How to Govern Your Life by Governing Your Thoughts
By: Melissa Raise
Tags: Self Improvement, Thoughts And Feelings, Self, Happiness, Thoughts

How to Govern Your Life by Governing Your Thoughts

YOU are in control…you just don’t know it yet.

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This is one of the best views on the planet: Looking up, surrounded by trees.

It helps to remember sometimes that the world is bigger than your ideals. That even at the end of the day, all of your struggles, wins, hopes and failures are all fodder for the soil you stand on. All of your thoughts are so small, they can blow away in the wind…however, whether you know it or not, you let them rule your life. We all do.

What is your world like…your internal world?

Is it a place of comfort? Or is it a place of “not enough”? The way you think about yourself and everything around you determines how you define your reality, how you define everything in your world. It determines how you feel, how you allow others to treat you, and how you decide to treat others. Your perception is a filter, it’s how you take in information and discern its meaning. Things are just things and people are undefined until they pass through the filter of your thoughts, of your perception.

Contrary to popular belief, it isn’t our feelings that govern our thoughts. It’s the other way around: What we think about births our feelings. If we label some things or people as dangerous, then we will feel afraid or protective when we’re around those things/ people. If we perceive certain people as being better than us, then when we’re around those people, we will feel inadequate or anxious, or maybe even excited. Thoughts dictate feelings, and since we often let our feelings dictate our actions, then that means our thoughts dictate our lives. The good news is that thoughts are something we can learn to control, or can at least guide in a direction that supports who we want to be and what we want to accomplish. If we can do this successfully, then our perception of ourselves and the world can change, the feelings we feel as a result of our perception can change, and…our lives can change.

If you’ve decided to improve the quality of your life, but you don’t know how then start by noticing what you think about. What thoughts do you think most often? How do those thoughts make you feel? You can even write some of your more common repetitive thoughts down on a piece of paper, and organize them by which ones feel good and help you be the kind of person you’d like to be…and which ones don’t feel good and work against who you’d like to be.

When you think a thought that drags you down, start replacing it with thoughts that are a little less harmful. Start by improving your harmful thoughts with one little nudge at a time. Your thoughts are like plants in the garden of your mind. Once you become aware of the thoughts you’re planting, you can start to replace those that are painful with better, more supportive thoughts. Move from thinking thoughts that break you down like “I’ll never get the job I want” to “Someday, I may get the job I want” and eventually: “I am on the way to the job of my dreams!”.

It’s like Abraham Hicks says: “Reach for a better feeling thought, and a better feeling thought, and then an even BETTER feeling thought — until you feel good more often than not.” This is a practice. It takes much repetition and diligence. But you’re worth the investment.

Melissa Raise is the owner of Raise the Bar Wellness. She is a Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Health Coach, and Licensed Massage Therapist with 18 years of experience helping people become more comfortable and successful. She also sells high-quality supplements from many brand names, to support her clients in their utmost well-being.