Mindful Monday- Thinking...it's sticky business.
BY MISTY JENNEIAHN
“Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions; watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch your character, it becomes your destiny.”― Lao Tzu
Monitoring your thoughts might seem difficult but doing so could make a HUGE difference in the quality of your present moment, which will eventually make up your day and remainder of your life.
You see, experts estimate that we think over 2,000 thoughts an hour. That’s a LOT of thoughts! Many of those thoughts come in and go out quickly without consequence like, “I’m almost out of milk” or “It’s hot outside” but other thoughts have a way of sticking in our minds and determining how our life develops as well as dictating how we feel. This can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on what kind of thoughts are sticking.
If the thought, “Life is always supporting me” sticks, there’s a good chance that no matter what happens during the day, you’ll tend to feel pretty darn good about it. Contrarily, if “Nothing ever works out for me” is on mental repeat, even if things are going well in your life, you’ll always feel a little on guard, waiting for the next shoe to drop.
Additionally, the thoughts that stick have a way of inviting other, but similar thoughts to join them at the party. For example, if the thought “I’m fat” shows up at your mental front door and you let it in for a drink, pretty soon your doorbell’s ringing and “I need to go on a diet, “I haven’t been to the gym in weeks”, “I’m ugly” and “I’ll never find the man of my dreams” are crashing the party with a keg of beer and the perfect playlist.
The other little truth to remember is that it's your mind’s job is to make you right. The mind can’t tell the difference between real and imagined. It simply operates using the thought program that’s inserted into its hard drive. This is why we hear of olympic athletes running races and perfecting their craft in their minds long before the physical performance. They imagine themselves crossing the finish line in record time, or seeing the gold medal being placed around their neck.
What we think about we bring about. What we look for, we find.
With this in mind (no pun intended) isn’t it worth our time and energy to be vigilant gardeners of our minds landscape? Isn’t it worth a little time spent weeding out thoughts that aren’t really working and then planting and watering the ones that do?
If even 1 of those 2,000 thoughts an hour was upleveled into a joy packed, sticky masterpiece, that’s 24 more moments of joy that you get to experience a day! Time is really all we have after-all. Shouldn’t we make the most of it?
I love this! Going to plant only positive seeds in my mind from here on in. But since it’s the season, I might plant a few pomegranate seeds too! ;-)
Awesome message !
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