You Are What You Think

The Way You Think Determines Who You Are

The way that you think determines what you actually see and hear, and how you interpret the meaning of your experiences, because what you experience has no meaning in itself, so that two people having the same life experiences can view them in  totally different ways. This is how two people can be part of the same conversation, and yet remember completely different things about it, sometimes to the extent that you can wonder if they are actually remembering the same event. 

How you think reflects your beliefs, which  have been formed throughout your life and influenced by your upbringing, education, friends, work, TV, newspapers, books, religion, fears, hopes and dreams. They are also affected by your attitude to yourself, if you like and accept yourself , if you think positively or negatively and if you are self confident.

Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives. - William James

Happy people think differently to unhappy ones, and the way that that they think has a huge bearing on their happiness, because we all think differently, and yet we can all change the way that we think and in that way determine our own level of happiness. This applies equally well to success and health.

You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you. - James Allen  

What you think about also determines what you bring into your life, so if you are thinking about positive things that will improve your life and develop yourself as a person, then you will find and remember the things that will help you achieve this. If you spend your time thinking about negative things, then these are the things that you notice and attract into your life.

Positive & Negative Thoughts

We are all more influenced by negative thoughts than positive ones. One person's criticism has more effect than several people's praise because the mind dwells on the negative thought. Dr. Rick Hansen says that the brain is like Velcro for negative experiences (which attach themselves to our minds like Velcro), and it's like Teflon for positive experiences (which we allow to slide away from our focus.)

Positive thinking is an attitude worth cultivating because it is a mindset that looks for the positive aspect of experiences, rather than dwelling the negative ones.

Feelings are not thoughts, yet the feelings we have about a situation or event are often remembered as part of a story, and the story becomes our memory of the event, and is what we think. The ability to experience and observe the feeling as just feelings alows us the choice to make them part of our story, part of the way we think.

Don't be so hard on yourself. If you are too critical of yourself, it is easy to think about every failure as reinforcement that you are a failure. This is just a way of reinforcing a lack of self confidence. Be realistic, and concentrate more on your successes, as these increase your value of self worth and your self confidence.

The Law Of Attraction

The Law Of Attraction says that what you think about is what is attracted into your life, and so what you think about now determines the way your life will go in the future.

The Placebo Response

The placebo response is when you believe that someting will make you feel better and it does. A placebo has no therapeutic ingredients and can be a tablet, capsule or injection containing no active ingredients, or a procedure with no therapeutic effect, such as an operation where nothing is done. Placebos can be almost as effective as drugs in many cases, and in some cases the difference between an actual drug and a placebo can be clinically insignificant. See Antidepressants Don't Work.

The nocebo response happens when you believe that something will make you feel worse, and it does. This is just the darker side of the placebo response.

The placebo and nocebo response demonstrate that what you believe has a great effect on your body, and shows the immense power of what you believe.

See The Strange Power Of The Placebo Effect (Video).

Quotes

"'Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it." John Maxwell

"Whether you think you can or think you can't - you are right." Henry Ford

"The only limits you have are the limits you believe." Dr Wayne Dyer

You Are What You Think by David Stoop A practical guide to managing and using your self-talk to guide and move you towards achieving what you want out of life and eliminating the negative thoughts which are self-defeating and attract what you don't want. Book from Amazon UK (Affiliate Link)