asked me… What have I been thinking on, focusing on, day-dreaming about in the recent past?
Six short months ago, I was still working my corporate job. I felt stuck in a career I had spent more than 10 years pursuing. I was miserable in my work life and my personal time was non-existent. Every day was just pushing through to get home so I could have some wine and try to forget how much I hated my job.
When I wasn’t chained to my desk or my phone, I spent my time online learning how to create my own business. Learning about branding, online marketing, SEO – pretty much ANYTHING I could absorb about creating a “laptop lifestyle”.
Roughly November of 2014, I started taking the steps to create my dream business. I bought a domain name (or 5), hatched a plan and started building a website. In May of 2015, I decided to quit that job and pursue my own business full-time.
Back to my coaching session… He asked me to examine my current status. How does it correlate to what I was thinking about in the past. The things I am experiencing RIGHT now are a direct reflection of what I have been thinking of…
In roughly one year, I went from having the little itch of the idea of escaping, to “growing a pair” big enough to take the leap, to actually realizing my dream of the “laptop lifestyle” – I’m sitting at a Starbucks right now!
No, my business isn’t as big and successful (yet) as I’d like it to be. As I’ve grown, my vision and thinking have grown. Right now, I’m realizing the “things” I was thinking about consistently 6 months ago. Does that mean in 6 more months I will look back and see what huge strides I was making at this exact time in my life (last week of October, 2015). I think yes.
I would have never created my current lifestyle if I didn’t focus on it, dream about it, imagine what it would be like, talk about it, read about it – basically become obsessed with the life I desired. I quit wallowing in my misery and started THINKING about what I really wanted. And would you look at me now? I created this. THIS. From thinking about it. Yes, its true. Thoughts are things.
So, moral of my long-winded, caffeine-fueled story: Fill your mind with positive thoughts. Actively reject negative things. Quit worrying all the time (it’s like wishing in reverse). Just focus on what you want – let your imagination run wild with it – and then delight as you watch it unfold.
Keep filling your mind with positive thoughts. Read Napoleon Hill, Tony Robbins, Dr. Wayne Dyer, Danielle Laporte and anything else that is full of positive energy, that stimulates your mind, that makes you want to grow and develop. Look for things that make you happy. Play with a dog, tickle a baby, sing your heart out at karaoke. Take a camping trip. Have sex. Go shopping. Think happy thoughts. You’ll get happy things.
Do you like to read too?
Here’s a (growing) list of books that literally changed my life
Readers are Leaders
