A while ago, I watched the news video of a 3 year-old American girl who crawled into a vending machine and got stuck inside. The little girl was walking with her mother when she saw a toy inside the vending machine. She stopped and crawled inside the hole to pick up the toy. She got stuck inside until her mother came to rescue her.
Did I hear you ask 'what was her mother thinking'? Well, let's try to figure out what the 3-years-old was thinking. I guess her thought process looked like this: “Oh what a cute toy smiling at me right there"! The toy-thought progressed: “Why can’t I have that little toy? I want that toy”! She does a quick situation analysis and concludes: "I like that toy so much that I cannot let it go" Now, she has reached a decision point: “I am going to have that toy no matter what" She went inside the vending machine and got trapped inside, unfortunately.
The little girl's journey to the toy-vending machine began with a single toy-thought in her mind.
Just like that little girl, your daily “toy”-thought and my daily “toy”-thought whatever “toy” means to you and me, will lead us to our “toy” destination in life -good or bad. Every outcome begins with a thought and every thought has potential outcome. Our thoughts influence our decisions, our decisions influence our actions and our actions influence our outcomes.
Did you know that the dominant thought on your mind is the most important factor influencing your behaviour? Thoughts are powerful controlling factors in shaping how we behave and what we become. Joyce Meyer states it succinctly : "Where the mind goes, the man follows". Frank Outlaw puts it this way: “Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny”. If you can control your thought, you can predict your destination in life. However, controlling your thought requires a skill, like the thinking skill of an artist.
THINK LIKE AN ARTIST
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| think like an artist |
No, you don't have to be a gifted artist to be able to imagine things. If you can read this article you can imagine anything. All you need is a mental picture of your desired outcome. The logic is simple: If every thought has a potential outcome and every outcome begins with a thought, it follows that I can control my thoughts with my desired outcome. It’s like going from Toronto to Calgary. Once I decide on Calgary as my destination, Calgary dictates the route I take. But if I leave Toronto with no knowledge of Calgary and hope that whatever path I take will lead to some place called Calgary, I will likely find myself stuck in a dangerous route.
It is a good thing that God created the human mind to naturally generate thoughts in the direction in which the mind is focused. If you find your mind wandering about, check the outcome you have been focusing on. If you are not sure what your desired outcome is, start asking creative questions. You cannot have answers without asking questions and you cannot ask creative questions without thinking creatively.
Creative Thinking Questions
1. What would a beautiful destination look like?
Ask questions like: What would a beautiful retirement look like? What would a beautiful married life look like? What would a beautiful vacation or whatever your desired outcome may be, look like? When developing a mental picture, allow your imagination to run wild. The beauty of imagination is that there are no restrictions to how far and wild you can imagine. So, task your mind and think the best, there are endless possibilities. Once you see a possibility, it will ignite a thought process within you to make that possibility a reality.
2. How do I get there from here?
Asking 'how to' questions set your mind on a process-thought pattern. However, we should know 'what' before asking 'how'. I find that once I capture a compelling picture of a possibility, my mind starts generating ideas on how to make that picture a reality. This is true for everyone. Knowing 'how' is easy once we know 'what'. Awareness of your destination is the foundation for answering your 'how to' questions regardless of what your destination may be.
HOW DOES THIS APPLY TO YOUR EVERYDAY LIFE?
Agreed, you don’t have to go through life asking questions about everything everyday and second guessing yourself. We make decisions based on set values and defined goals. That is the very reason you need to choose a long term outcome. Once an outcome is established, it dictates your association, route, location and interests. A defined outcome empowers your mind to filter all unrelated thoughts and helps you put your everyday decision making in perspective.
To get the best out of your mind you need to take care of your mind. Just as we feed our bodies with good food and wash our bodies of dust and sweat to function well, so we need to feed our minds with good thoughts and wash our minds of emotional dirt and sweat to function well. Imagine how lean and awful a person would look and smell if he or she has not eaten good food or washed his or her body in three years. Well, some people have not fed their minds with good food or washed their minds in ten years! Year after year, they open their minds for emotional dumps from TV, Internet, social media, work and sometimes even friends and families. You don't have to live that way.
