Taking control of your future

“If one advances confidently in the direction of one’s dreams, and endeavours to live the life which one has imagined, one will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”

Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862) author, philosopher

There is a belief among many people that their thoughts and feelings direct their behaviour, yet if we monitor our thoughts we can observe them rather like an air-traffic controller observes airplanes and guides them to their destinations. Likewise, our minds can not only observe our thoughts they can also direct our thoughts where we wish them to go. Understanding this ability to control our thoughts can lead to a more healthy and stress-reduced life and can help us achieve our dreams.

Find a quiet, peaceful place and just sit and observe the thoughts which freely enter your mind. There is no need to deeply analyse these thoughts, just act like an independent spectator making a note of them and seeing which ones are positive, negative or neutral. While you are doing this pay attention to those thoughts which tend to draw you in and begin to make you feel a particular way.

The fact that you could observe your thinking demonstrates that you are distinct from the thoughts that are flying around in your head. Your consciousness and awareness of our thoughts is rather like a busy flight controller who is directing and lining up airplanes to land at a busy airport. You can choose to give priority to some thoughts and ignore others which you consider irrelevant.

In other words, thinking is not something which independently happens to us as many people believe. Instead, thinking is something which we do, and we can control the thoughts inside our head should we choose to do so. This is the opposite of allowing our thoughts to control us, and this perspective puts us in the driving seat where we can choose the direction we wish to travel.

For example, briefly think about what you would really like to eat for your evening meal. Very quickly your mind tunes into what you would find most appetising and this might make your mouth water. What you have just done is to direct you brain to dream about a really tasty meal; you have chosen what to think about.

Feelings Follow Thoughts…

Undoubtedly, internal thoughts have the power to significantly influence the way we feel, but these are just thoughts. Are you in control of your mind, or is your mind in control of you?

Have you ever noticed how one moment you can be in a really good mood and then suddenly your emotions drop like a ton of bricks as you think of something negative? When we think about something negative our brains encourage the release of hormones which tend to make us have more negative thoughts, which make us feel worse and so on. This feedback loop makes us feel worse and has the potential to drive people into a downward spiral.

Fortunately, the reverse is also true. If we have positive thoughts they cause the brain to produce ‘good’ hormones which make us feel better. This begins to develop a virtuous circle where we change our thoughts which change our feelings and which change our lives. What these situations reveal is that it is our thoughts which frequently trigger our feelings. So if we can change our thoughts from negative ones to positive ones we can influence how we feel.