You are what you think
You are what you think. Okay, not exactly, but pretty close. Our thoughts have the power to create a chain reaction within our lives, think the domino effect.
Thoughts
Our thoughts are reliant upon our actions and vice versa. Every day, the challenge your thoughts present you are real. Have a strained relationship with your boss? Challenge. Are you worried about how you’re raising your child? Challenge. Do you want to lose or gain weight? Challenge. Do you want to buy a forever home? Challenge. We deal with challenges daily. Our thoughts have the power to influence and even dictate the tiniest of decisions that often determine our success with challenges.
There’s a cycle to our decisions. As mentioned, it’s a domino effect. It starts with a thought. Then, your thoughts grow into something actionable. After this, your subconscious must decide if this actionable thought is indeed worth doing. You weigh the pros and cons in your brain and ultimately decide whether or not you want to do it.
Actions
Thoughts lead to actions. Whether we like it or not, we face a daily set of choices throughout our lives. Is there traffic on your usually traffic-less work commute? Will you take an alternate route? Did you leave early enough that it doesn’t matter? Do you have an understanding supervisor? This example shows how situations out of our control impact our lives.
Control what you can control
If you spend a lot of time trying to control every single aspect of your life, you’re very much like me. Admittedly, I am guilty of this. No matter what it is, I try to take everything into my own hands. I want to take the reigns of my life. To me, who wouldn’t want to? But over the years, I have come to learn that you can only control what you can control. There will be times in your life which change your circumstances or possibly who you are, such as losing a loved one or graduating from college. These are actual possibilities that could alter the course of your life.
Reactions
We all know you can’t always choose what happens to you in life. You can choose how you react to it, though. It’s something I notice in my life nearly every day. Through conversations with my coworkers or family members, I see that how I choose to react to anything in my life is of the utmost importance. It’s not easy, and we know it. But your reaction could ultimately determine your outlook on the matter, for better or worse.
If you are what you think, then what are you? Are your thoughts filled with positivity and growth in mind? Or negativity and self-deprecation? Once again, it’s not easy. I’ve struggled to stay positive at times in my life due to extreme circumstances and sadness. Yet, it’s these very moments that have given me the blueprint of dealing with trying situations and how to move forward.
Does this mean I’ve found the key? No. Not by any means. But it means I’ve navigated these difficult times enough to where I’ve learned from them. They’ve led to exponential growth for me over the past ten years.
When sticky situations arise now, I deal with them in a much healthier, thoughtful manner. This type of mindset is something I work on all of the time. There is still so much room for improvement, but I have gratitude for my direction. My thoughts lead to actions, my actions lead to reactions, and when they all come together in harmony, it's a truly beautiful thing.