If you have not been paying attention to the state of your mind, start doing so from today. If you have been thinking good thoughts keep going and never allow your mind to derail. But if you have been thinking negative thoughts, now is the time to clean up. If you don’t, you will end up becoming a negative person. Just as you won't feed your body with dirt and junk foods for physical health reasons, you should refuse to feed your mind with negative thoughts for emotional health reasons. You are not just a body of tissue and blood, you are a spirit being with a soul. You need daily mind food and daily mind wash as much as you need daily physical food and care. You become what you eat, drink and think!
Ask questions like: What would a beautiful retirement look like? What would a beautiful married life look like? What would a beautiful vacation or whatever your desired outcome may be, look like? When developing a mental picture, allow your imagination to run wild. The beauty of imagination is that there are no restrictions to how far and wild you can imagine. So, task your mind and think the best, there are endless possibilities. Once you see a possibility, it will ignite a thought process within you to make that possibility a reality.
2. How do I get there from here?
Asking 'how to' questions set your mind on a process-thought pattern. However, we should know 'what' before asking 'how'. I find that once I capture a compelling picture of a possibility, my mind starts generating ideas on how to make that picture a reality. This is true for everyone. Knowing 'how' is easy once we know 'what'. Awareness of your destination is the foundation for answering your 'how to' questions regardless of what your destination may be.
HOW DOES THIS APPLY TO YOUR EVERYDAY LIFE?
Agreed, you don’t have to go through life asking questions about everything everyday and second guessing yourself. We make decisions based on set values and defined goals. That is the very reason you need to choose a long term outcome. Once an outcome is established, it dictates your association, route, location and interests. A defined outcome empowers your mind to filter all unrelated thoughts and helps you put your everyday decision making in perspective.
To get the best out of your mind you need to take care of your mind. Just as we feed our bodies with good food and wash our bodies of dust and sweat to function well, so we need to feed our minds with good thoughts and wash our minds of emotional dirt and sweat to function well. Imagine how lean and awful a person would look and smell if he or she has not eaten good food or washed his or her body in three years. Well, some people have not fed their minds with good food or washed their minds in ten years! Year after year, they open their minds for emotional dumps from TV, Internet, social media, work and sometimes even friends and families. You don't have to live that way.
If you have not been paying attention to the state of your mind, start doing so from today. If you have been thinking good thoughts keep going and never allow your mind to derail. But if you have been thinking negative thoughts, now is the time to clean up. If you don’t, you will end up becoming a negative person. Just as you won't feed your body with dirt and junk foods for physical health reasons, you should refuse to feed your mind with negative thoughts for emotional health reasons. You are not just a body of tissue and blood, you are a spirit being with a soul. You need daily mind food and daily mind wash as much as you need daily physical food and care. You become what you eat, drink and think!
That's right, you and I are gradually becoming what we have been thinking about although we may not see how we do. If you have been thinking about success, you will succeed. If you have been thinking about failure, you will fail. If you have been thinking about nothing, you will become nothing. As a man thinks in his heart so is he" (Proverbs 23:7). We cannot rise beyond the quality of our thoughts. If you can watch your thought you can predict your future and if you can passionately dream of a future you can control your thoughts. Thoughts and outcomes work hand in hand.
The basic building block of a destiny is a thought. There is no human being or great deed in history that was not first a thought. The story of creation clearly demonstrates this fact. “the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible”. (Hebrews 11:3). The invisible things with which God made the world are the thoughts of God.
Never again allow your mind to wander through the day aimlessly. Make a commitment to study, research and think consistently in line with your desired outcome. Feed your mind daily with the word of God. With God's favour on you, your dream will come true!
For questions or comments, please contact me at everydaylifeblogging@gmail.com
