Most of us like to blame others for the misfortunes in our lives. We like to think that bad things happen to us, rather than because of us.

But this is not necessarily so. While we can not control what happens around us, we can control who we are and what we think.

And in doing so, we can create the life we want to live, or we can stand in the way of our own success.

In truth, we change every part of our world ' whether for good or for bad.

1) Warning signs that you are in your own way

As hard as it might be for us to admit, we play a large role in the outcome of our lives.

Even science has proven this fact. When we change the way we think, we change the vibration of our atoms in our bodies which then change the interaction with the rest of the atoms in the world.

While this might seem far-fetched, the truth is that we affect everything around us ' even if we can't see that we are.

To help illuminate you, here are some warning signs that you might be getting in the way of your own dreams:

a) You know what you want, but can't seem to get it

b) You feel like you should give up hope

c) You don't feel like you deserve the thing you want

d) You seem to be trapped in a bad cycle of events

e) You're repeating the same behaviors or relationships

When you start to see some of these signs, it might be time to change the way that you're looking at your life as well as how you are reacting to it.

2) Are you breaking these laws?

The laws of attraction are all around us. Whatever we do to someone else will generally come back to us, whatever negative energy we give off, that will also be returned to us.

You might simplify that in like attracts like. When you don't realize these laws in your life, you can put yourself into situations that aren't going to help you get more out of your experience.

These laws create the ultimate responsibility for you: whatever you are thinking or doing, you are creating the increased or decreased chance for things to be better.

When you stop to think about it right now, you can probably see how you are negatively affecting your life.

A simple example is thinking that you are never going to get a new job. That kind of thinking leads to your not looking for a new job in the first place, thus you're not getting a new job.

3) What happens when you put out negative energy?

Negative energy can almost be likened to a virus in the way that it spreads. You feel this when you're with a group of negative people.

Once one person starts to complain about their lives, everyone else feels they need to do so as well. But if one person points out their happiness, the others will start to see the happiness as well.

The point is that you can create your life and your dreams by changing the way that you think and the negative energy that you have in your behavior and your mind.

4) Turning the sinking ship around

Changing the way you think is not as hard as you might think. What you need to simply do is become aware of the way that you are thinking and then decide if it is helping you or not.

In many cases, you will find that your thinking is not very helpful, so you will want to change it somehow. This requires trying to find the 'bright side' to the things and the beliefs that you have in your mind.

When you have a negative thought, you might simply ask yourself quietly, is this helping me or is this hurting me?

By stopping to notice your thought, you are causing it to weaken. And that creates the opportunity for you to change the way you live.

Everyone thinks something negative during the day, but it's how we relate to that thought that will create a better or worse existence.

If you want to live your dreams and have the things you want in your life, you need to believe that you can have them. You need to create positive energy more times than not and get out of your own way.

And changing your mind is the first step.