My dear Friends,

If you are like me, you think your thoughts describe your reality. After all, you are an educated, well travelled and informed person. My thoughts describe reality in the most objective way possible. So, where is the problem?

Honestly, the older I get, the more I question this. Does reality come first and thought second? However, this is far from the truth. Sounds coo-coo?

The truth is, you are what you think you are! Spare me a few minutes, and I´ll disclose why.

Problems are a thinking problem

English philosopher James Allen wrote: “As a man thinks, so he is; as he continues to think, so he remains.” Stoic and Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius wrote: “A man’s life is what his thoughts make of it.”

When we’re unhappy, unsuccessful or financially in dire straights, we want to change the situation. How? Usually, we go about transforming our environment, believing that doing so will create the necessary change we hope to see. We quit jobs or get a divorce. Alternatively, we seek to change our environment, so we go on a long trip to some exotic places. For some, the world looks a lot brighter by going on a spending spree. Yet, the truth is; eventually, we come back to where we started.

Then we find out the relief is short-lived, and then we start the whole procedure all over again because we focus on our beliefs. Like “I could never be an investor because I do not understand the financial market. So instead of trying, we spend money we don´t have on things we do not need for the dopamine we so badly need. Or, we exchange one husband for another and end up in the same situation as before.

Whatever the cycle, it repeats itself over and over again. To compensate, we buy, travel, move house, or quit a job—always focusing on the external factors we need to alter to create better circumstances.

You are not what you think you are, but what you Think, You are!

Brian Tracey, Canadian- US Author and Speaker, 1944

We tend to believe if we ist change the outside, everything else will just get better. This is not fundamentally wrong; quitting a job or getting a divorce might do the trick for now. Yet, the actual root of the cause, namely your thinking, does not get any attention. This is why we get stuck in repetitive patterns.

However, far more clever people than you and I have thought about this over and over again. They concluded: To change the outside, you must first change the inside.

Ultimately, what we experience in our lives does not just happen to us but has more to do with the thoughts we engage in. So, the way we think about money, success, or marriage will ultimately determine our personal experience with money, success or marriage. Fate, a husband, colleagues, or the trappings of the financial world have little to do with it.

“A man is what he thinks about all day long.”

Ralph waldo Emerson, Us Poet and Philosopher, 1803-1882

Thought patterns and beliefs

We all agree that people disagree. There are different political parties, religions, careers, and so on. Everyone sees the world a little bit differently – sometimes very differently-yet; we all live in the same world.

Some constantly complain and rant about everything and everyone. They see environmental disasters, a stock market collapse, a husband cheating on them, and friends betraying them. Seeing the world in a negative way is their thought pattern.

Yet, others seem to be on top of the world most of the time, no matter what. They get a terrible diagnosis but stay cheerful, they see having control over money not as a restriction but a benefit, and they see a job loss as a chance, despite having the same problems as the first person. But they think and act differently.

To give you a very personal example. My family always saw me as impulsive, bad with money and very irresponsible, and they made sure I understood that I‘d probably end up in chaos. I never wanted to be that way, but that’s how I thought about myself.

This became so much part of my thinking process that, for years, I acted accordingly. I wasted money and acted on impulse rather than making an informed decision. Only decades later, I dared to question how my parents had labelled me.

Realising that others consider me as over-careful and appreciate me as very knowledgeable and informed. The truth is, I am at the helm of my financial well-being, and I do invest with success. After all, it is I who runs a company and leads a team successfully. Surely this proves that others wrongly labelled me. Because of what I thought about myself, my thoughts focussed on that label, and I dutifully followed my thought and acted accordingly.

It is pretty simple, as we keep thinking the same thoughts, producing the same emotions and performing the same actions, we continue to live by the same experiences.

Pattern

Every thought we experience creates a chemical reaction in the brain which then triggers an emotion. This, in return, creates a circuit that sends a signal to the body, and we react a certain way. The more we repeat this pattern, the more it seeps into our minds and becomes a habit.

