The Power of Thought

I don’t always write long-form content, such as this post or the others that I have written. Sometimes, I write a sentence or two and post them on various social channels. Last week, I posted something on Facebook that has stuck with me. I keep going back to it, letting the thought tumble around in my mind as I give it power over my other thoughts. This is what I wrote:

Simple? I think so, but the more I think about it, the more I conclude that that one simple sentence is the crux of emotional well being.

We all have thoughts that tumble through our minds. Thoughts ranging from what to eat for lunch and how much a particular persons clothing choices irritate you, to the meaning of life and how to solve world hunger.

I recently read an article that stated the average person has between 50,000 and 70,000 thoughts per day. That’s a lot of thinking! Of course, there is no way that any of us can give our full attention to all of them. It would probably drive us insane if we even tried! That’s why it’s so essential that we only give power to the thoughts that add to our emotional well being, instead of taking away from it. You see, we can’t always help the thoughts that pop up, but we can choose which ones we give energy to.

The thoughts that we give energy to have a profound impact on our daily lives, how we feel, and the direction in which our lives take. What we dwell on, we become.

Our attention is a powerful thing. Give attention to the negative thoughts, and our lives take on a negative slant. Give attention to the positive thoughts and so shall your life be.

Put another way: it’s not our day that affects our mood; it’s our mood that affects our day.

Your mood is in direct correlation to the thoughts you give power to. Your mood affects your day and your days affect your life. Pay close attention to the thoughts that you give power to for they will have a significant impact on the quality of your life.

I understand that this is easier said than done, but if you become more mindful of the thoughts you dwell on and how they are affecting your life, you put yourself in the advantageous position of being able to control your mood, despite the world around you. Once you’ve mastered that, you’ll quickly come to realize that you don’t need to change the world externally because you’ve already changed the world internally. That’s all that matters anyway.

Think on!