Are you a victim of negative thinking? Do you find your self upset, feeling down or even depressed and you don't know why? Well consider this, our feelings, our emotions, and our results in life are all a mirror of our thoughts. To be more specific it is not just our thoughts but what we think about constantly that creates our reality. Whatever we think about is what we get more of in life. Now people would argue that they constantly think about what they "don't" want, rather than just how bad things are. Where they are correct in knowing that thinking about what is wrong will not make things better, what they miss is the idea that thinking about what you do not want will never bring you what you do want. For example: If you say "I don't want to be over weight anymore." That statement is still negative, the word don't is negative, as well as over weight that phrase tends to be more negative than positive don't you think? So saying something like "I want to have more health." Or "I want to have more muscle." Those statements are much more positive and can help get into a state where you can really make them happen. So I challenge you to learn and apply the next three steps, not only will your positive thinking increase, but your manic negative thinking will be a thing of the past.

1. Awareness

When it comes to self improvement learning to be aware is absolutely crucial. Why is awareness so important? Well, if we are not aware of the things that hold us back, that bring us down, what lock us up, then we are destined remain victims of their result. So take it upon your self to be aware, listen to your thoughts, monitor them. Start to watch out for negative beliefs, negative thinking, negative feelings, and negative actions. Look out for people, places or things that are negative, and make an effort to detach your self from them. Try to be conscience of the vocabulary you use, begin to rephrase anything words or statements that are negative and restate them as positive. Example: "I hate my job." Rephrase and say "I would love to find a new job." This is such a powerful skill to develop, the more you can be aware of your thinking the more design your life. So take this first step to heart and truly work on being aware. I believe we all have the right to choose how we want to feel, how we want to experience life, and being aware is a great place to start.

2. Responsibility

A large challenge we face in this day and age is that we all from time to time play the blame game, you know what I mean. When we point the finger away from our self, we blame our job, the weather, our family or anything else to take the attention off our self. We do that because we do not want to face our self, it is much easier to point the at someone else to take the monkey off our back. The sad part is that we do now own our feelings, we choose to blame our environment, yet we still feel bad, you think this is a clue? Of course it is, this tells us that moving the blame onto someone or something else will never be a successful solution. Maybe it eases things in the moment but it is never a solution. If you asked a hundred people if they would like more happiness in their life I can almost guarantee that they would all say yes, but how many of them are willing say look at them self and say they are the main source of their unhappiness? Close to none, that is what separates those who are truly successful to those who encounter success every once and a while. So if all that is true than taking responsibility for your thoughts, your beliefs and your actions becomes huge. It shifts from everything being someone else's fault and you not being able to do anything about it, being powerless, to having total control because you know happiness is a choice and no matter what happens you can decide how you are going to perceive the information and what you are going to do about it. You are now less of a victim, and more free. And that friends is a very empowering thought.

3. Commitment

Now make no mistake the final step is just as important as the others. You are now aware of your thoughts; and you are fully responsible for them. True self master comes when you decide to make to total commitment. Now this is not short order, it takes some time and it takes some stick-to-it-ness. When we have a major history of negative thinking starting in on a new train of thought can be difficult, but trust me the value is much more valuable than the cost. All it takes are some new beliefs, some new distinctions and really owning them, they have to be powerful something to the effect of; all the passion I need is within me now, or my destiny is mine to create. Anything that will jolt your thinking into a new direction. So keep your chin up, no matter how tough things get. Hey listen, we all have bad days but we can drastically reduce the amount of bad days we have by making a total commitment to thinking positive and owning our thoughts. Got it? Now go out there and really live!


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Shannon Graham is a professional life coach that works with people to help them reach higher levels of confidence and empowerment. At only 25 years old he has been studying success principles and personal improvement strategies for over a decade. For more information visit: http://www.success4rlife.com