YOU ARE WHAT YOU THINK

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote that “a man is what he thinks about all day long.” What we think about is what determines what we drawn to us in our lives. That is our mental atmosphere is frequently mirrored back to us in experience. Since recovery involves changing our thought processes, it is important to review our thoughts each day. It is also important to take the time to put different information into our minds if we are to expect different results in our lives. It is the daily bathing of our minds. It seems so odd that many individuals would be outraged if denied a daily bath or shower, but have never considered the daily cleansing of their thoughts.

Many individuals read the newspaper daily, or they turn to the radio and news to feel connected in some way with the world. And yet, these same individuals will forget to spend time the each day to be connected to their own thoughts and feelings. Some individuals sadly have never been taught that thoughts are the seeds for their future. To grow a lush, green future we must carefully pluck the thoughts that are weeds. We pluck the crabgrass thoughts and replace them with the thoughts that turn life into an abundant garden.

This can be a time set aside daily to share the thoughts that have been held by great minds. If I am to be more like the great, empowered people who have lived before me, I must learn to think in the manner that they also thought. We train for every event in which we want to succeed. If we do not train our thoughts, they are like dandelions seeds blowing wherever the wind will take them. The daily practice of reflection has been the habit of every great mind. This is a vital exercise and the basis of Step 11.

Life is really very simple. What we give out, we get back. What we think about becomes the truth for us. We are 100% responsible for everything in our lives. Every thought we think is creating our future. The thoughts we think and the words we speak create our experience.

We create situations and then we blame others for our frustration. We are the only thinkers in our mind. When we find peace and harmony in our mind we will find it also in our lives. Our subconscious mind accepts whatever we choose to believe. IT ONLY ACCEPTS US AT OUR OWN VALUE. What we believe about life becomes our reality. If we want to believe that nobody loves me or people are out to get me, then this is what we will find in our world.

Many of us have foolish ideas about life, and many rigid rules we think we must live by. These ideas started when we were very little and may have been ideas adopted from parents. If our parents were unhappy, we will learn to be unhappy, too. We grow up we have the tendency to recreate the emotional environment of our childhood, even when it was unhappy. We choose it because it is familiar and less frightening then choosing new ideas.

Do not blame you parents. They only learned it from their parents. They could not teach us anything they did not know. Many of then never realized they we are only dealing with thoughts, and thoughts can be changed. We may not be able to control every thought that pops into our head, but we can choose the ones we choose to we dwell upon.