Life! By Design_ 6 Steps to an Extraordinary You - Laura Morton [74]
Numerous studies have proven that the conscious mind can hold only one thought at a time, either positive or negative. If you’re not thinking a positive thought, you are, by default, thinking a negative one. Most of us have been programmed to think a certain way and are greatly influenced by everything around us, from the environment in which we live and work to the people we encounter on a daily basis.
Most people are comfortable with the thoughts they regularly have and then spend their time reinforcing those thoughts because they believe them to be true. Self-talk—either spoken or unspoken—can take the form of feelings, emotions, or actual physical responses. Think about how you feel when you’re excited or nervous about something. Your heart races with anticipation. This is a physical reaction to a thought you’re having.
Our minds are constantly in thought, even when we are sleeping. Most of our self-talk is unconscious, meaning we aren’t even aware of it. Every thought we have is tied to something we already know from our past. It could be something we’ve seen, heard, smelled, tasted, judged, analyzed, or experienced. Once our brain takes in new information, it starts an almost instant process of categorizing that information and tying it to something we already know so we can react to it. That is why we instinctively know when to accept, believe, doubt, approve, disapprove, or otherwise respond to something.
Your subconscious mind remembers everything. It accepts whatever statements we make and acts accordingly. If everything you say to yourself is believed, then every time you send a negative thought to your subconscious mind, it accepts it as true and acts on it. You would never sit down at your computer and type the word, “Crash,” “Lose my files,” or “Lose all of my contacts,” right? So why would you send the same kind of messages to your brain? Think of your conscious thoughts as the keyboard to your computer. Every thought you have becomes a message to your brain. If you keep feeding yourself the wrong information, you will never be able to make things right. Unless you change your internal program by turning your negative self-talk into positive self-talk, you will not be able to change your results.
When I was twenty-one years old, my mentor Bill Mitchell gave me good advice based on his growing up on a farm in Michigan. He said the greatest lesson he learned was if you plant corn, you don’t get tomatoes.
At first, I had no idea what he was talking about.
He explained that if you plant only doubt, lack, limitation, and fear in your mind, you won’t ever end up with love, success, wealth, abundance, and prosperity. How you think and react to a stimulus clearly dictates the outcome.
Okay. Hold on. Do you find yourself thinking more positive or negative thoughts? Be honest.
Your self-concept is how you view yourself. What you see when you look in the mirror and what thoughts go through your head are all images of your self-concept. We have self-concepts about everything in life, including our appearance, relationships, eating habits, work ethic, parenting skills, how much money we make, and how others view us.
The words we say to ourselves are extremely powerful. They can make us laugh, cry, think, and act. They can create or destroy. When you verbalize a thought, an emotional attachment is formed. That bond can motivate you to leap into inspired action or keep you from ever getting off the couch. This is why it is crucial to think about what you are going to say before you speak. Once words are uttered, they’re hard to take back, especially words we say to ourselves.
Are your thoughts and choice of words building you up or tearing you down? Everything you tell yourself becomes a directive to your subconscious mind. Most people who use negative self-talk aren’t even aware they’re doing it. Here are some examples:
I’m fat.
I can’t…
Why does this keep happening to me?
I’m so stupid/I’m an idiot.
I don’t have the time.
I wish…
If only…
The list is never-ending.