These patterns encode as a blueprint in our subconscious mind. As a result, our subconscious mind automates our life, which means we will continue to live by the same behavioural patterns.

“Neuroscientists have shown that most of our decisions, actions, emotions and behavior depend on the 95% of brain activity that is beyond our conscious awareness, which means that 95% of our life comes from the programming in our subconscious mind.”

Dr. Bruce Lipton, US Developmental Biologist

Beliefs

So because we’ve repeated the thought patterns so many times without ever questioning them, they’ve now become rooted in who we are: Our thought patterns reinforced our beliefs, and our beliefs came to define who we are and the reality we experience.

The sad fact is, once we draw a conclusion about ourselves, we do two things; look for evidence that reinforces our belief and discount anything that runs contrary to our belief.

Once we believe that we‘re a failure, we will view every mistake we make as proof to affirm that we are, indeed, a failure. So, we continue to think we‘re a failure and keep on feeling and acting in a way that reaffirms our beliefs.

New pattern- new reality

It is a fact that thoughts profoundly impact our moods and emotions, our behavioural choices, and our self-confidence. Even healthy risks aren’t taken, and we dwell and fall into a self-pity loop. This deeply affects our feelings of self-worth and self-esteem in all areas of life. Countless common thoughts can have a negative and lasting impact.

Yet, we can change this simply by changing our thoughts. I know that changing any pattern in life is the most difficult thing to do. It means leaving the comfort zone.

But it helps to remember that it is ultimately our thoughts that create our reality, but they are not always objective. However, the best part about your thoughts is that they are up to you.

“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”  

Carl Jung, Swiss Psychiatrist, 1875-1961

Of course, that change does not happen overnight. It is a lifetime commitment to reprogramming and growth. What Neuroscientists call neuroplasticity—is the idea that you can rewire your brain by creating new behavioural patterns where new cells fire together and wire together.

“It’s not the thoughts that pass through your head that impact your life; it’s the one you take possession of and think about all day long. Once we agree to give our attention to a thought, it becomes more and more real to us over time and has more and more power over out life.”

Michael Neill, Australian Transformation-Coach& Mentor, 1994

Start by acknowledging that your thoughts are nothing more than an endless stream of ideas running through your mind. Promise that makes the transformation a lot easier.

Toolbox

• Acknowledge that thoughts are nothing more than an endless stream of ideas running through your mind.
• Become the thinker of your thoughts- be more conscious of what thoughts you give your attention to.
• Your thoughts are powerless until you decide to cling to them- so let go!
• Imagine your mind to be a farm and your thoughts to be the seeds. You can plant either good seeds or bad seeds.
• Remember: You are not your thoughts; you are the thoughts you give power and attention.
• Bring your awareness to your thoughts-Why am I angry? Why am I upset? Why am I feeling so low?
• Visualize how a thought triggers an emotion that leads to a body reaction and how that drives us to act the way we act.

Always bear in mind you are what you think because your thoughts create reality, so pay attention to where your thoughts take you. This is your way to create new behavioural patterns and, ultimately, a different reality.

Short and Snappy

When we’re unhappy, unsuccessful or financially in dire straights, we want to change the situation. We go about transforming our environment, believing that doing so will create the necessary change we hope to see. The truth is we always come back to where we started.

Whatever the cycle, it repeats itself over and over again. The actual root of the cause, namely your thinking, does not get any attention. To change the outside, however, you must first change the inside.

What we experience in life does not just happen to us but has a lot to do with the thoughts we engage in. Fate, a husband, colleagues, or the trappings of the financial world have little to do with it.

Our thought patterns reinforced our beliefs, and our beliefs came to define who we are and the reality we experience

We can change this simply by changing our thoughts. That change does not happen overnight. Start by acknowledging that your thoughts are nothing more than an endless stream of ideas running through your mind.

Always bear in mind you are what you think because your thoughts create reality, so pay attention to where your thoughts take you.