How Changes in Thinking Changes Your Life
What you say is what you get.
Your speech is a reflection of what you are thinking. To the extent that you change your thinking, you can and will change your life.
For example, if you think that you never have good luck, not only will you continue with your unlucky streak, but you will miss opportunities that come along that could make your situation better. That is because of your continuous focus on the negative. Your thinking about the things that could go wrong no matter how unlikely. As you miss opportunities that come your way, you will spiral into self-deprecating dialogue, which reflects your feelings. What you say is what you get.
If you think that you do not perform your job well, you’ll probably keep a low profile in staff meetings. You won’t feel comfortable expressing your opinions. You’ll make an extra effort to keep your head down. You might even be less likely to dress for success.
Using Affirmations to Change Your Life
To turn your life around, you must change your thinking. When you change your thinking, your actions will also change, thus manifesting outwardly. Change your thinking, change your life. Here is where affirmations play an essential role in your life.
Let’s stay with our example of one thinking: “I never have good luck.” You now know that your believing and saying “I never have good luck” is the very reason that you have, so-called bad luck. Good and bad luck are synonymous with good and bad judgment.
Self Psychology. Here is where you must do some self-psychology. Honestly inventory your skills and assets. Try to be as objective as possible. To see if you are on the right track, ask others for their input if you feel it necessary. You will probably discover that you are just as competent as everyone else. Assuming that is the case, the only thing that could be keeping you from doing better is your negative thinking. If you can accept this fact you now need to change those negative thoughts to positive thoughts.
Change your usual way of thinking. You can also use positive affirmations to change your thinking and to improve your “luck.” Affirmations are positive statements you repeat to the point that they become rooted in your subconscious mind. When this happens, it becomes your usual way of thinking.
For example, you might write an affirmation such as: “I’m a positive and successful person. I see only the good in every situation.” Over time, as you reaffirm each statement, they can become a part of who you are. One great way to remember to use them is to use “post-it notes” around your home and office. You might even post a few of them on the dashboard in your car.
Positive thinking becomes a positive habit. Over time, by continually exposing yourself to positive messages, seeing them, and repeating them over and over, the neural pathways in your brain will become stronger. As the neural pathways become stronger, they will become more likely to be activated in the future. In this manner, your positive thinking becomes a positive habit of replacing your negative thinking.
Using Thought Restructuring
Another powerful way to transform your thinking is to use “thought challenging.” That is a way to examine the content of your thinking and assess whether your thoughts are accurate.
Can you say and believe: “I never have good luck”? Could it be that you have just made some poor decisions? That you made some bad judgments?
Could it be that you are just not good at your job, and that is why you are in the situation you now find yourself?
Using Hypothesis Testing
Another technique is what I call hypothesis testing. Using this technique you put your negative concepts to the test. The objective here is to prove to yourself that your beliefs are not accurate.
You might take on a big assignment at work to prove that you can do the job, where in the past you might have kept your head down and avoided the challenge. Use this technique to prove to yourself that you can do it!
Collectively, these techniques will help you to learn to change your thinking, your beliefs; your speech; your self-concept; and your life. At this point, you might believe that you are the luckiest person on earth. And you could be right.
Source: Ebony J Media LLC
