(Alternate title: “Tagged - No, Wait - Yes… Tagged!”)
As you know by now, a big part of my approach to work is about healing the voices within that keep us from showing up at our best.
So when I got tagged (more on that in a second) for Peter’s “Think Different” challenge, it was a no-brainer; the idea, basically, is to try thinking differently about something in your life that you’ve been holding as a negative… start thinking positively about it, and see what happens.
(The “tagging” debacle? I was told by Tristan Loo of the Synergy Institute that he tagged me, but he actually tagged a different Adam (he has since added me to his tagged list, though!). I sorta put it out of my mind, but then Jennifer Mannion of Heal Pain Naturally tagged me from her post… so that’s when I figured the Universe was trying to tell me something!)
As the wind bloweth
Now, thinking differently about something you’re holding as a negative is good… and, in my experience, it can be like trying to keep a paper cup on a picnic table in a wind storm. You can try to keep your thoughts in the positive, but if you’ve got a strong wind — belief systems, in this case — that keep on blowing the same way they have been, then you can try all you want to keep that cup on the table, but it isn’t going to happen.
If you want to keep your thoughts positive, you’ve got to make your belief (which generates your thoughts) positive first.
Example:
If you look outside your window, see grey skies, and think, “Bummer weather,” that’s just a thought created by a belief that says, “grey skies = bad.” You can try to think positively about your day, but as long as you have it worked up in your mind that “grey = bad,” you’ve got an uphill battle on your hands.
But if you look outside your window, see grey skies, and think, “Woo hoo!”, then you’ve obviously got a belief system that says, “grey skies = good.” Thinking positively, then, becomes automatic.
So, back to the challenge…
Right now, the bulk of my time and energy is being spent working on the Internal Success course. And as excited as I am about it, and even as the project cascades into so much more than it was when I started, I still have doubts now and again.
(Doubts = thoughts = the evil brainchild of negative beliefs.)
I’d love to think differently about them, so rather than just try to reorient my thoughts, I put the Internal Success teachings into action. Within two minutes, my thoughts went from scarcity-based thoughts, “No one will want it, there are already tons of programs out there…”, to, “There are millions of people out there who need it… this could be huge. There’s no shortage at all. Make it, offer it, be open and invite people to it. Be positive!”
And the great thing is, it was totally sincere. When I try to “overwrite” my thoughts, there’s always this nagging voice underneath it all, saying, “Oh, come on… you can try to affirm otherwise, but you know it’s not really like that.”
But with the negative beliefs cleared out of my system, those old connections just aren’t there anymore. There’s no tide I’m trying to hold back; my beliefs are naturally generating positive, abundant thoughts.
As a (wo)man thinketh
It’s true (to borrow the phrase from James Allen): As you thinketh, so you are. Changing your thoughts is a sure-fire way to impact the quality of your life (no big revelation here). But if you want to have more success at it than trying to keep a paper cup steady in a wind storm, don’t stop with your thoughts alone; clear the beliefs you have that are keeping your thoughts headed down the wrong paths, and you’ll be much better off.