Just Change Your Mind

“The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitude of mind. … If you change your mind, you can change your life.” ~ William James

Some coaches teach that it is your attitude which governs everything. I believe this is accurate, and if it is, all you’d have to do to change a situation would be to change your attitude. Of course, to change your attitude, you’d have to change your mind, right?

There is you inside your mind, looking out at the world and judging what you see from the databases you’ve stored inside your mind. That’s where your attitude lives.

Changing your mind can be done in the flash of an instant or in a lengthy process of research and reasoning. You are the one in charge of how you’d like to see it done.

Here are some considerations to help you widen the way you see things currently.

Learn to Love Silent Watching. It is simply not necessary to respond to everything in a split second. Make it easy on yourself. Become keenly aware of how you’re thinking about what is going on inside your mind. And if someone absolutely has to hear your opinion, you can simply say “I’m still thinking about that.” Only you can push you to respond without first cogitating. Life isn’t a race. You’ll begin to love the quiet, the repose, the chance to breathe more easily and to become friends with the you inside your mind.

Change Your Mind. Once you become aware of the helter-skelter that’s going on inside your mind, you can harness the thinking and make it go in one direction or another. It is okay to place your focus on what serves you, your life, your career, your family and your friendships best. You’ll take away from all those if you let yourself fall into feeling sorry for others, as an example. What you think determines what your attitude will be, if your dreams will come true, and whether or not you’ll be successful. You can set your intention to do what is good for you first, and do what is good for all others next. That is universal good.

What You Dream of Becoming, You Already Are. It’s a big idea to absorb, and it’s true. Everything that you want to become is already inside you in its early beginnings. If that wasn’t true, you wouldn’t even have the idea of it. If you want to experience serenity, it’s in there. If you want to experience energy, it’s in there. If you don’t like where you are, how you are, or what you are, the next new you is in there. Look inside yourself and describe for yourself the details of what you want next. Write those ideas down. Decide what time frame in which you’d like them to happen. Your Higher Self will begin to nudge you what to do next and before you know it, your dream has become a reality.

Inventory What’s Good Now. If you want more in your life, recognize what’s there already. When you make an inventory of what you currently own, your gratitude will swell up and your sense of recognition will acknowledge just how good it is. You will also know then, that you had no clue when you were creating all that’s on that list how good those things were, but you do know that you can create good things. You will then know that you can also create more good for yourself following that same methodology. Life is infinite and it is your inheritance, so the experience and expression of more, more, more will always be in your experience. Be greatful and joyous. Start looking for the next good thing.

Count It All Joy. I suspect you no longer remember most of those childhood challenges that made you cry or angry or sad, do you? We all struggle a bit as we are unfolding. At some point, we can look back at what we’ve gone through and see the good that was intrinsic to it. Once we do that, we can also know that when we’re in the middle of some trouble, we will handle that one, too, because that is how we’ve always done things. Don’t run away. It’s always darkest right before the dawn, but when that sun does come up, oh boy. What joy. Your challenges has helped you to unfold the character you have now, so be grateful and go get some more.

Let Go. Let Good. There’s an idiom that says “All good things must come to an end.” If you had held tenaciously to your teen age years, you’d have never become an adult. If you fight like a boxer to stay in the favorite chapter of your book, you’d never find out how it ends. We are creatures made to experience forward progress. In order to do that, we have to take that one next step forward, whatever it is. Even if there’s a mistake tucked in it, we still make forward progress because we learn not to make that mistake. Don’t hold on to what is old, what you’re comfortable with now, what is so-called known. Point yourself at what is new coming up next and for the joy you’ll experience when you see it.

Learn to Read Your Body. Your body is the faithful mirror of your soul. For every single thing that happens inside your mind, your body pictures it forth in some way or another. Your body might develop a tail-bone ache for example to let you see you’ve been sitting and writing for too long a period of time. Bet you wonder where I came up with that one, don’t you? Have a sip of water. Stand up and stretch. Your body serves as a report card to show you what your mind’s been thinking, so be grateful you know this and use it wisely and well. It can help you to change your mind in an instant.

Your attitude is the by-product of your thinking. I’ve now shown you several ways to change your mind. If you use these tools, you’ll have a new attitude soon enough. Mind change and attitude are like kissing cousins.