It's all in your control - There is a reason why a lot of people don’t believe in positive thinking and that kind of thing. It is simply that they do not want to face the fact that their lives are totally in their own hands and they are afraid of the immense potential/results if they do so. Believing in positive thinking would mean that they cannot blame their lack of education, their parents, teacher or spouse for their failures. It is much easier to think there is some force out there called “destiny” that is just against you and takes pleasure in seeing you suffer. If only this didn’t happen or that had happened, you would be so much better off.
Choose your response - I am not saying that bad things don’t happen in life. Sometimes they do happen. However, your response to what happens to you, whether good or bad, is your choice. To quote James Allen once more: “Man is the master of thought, the moulder of character, and the maker and shaper of condition, environment and destiny.”
Feed your mind right - Your mind will work just as hard to make you fail as it will to make you succeed. It does not discriminate between good seed and bad seed. That should be great news. The amount of effort it takes to fail is the same amount of effort it takes to succeed as far as the mind is concerned. It is your responsibility to provide it with the right seeds of thought. How do you change your negative thoughts into positive thoughts? It has taken years, if not decades for you to develop the negative thought patterns you may have. So it would be absolutely impractical to expect to change these thought patterns overnight.
Like the gardener who takes tender care of his garden, slowly weeding out the unwanted plants and giving care and nurturing to the desired plants, you must get rid of the negative thoughts and replace them with positive ones.
Recognize Negative Thoughts - The first step, then, is to be able to recognize the negative thoughts. Any thinking that emphasizes lack, failure, sickness and so on is negative. If you do not want it, don’t think it. To give a practical example, have you ever seen someone driving a very expensive car and thought to yourself that you would never be able to own such a car? Replace it with the thought that it is totally possible for you to own that car. Do everything you can to bring it within reach of your mind. You will be amazed at the power such simple exercises can have.
The power of association - By far the best way to change your mind set is to associate with other great minds. The saying “show me your friends and I will show you your future” is right on the spot! The company you keep says a lot about who you are and how you think. If you do not have company worth keeping do not lose heart. This is, after all, the information age. Through books, music, movies and the internet you can have access to the greatest minds that ever lived.
Guard your mind jealously. You don’t have to read everything in the paper about murder, death and suffering! Don’t join the pity party about how “the economy is tough and you are just barely managing.” Stay positive in all circumstances.
Conclusion - Mahatma Gandhi is a man that is greatly admired and who left an indelible footprint on this earth. Could it be because he realized the power that he possessed in his mind when he said: “You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.”
You are all you can be. Go on and be it!!!
I have been thinking a great deal about my experience at Reconciliation this past Saturday. I felt an intense and unexplainable urge to go and confess my sins when I woke up that morning. I try to go every six weeks or so, but this was no routine visit to the priest for me. I needed to unburden myself of the numerous venial sins I had committed since I last participated in this Sacrament.
Purest Gold: God's Refining Fire in our Lives »
After salvation, many young Christians wonder if there's anything more to their newfound faith than just the security blanket of "being a Christian." Time and time again, God shows himself as a "refiner," and our lives are as gold. God started leading me in this study to understand what He was doing in my life, as well as in the lives of others.
Picking up my pen to write this column, I couldn’t imagine how time flies. Since the last publication of this column I have gone through a lot, especially the loss of my dear mother to whom I dedicate this article. Not only her, but seems I lost a whole generation of my close family.
How to Achieve Business Excellence »
“Do you see a man who excels in his work? He will stand before Kings; He will not stand before unknown men.” Proverbs 22:29
Spiritual Development for our Youth »
Most of us youth in today's fast moving world are easily thrown off by difficulties and worries.
The theme of conversion is a thread that runs all through Lent, but conversion takes on different aspects throughout the phases of Lent. The first two and a half weeks focused on the interior turning of hearts; the liturgy urges the faithful to reflect and examine consciences thoroughly.
Saint Josephine Bakhita »
Feast Day: February 8
Patron Saint Of: Sudan
Saint Josephine Margaret Bakhita was born around 1869 in the village of Olgossa in the Darfur region of Sudan. She was a member of the Daju people and her uncle was a tribal chief. Due to her family lineage, she grew up happy and relatively prosperous, saying that as a child, she did not know suffering.
Catholics Must Fast More Intensely This Lent»
The Norbertine Canons of St. Michael's Abbey have created this digital Lenten retreat so that you can journey through this holy season alongside them. If you want to have one of your best Lenten seasons yet, join us in our Lenten Program "The Great Fast" - https://theabbotscircle.com/the-great-fast-join
When Your Faith Is Put to the Test - Bishop Barron's Sunday Sermon»
Friends, we come now to the Second Sunday of Lent, and we’re on both dangerous and very holy ground with the first reading from the twenty-second chapter of Genesis. The ancient Israelites referred to it as the “Akedah,” which means the “binding”: Abraham binds and is ready to sacrifice Isaac at God’s command.
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