Our thoughts are the beginning of everything we do—or don’t do. We all know of people who are extremely wealthy, living passionately, and making an impact on the world around them. It’s not a stretch to believe that the thoughts they think are high-caliber thoughts.

Anyone of us can probably also bring to mind people who have nothing much at all to show for their lives. They haven’t achieved anything significant, they live in fear and misery, and they make very little difference in the world around them.

Here are 3 things to think about when it comes down to creating constructive thoughts:

1. Typical Thoughts, Typical Results

This is the type of person I was for the majority of my adulthood. I didn’t believe that I could do the types of things other people do. I believed things wouldn’t work out for me, and I convinced myself that anybody else but me could be successful.

As would be expected from this very dependable universe we live in, the results were predictable. I didn’t achieve anything, I didn’t find success and I didn’t make an impact. But these results were really just the beginning of my pain—they led to some very devastating feelings as well. I began to experience high levels of frustration for what little I was getting out of life. I soon started to hate myself because I couldn’t do better; I couldn’t figure life out.

The types of thoughts I was thinking closed-off any real possibility for positive results. They dis-empowered me through my negative expectation, creating a limit on my ability to be successful.

“Change your thoughts and you change your world.” – Norman Vincent Peale

2. Awareness of Thought

Fortunately, I experienced a turn-around with my thoughts, and it all started with awareness. A shift happened in my perception and I was able to separate myself from them. Soon, I could begin to see that I am not the thoughts I think about myself. I realized that the real me has no labels.

The problem I was experiencing was that I took my negative beliefs and defined myself by them. Because the beliefs became me there wasn’t any way to escape them. And because they were so close to me a curious thing happened— I eventually became less conscious of them.

Most of the people in this world live day-to-day without any awareness of their thoughts. They become so much a part of them that they eventually fall into a blind-spot. They just stop seeing them. To be able to change our thoughts requires us to be aware of them. The good news is that this is a process we can have some control over.

In order to become aware of your thoughts, I suggest a simple but powerful method for identifying and working through them. Keep a journal with you and record your typical daily thoughts in it. Note them all, good, bad, and indifferent. Once you have them on paper you are able to see them as separate from you again. They become things that you can observe and question. As you begin to notice your thoughts you can trade them up for more beneficial ones.

“If you realized how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think a negative thought.” – Peace Pilgrim

3. Empowering Thoughts

All thoughts are creative. You can’t think a thought and not put something into motion. Our thoughts always produce some result. Now that I really understand this concept I can not only watch for and avoid the negative but I can willfully, with intention, think empowering thoughts.

An empowering thought is open-ended—it avoids limitation. It is also positive. It says things like, “I am,” “I will,” or “I can.” I consistently add these little, two-word phrases to my vocabulary every day now. I say them to myself with intention—I make them very real, deliberate thoughts. “I can do this speech. I will land that client. I am capable.” What started out as a very simple, “I can…,” resulted in a very small, but noticeable, return. That gave me a little more confidence and, with that, my intention increased and so did my results.

Now I find myself confidently creating empowering thoughts (intention) with greater faith in the truth with in them (expectation) and in their ability to create powerful things (manifestation).

Instead of a downward spiral, where the bad builds on the bad, it’s an empowering, upward spiral. My stronger, more empowering thoughts produce more powerful results, which makes my thoughts stronger, and so on. As time goes on my thinking becomes more empowering and I become more successful.

So, what do you think? Please add YOUR thoughts to the discussion below.

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