The Power of Thought

Be careful of your thoughts, for your thoughts become your words.
Be careful of your words, for your words become your actions.
Be careful of your actions, for your actions become your habits.
Be careful of your habits, for your habits become your character.
Be careful of your character, for your character becomes your destiny.

I have heard this all my life, but never really applied it until recently.
It is a known fact that stress kills. Stress, anxiety and depression will take over your life. It will rob you of true happiness. I know because I have lived this. At one time anxiety controled every part of my life. Every moment of the day I allowed it to take over me. I may have been good at hiding it most of the time, but those who knew me well, knew that I was suffering. I always believed that it was just the way I was made, and I would be this way forever. Its not easy for me to speak about these things. But I know alot of people struggle with these things daily. And being open and honest about it here keeps me accountable.

I lived this way for many years. I wanted so deeply and more than anything to give it up to God to let it all go, to just be that carefree sprit that I saw in so many of my friends. To just change my thought process. And many times I tried desperately. But until recently my attempts were to no avail. It was only until I was so completely exhausted and worn down, crying, screaming out to God, that it happened for me. I finally said, Ok God this is bigger than me and I can't take this anymore. When someone tells you have Cancer it changes things. It can stir up a fear inside that makes all the other fears seem so miniscule. I was at the end of my rope. So that night I turned it over to Him. I really let Him take it from me. This is not mine to carry. Why should I think that He can't handle my circumstance? He holds the world in His hands. It was then and only then that I felt a weight lifted off me. A weight that I had been carrying for far to long.

Ok so I went off on a little tangent there:) The point of this post is to share how my thought process caused me to endure things brought on by stress that could have been avoided if I'd only learned to filter my thoughts. Alot of times I was a negative nelly, debbie downer. I tried to convince myself I wasn't, but hey I was. I would get into this habbit of thinking the absolute worst in every situation. If we focus on the negitives enough, those things will come to pass.

I have learned to really filter everything that comes into my mind. If its even remotely negitive, before I even entertain it, I shut it out. Leave it there. It's hard and you have to train yourself to think this way. But I promise when you learn how to do this, the everyday things that seem so heavy and impossible will fall away. It sounds so silly and simple, but just think happy thoughts. Focus on the blessing in your life. For instance the fact that you are breathing. The fact that you can feel the warmth of the sun on your face. The list goes on. We all face trials and go through hard times. But its the way that we respond to those things thats builds our character.

So see, your thought process has such a huge impact of the quality of your life. So next time that negitive thought tries to creep in, block it out. And move on to positive thoughts. Positive thoughts yeild positive results. Your body and your spirit will thank you. Not to mention those around you!