The Answer To A Living A Better Life Is Simple: Think Different

How powerful are our thoughts? Have you ever stopped to wonder?
Everything that man has ever created started out as an idea, a thought. People dreamed their creations, their inventions their innovations, before they even sat down in front of the drawing board.
Thoughts have the power to create, just as they have the power to destroy.
In essence, thoughts have the power to create change — good or bad. Despite what people may say, you don’t ever act before you think. Thought is the starting point of all action.
It’s easy to take thought itself for granted. To us, it’s just as natural and effortless as breathing. Yet, if we stop doing either, we cease to exist.
So what is a thought? Well now that’s a loaded question. I think in this day and age it’s fair to say that thoughts are made up of countless electrical impulse flowing through the many neural channels of our brain.
What people don’t want to agree on, is where that first pulse originates from.
Do we have a soul on some otherworldly plane that’s somehow connected to our physical body?
Or is the neural network the gist of it? Or is there a better explanation that we have yet to even consider?
Whatever the true nature of thought is, it’s of less importance to us at this moment, than understanding the true force behind thought.
If you can not only understand how thoughts shape the world, but how your thoughts in particular shape you and your life, you have all the tools you need to change your life.
If you want to change who you are and how you’re living, it starts and ends with your thoughts.
Change — there’s a word we like to throw around a lot. Everybody wants change. We want to work less, make more.
We want to try less, and do better. We want more of the things that make us feel good, and less of the things that make us feel bad or uncomfortable. In other words, we want more of the good, and less of the bad.
That’s the way that we’re programmed, and that’s the way it’s going to be.
What most people find is that although they know very well what it is they want, they don’t know where to start.
Well I’m here to tell you to slow down a bit… because chances are that you don’t even know what it is that you actually want.
If you’re thinking that a new Maserati is going to fix your life, I’m here to tell you that it’s not. The fact that you want a Maserati, but don’t have one, isn’t the reason that you’re unhappy.
The reason that you’re unhappy is that you believe not having a Maserati should make you unhappy.
Oh but you don’t think that? Sure you do. By believing that having what you want will make you happy, you’re reinforcing the thought that not having what you want makes you unhappy.
If buying that new house is going to make you happy, then you must be unhappy until the point you buy the house. That logic seems fairly sound, no?
The problem with people, and I truly do believe this, is that we’re all too smart, but not smart enough. You know what I mean?
We’re brilliant to an extent, but there’s just a whole lot that we’re missing at the very same time.
For example, we want things that we don’t need. Why? Because having luxuries makes us feel good! As they rightly should.
The problem isn’t that they make us feel good; the problem is that we convince ourselves that they’re the answer to our problem.
The truth is that your problem isn’t in the physical world. First world problems are not real problems.
If you have food to eat, water to drink, shelter, and good people surrounding you, you really don’t need more. Enough is supposed to be enough. And it is, if you choose to accept it as such.
Your problem isn’t that you don’t have enough. Your problem is that you allow yourself to think things that you shouldn’t be thinking.
And this goes way beyond allowing the lack of luxuries to affect our mood and energy. Most people don’t comprehend how much of a difference the thoughts we think make in our lives.
Big picture, look at it this way: you are the summation of your thoughts. That’s what makes you, you.
That body of yours, if it even exists in a physical reality separate from thought (which is being debated), is nothing when compared to the greatness of your thoughts.
Your thoughts are incredibly powerful, and if you learned to use them to your benefit, everything would change.
Think about the thoughts you tend to have on a regular basis. If you consider yourself to be unhappy, your day is made up of more unpleasant thoughts than pleasant ones. That’s a fact.
If the magnitude of your negative thoughts outweighs the magnitude of your positive thoughts, then you’re going to be in a bad mood. Now, why are you in a bad mood — what’s the source?
It’s not what’s going on around you. It’s the way you’re thinking; it’s the way you’re perceiving the situation that you’re in. Nothing outside you ever affects you directly. Nothing.
Everything you feel is primarily based on the interpretation of what you sense, and then on the interpretation of the thoughts you’re having as a response.
Which means you’re always having thoughts about your thoughts, and it’s your thoughts that are ruining your life.
I know that may be a bit much to take in, or to fully understand, but until you accept that losing your life savings is only ruining your life because you’re deciding that losing your life savings should ruin your life, you’re never going to understand how the world actually works.
You’re never going to create the changes you seek, and you’re never going to understand your existence.
If you want a better life, you have to be a better person. And what does it mean to be a better person? It’s not the things you do. It’s why you do the things you do — it’s the thought behind it.
Being a better person means thinking like a better person. If you want to change who you are, then you’re going to need to stop thinking the same way you’ve been thinking.
If you don’t want to be the person you are now, then you need to stop thinking like the person you are now. The answer to a better life is thinking differently.
But how do you do that? Truth is, we do it all the time. As we get older, we pick up beliefs and ways of thinking from those around us, and the experiences we have.
We change because our environment helps facilitate that change. Human beings are rather mutable, it just takes time. The problem is that those of us who want real change in their life, require a change of environment.
This means that you can’t just go with the flow and hope things will work out. You’re going to have to make a real, consistent effort.
First and foremost, you need to be as aware of your thoughts as you can be. Take the time to reflect. Take the time to clear your mind and relax. Take the time to set clear parameters to the thoughts that you would like to be having.
Make sure that it’s clear where you’re starting, how you’re progressing, and where you’re heading. Then tweak as you go. Changing the way you think by guiding your mind in the right direction is very difficult.
I’m not going to sugarcoat; it’ll probably take you years.
But if you came for a quick-fix solutions, then you came to the wrong place. I’m not trying to sell you something.
I’m just trying to tell you the reality of things. Your thoughts are what are killing you, and until you replace them with the right thoughts, your life will never be the way you wish it would be.
This article barely touched the surface, so I hope you take the time to further explore your thoughts and the power they truly hold.