Our entire lives are guided by our minds.
The thoughts we allow into our brains every day shape our lives, and determine our future. You may have heard of this idea that we become what we think about from Earl nightingale, we’re going to go into more detail here..
So there is a famous American motivational speaker named Earl Nightingale, who has become famous for his speeches and most commonly his quote: ‘We become what we think about’. He basically claims that the thoughts we have actually determine our entire lives.
He claims that every man is the sum total of his thoughts, and that he’s where he is in life because that’s where he really wants to be. This type of responsibility is actually the case for all of us. We can change our lives at any time, but the intention must be there, otherwise nothing will happen.
In every moment, you make choices about your life, what you do with your time, where you etc, and these choices are based on your beliefs, and your thoughts. Your thoughts and beliefs contribute to your decisions and behavior, therefore your actions, and therefore your personality and character. We become what we think about all day long.
You’re guided by your mind
Everything you do in life and everything you have done has been guided by your thoughts. You might not have always been aware of this, and maybe sometimes it could have seemed like something else was in control, an external factor, maybe your parents or your school?
The truth however, is that everything in your life and even where you are now is a result of your choices. your thoughts become your choices, and therefore you are where you are now because that’s where you have chosen to be. It may be hard to hear this, but it’s the place to start from if you want to improve yourself.
You got yourself here, so you can be assured that you have the power to get yourself somewhere else, anywhere else in fact, that you want to be.
Let a power greater than you take care of the ‘how’
In Earl’s most viewed video, the one I’ll link you to in a while, he talks about leaving the success of your life to a power greater than you. We’re not quite sure what is meant by this, but my interpretation of this is that eventually, you’ll figure it out for yourself. Basically, once your intention is there and you start to be more aware of your thoughts, you’ll also start to change how you behave as well.
It’s thought doing this that you can really achieve success, and it is possible for anyone, but you must change your mind before you can do anything else. Everyone is brought up with predetermined beliefs and opinions about the world, and if they don’t change them or at the very least question them, their entire lives will be guided by this.
What do you want in life?
Just for the purposes of this article, take a second right now to think about your life. What do you want it to be? What do you really want to do with the short amount of time you’ve been given on this planet? Do you want to change the world? Become rich? Become a father/mother? what do you really want, because many people don’t even really think about this.
They might consider career options when forced to conform, they might attend a career day and choose the one they feel they would enjoy most out of the choices presented to them, but why not think outside of that box? There are no limits to what you could do, but have you ever really considered it?
Alan Watts, the great philosopher used to ask his students: ‘What would you do in money were no object?‘. If you had all the money in the world, what would you do with your time from now until you died? What would you really enjoy doing? Because that’s really all that matters. Not money, or stability, because these are illusions.
Do what you enjoy doing, because although everyone dies, not everyone really lives, and if you’re just staying alive to put food on the table and keep slaving away in the office until you die, what’s the point in it all? Life should be an exciting adventure.
So take the time to really think about what you’ve read today, and plant a seed in your mind. What do you want in life? What do you want to become? Work steadily towards that, and remember..
We become what we think about
This is such a profound realization, and when I first understood this, not just on an intellectual level, but when I emotionally understood what this meant, my life changed. I started focusing on the things I really wanted to do, and not on just what would bring the money in for the time being.
Focus on what you want in life, and everything else will fall into place. This isn’t just some personal development blog spitting out stuff that doesn’t work, this really does work, and it carries some serious weight to it as well. If you don’t believe me, really try this out. For a couple of months, focus on your goal, and only think positively.