Wreck your life in one easy step.

I detested school.
I couldn’t understand the reasons why we had to learn everything.

Why did I have to learn history?
What was the point of learning a language not spoken in my country?
Why couldn’t I learn a local dialect?

I think my teachers were very frustrated in their profession as the lessons were very boring. I enjoyed certain classes as they were things I was interested in but I did not understand mathematics and science as they were not explained in terms that I could relate to.

In those days it you had to go to school. You went to a government school, unless your parents were rich, and if you didn’t attend the truant officer was sure to catch you.
If you were a successful bunker (one who skipped classes) then you still had to get past the teacher and the questions when you returned. You might be able to forge a doctor’s certificate or a note from your parents but if they called to verify then retribution was swift.

Fear was the main motivator.
If you did not complete your homework, projects or other tasks, some type of punishment was meted out. In those days corporal punishment, in the form of detention for the girls and caning for the guys, was accepted. The only problem was that you’d get a second dose when you went home, if your parents were very strict.

Education was bandied about as the answer to life and the source of wealth.
You cannot get anywhere in life unless you have an education.
Make something of your life.

The above should have stopped me from learning but when I left school I made a vow to never stop learning.

My best friend left three years before he should’ve finished school and lead a wonderful life.
Money, freedom, transport. What more could you want?
I would love to have joined him but my parents would never have considered such an option.

If you want to get anywhere in life today you have to learn new skills.
Once you have the basics then surely that knowledge is the foundation of building experience? There are opportunities to learn everywhere you look.

We live in the age of ‘Infobesity’ – more information than you can absorb.
The internet is a major source of information but you have to be literate in basic computers and systems. The latest gadgets are all based on technology and the ability to use these gadgets can be to your advantage.

On the other hand I’ve seen people from before computers really battle to come to grips with new technology. They eye it with disdain and refuse to let their minds absorb its possibilities. I have seen other folk readily take to technology and the children of today understand its function far better than most adults.

One area we still have very little understanding of is the human brain and yet it has the capacity to absorb and never forget vast amounts of information.
The best estimate is that you can learn a new fact every second and yet still only use a small portion of your memory even after a lifetime.

Just a few areas in your life where you can fail through refusing to learn.

Schooling – don’t go to school or complete your education. The system will ensure you stay at the bottom of the ladder of success. Whatever you do make sure you never learn any of life’s lessons.

Relationships – don’t try to understand the opposite sex. Try to change them to your way of thinking and make them accept your opinions. Break ups and divorces will surely follow.

Work relationships – don’t learn the politics or understand the hidden agendas. Resist all change and make as many enemies as possible. Retrenchment or dismissal will happen soon.

Yourself – never take the time to look at the real you. Never look at your belief systems or perceptions about life. Take what you know inside as the whole truth and nothing but the truth. You’ll always wonder why the world seems to be conspiring against you.

Wreck your life or be brave and learn something new every day.
It is never too late to learn!

Personally, I am always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.   Winston Churchill

This is another easy way to wreck your life.

It would be great if half the people you met really liked you but it seems that many of them smile and have other agendas (usually involving knives and back stabbing).

You decide whether you are going to make enemies or friends. This is again highly reflective upon your belief system and experiences in life. The saying goes that a stranger is just a friend in disguise.

If you set out to make enemies, all you have to do is find something to disagree with or dislike in a person. Some folk cannot survive without having some form of strife in their life. I guess it’s because they feel they are alive when they are fighting. An argument or physical confrontation makes your blood pressure rise and your adrenalin rush. Some on the other hand sit and simmer which in turn allows their enemy to control them emotionally.

Society today has become fractured with free love, NSA friends, open marriages and generally a free for all morality. Our governments seem so corrupt with their sins being revealed daily.
The feeling of dog eat dog and hopelessness as economies fail and there is now way out. We are no longer in control. If you believe you are being plotted conspired against then everyone is your enemy.

If you are continually surrounded by failure, negativism and defeat then your thoughts become dark as well. Once you dwell on these images so your circumstances shape themselves according to our beliefs. It boils down to choices and perceptions. The emotions of hurt, anger and defeat are very powerful as demonstrated by those who take their lives due to depression/helplessness/out of control which is the ultimate form of self rejection.

It is easy to make enemies as it’s a thought that creates that image in your mind.
You are faced with two choices if someone has done something to you that is bad or wrong in your opinion. You can both forgive them for what they did and learn from it or you can make them into your enemy. Often people do things without thinking or malicious intent but it is a rare human trait to find someone who thinks the best of every person.

