CHAPTER 18: HOW HAVE YOU BEEN PROGRAMMED TO THINK?
There are two ways to live your life:
One is as though nothing is a miracle.
The other is as though everything is a miracle.
– Unknown
What do you suppose will happen if you wake up in the morning, look into the mirror, and say to yourself, “You are such a loser! This is going to be such a crappy day!”?
Chances are, you will feel like a loser all day, and will probably have a bad day.
Why? Because more often than not, you tend to get out of life what you expect to get out of life.
Now, rewind.
What might happen if you wake up in the morning, look into the mirror, and say to yourself, “You rock! This is going to be a great day!”?
Yep, chances are, you will feel good and have a good day.
Again, you tend to get out of life what you expect to get out of life.
— ♦ —
Did you ever hear these types of comments when you were younger?
You can’t do that! You won’t!
You’re useless! You’re wrong!
You’ll fail if you try! You can’t win!
What is wrong with you? You’re such a dummy!
You’ll never amount to anything!
Because your subconscious accepts what is fed into it as real, you were conditioned to believe these comments were true.
Or — did you grow up hearing these types of comments?
Yes, you can do that! You are awesome!
You can succeed at this! Yes, you can win!
I am so proud of you! You are a wonderful kid!
You can do anything if you put your mind to it!
Because your subconscious accepts what is fed into it as reality, you were conditioned to believe these comments were true.
Either way, your reality is based on how you have been programmed to think.
Whether you think you will have a good day
or you think you will have a bad day — you are right.
— ♦ —
Where Do You Focus Your Attention?
Think about where you focus most of your attention.
Make a list of the things you did today. Be honest with yourself — which one did you talk about the most? Which bothered you the most, or stuck with you the most?
The majority of people focus their attention on the small part of the day that was bad, instead of the majority of the day that was good.
I asked a student to write out a list of things that happened during her day. Here is what her list included:
Woke up
Took a shower, brushed teeth, etc.
Fixed breakfast, ate breakfast
Took vitamins
Read and answered e-mails, and checked other messages
Put grocery list together
Got in car and drove to store
Some guy cut me off on the freeway!
Went into store, bought groceries
Took groceries home and put them away
Fixed lunch, ate lunch
Threw in some laundry
Checked e-mails and messages again
Decided what to fix for dinner
Phone calls with friends
Fixed dinner, ate dinner
Loaded the dishwasher
Watched TV for a while
Went to bed
I then asked her, “Of all the things that happened today, which did you talk about the most through e-mails, messages, texting, phone calls, etc.?”
Take a guess which one she talked about the most.
Yep — that guy who cut her off on the freeway.
Of the more than 20 things she had listed, the one she had focused on was the one bad thing that had happened all day — the one thing that had upset her the most.
I challenged her — and I challenge you — to start focusing your attention on the positive things, the good things, the things that go well in your life. Be more focused on your blessings instead of the problems in your life.
Sure, the bad things will still happen, but by changing your focus, you change the outcome and how you feel at the end of your day.
The more you program yourself to focus on the positive, the more you will notice the positive, and you will find yourself paying less attention to the negative.
And, the negative will affect you less.
— ♦ —
Tomorrow morning, when you wake up, look into the mirror, and tell yourself:
“You rock! This is going to be a great day!”
— ♦ —
THINK TIME:
What steps can you take to change
your internal programming?
PART TWO
THE HOWs and WHYs
and OTHER LESSONS
Science is not only compatible with spirituality;
it is a profound source
of spirituality.
– Carl Sagan,
scientist / astronomer