“We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care of what you
think; thoughts live; they travel far.” ~Swami Vivekananda
Like many others I need to be reminded, evidently often, that I
can give myself permission to allow good into my life. Earlier this year, I
spent several months feeling not quite myself, but all the tests came back
clear and didn’t point to a specific problem. This was good, I
thought, because nothing was seriously wrong, but I still felt “poorly” as my
mother would say. This continued until I mentioned my malady to a metaphysical
friend. She looked straight into my eyes and stated firmly, “You are
seeing yourself as sick. You need to immediately change that thought
and focus on visualizing yourself as healthy, happy and filled with
energy.” I started doing that, and realized that in shifting my
negative focus to a positive one, it energized me, which stimulates the immune
system and supports healing.
The concept of changing my thinking to change my life certainly
wasn’t new to me. But this incident left me wondering why I still
don’t automatically remember what I could do as soon as I find myself stuck in
another undesirable life situation. I immediately recalled another similar
incident. I was in a Dream Builder class, and the dream that was coming into my
mind was much bigger than I expected. I soon started to wonder why I ever
thought that such a large dream was possible for me. I asked for a private
session with the facilitator and told her my concerns. When I was
finished sharing my story, she said, “You can have it any way you want.”
My body’s energy response to her statement is seared in my
mind. It was quick and strong and flashed through me like a wave of
electricity. I knew instantly at the core of my being that her
statement was absolutely true. The only limitations on my life are those I
place on myself through my own thinking. What an
exhilarating, exciting and wonderful truth. And the best news is that we are
born with this gift and when we can control our thoughts, anything is
possible.
Obviously I can still get caught up in life and need to be
reminded that I have the power within me to create my life by design or
default. After giving it some thought, I realized that when I get caught up in
a situation and experience fear, my energy takes a nose dive. When that
happens, I give up control of my life, take on the victim role and am reduced
to accepting whatever life delivers. It wasn’t until I confided “my
problem” to someone who could stand in truth for me that I remembered I was
capable of moving beyond the collective consciousness and reclaimed my power.
Be assured that I am exquisitely sensitive to the fact that it
isn’t easy to be in control of our thoughts even some of the time, let alone
all the time, but it is certainly worth the effort. I firmly believe what Jesus
taught during his time on Earth: It is done unto us as we believe.
Thanks to many of today’s visionaries and authors, and Oprah’s
efforts, this concept is now being put to the test by many people around the
world. Some have done the "impossible" simply because
they believed it was possible and never allowed limitations to stop them. We
read about their stories or see them on television all the time.
So, I ask, why not you and me? To that end, I have adopted from
a friend’s young grandson a powerful words-to-live-by motto. This
wise-beyond-his-years youngster was being urged by his frustrated family to
admit he was losing in a seemingly never-ending board game. At one
point, he took a break, then got up and walked around. They asked
him again, hopefully, “Do you give up?” He uttered these words of
wisdom: I never give up and I never give in, but sometimes I take
a rest. I didn’t ask my friend if he ever gave up. I smiled and
chose to think that he didn’t, but the others did.
Here are some of the positive affirmative thoughts that I now
use to support myself: The power of Spirit is within me. It is
creative and knows no limitation. I never allow my earthly mind to
cramp my thinking or restrict my vision. I know it is done unto me as I
believe—and, I never give up and I never give in, but sometimes I take
a rest.
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Copyright ©
2013 by Fern Stewart Welch (Repeated by
request)
The author’s
books: “Becoming a Spiritual Warrior of the Heart,” (April 2013); “Tea with
Elisabeth,” recipient of the 2010 Silver Award for Non-fiction; “You Can Live A
Balanced Life In An Unbalanced World,” (Nov. 2008); and “The Heart Knows the
Way – How to Follow Your Heart to a Conscious Connection with the Divine Spirit
Within,” (Feb. 2009) are available at Amazon.com, other online booksellers, as
well as bookstore chains such as Barnes & Noble.