How many people do you know that are fighting family feuds or refuse to talk to an offending party?
If you really look into the matter it revolves about a minor misunderstanding or some perceived infringement of rights.

What are the benefits of having enemies?

What do you gain from fighting your enemies?

Now list all the benefits and gains from having enemies.
You will be surprised at how much your mind has disguised molehills as mountains.

If you spend your life making enemies and then fighting them then it might be worth your while to arrange a room in a hospital for future use. You will either suffer physically or mentally from prolonged exposure to the bitter emotions and thoughts that come from having enemies.

I believe that it is far more beneficial to make friends than having enemies.

Always forgive your enemies – nothing annoys them so much.
Oscar Wilde

That’s right.

Such a simple thing to do but it’s the easiest option available and best of all requires no effort on your part.
All you have to do is just stop what you’re doing.

You struggle against the odds to get things right.
There are so few instances in your life where you just sat back and the good times rolled in. We often hear of the big wins, the good luck stories but we don’t hear of how much effort was put in or the bad things that happened before the lucky break.

Why don’t you at least have a situation where half of the time good things happen and half the time bad things? I think most of us would be happy with a 60/40 split favoring the good.

Why do bad things happen in threes? Or so we are led to believe.
Why do we attribute so much in our lives to good and bad luck and yet most of the time we experience bad luck? Is bad luck more powerful than good luck or are we just attuned/expecting it?

Most of the time a huge amount of effort is needed to get things to go right in your life. You wake up in the morning and your day starts with resolving problems. We are so geared and trained in this aspect that we barely notice it. The car won’t start, you lose your keys, you’re stuck in traffic or you spill coffee on your clothes before an important meeting. Sound familiar?

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be able to pick up a musical instrument and just play it? How about selecting the right stocks, watching your investment grow and selling at exactly the right time? What about choosing the right numbers in the lotto – not once but a few times and win big every time? And your relationship? Does it just get better on its own volition or do you really have to work at it?

Unfortunately, the above scenarios rarely occur in life. They are mostly in your dreams.

There are so many areas in your life that you can quit. Just stop doing what you are doing well and quit.
It’s so easy to be a quitter as it requires no effort on your part whatsoever – unless you are addicted to something or you’re a workaholic.

For interests sake let’s look at one area to quit – like working – and see the ripple effect.
Many blogs advocate the simple life and how to achieve peace from having less. It is a good philosophy as many of us are addicted to the things around us thinking that they will make you happy.
By quitting your job, your income will disappear along with your savings, credit cards and all your possessions. Food does not come for free but then you could join the line to the soup kitchen.
Once you have quit your job and your income source dries up, then you’ll notice that any excess weight will peel off you within a few months. By then your family should have left as there will be no place to stay, no luxuries, no food and best of all – no money.

There are people who have done just that. They were disillusioned with life and all the corporate nonsense about success. They refused to follow the system. It was a choice they made and some are very happy with their decision – no matter what they appear like on the outside.

The above is a simple example of how you’ve allowed life to dictate to you. There are many areas in life where you would never think about quitting but what if you were forced to? Do you merely survive because of the choices and beliefs you’ve elevated to god status in your life? Are you really in control of your life?

If quitting has the ability to wreck your life in one easy step then don’t you think it’s time to make some changes?

Can you make a decision to quit or have the strings of life hanged you on the gallows of circumstances? 

By working faithfully eight hours a day you may eventually get to be boss and work twelve hours a day.  ~Robert Frost

Circumstances – a word you often use to describe or justify your situation. You attribute it to things beyond your control. If that is the case then you are a creature of circumstances in that they control you and not vice versa.

If you look at the current circumstances in your life you will find many are a result of the habits and choices you have made over the years. Many are a result of other peoples choices and decisions but how they affect you is again your decision.

For example – you might’ve had a bad experience with a dog chasing you when you were younger. This created a fear which made you decide never to trust dogs again. Dogs sense this fear in you and reinforce this by being curious or reacting to you. As a result you avoid dogs and refuse to keep them as pets. It makes your social life difficult as you battle to visit friends who have dogs or go to beaches where dogs are free. You may even avoid certain streets because of aggressive dogs.

The circumstance that you were faced with made you a slave and your habit has created a set of different circumstances.

Many of us react to different circumstances saying that they were out of our control. True, there are a number of things that you had no control over such as who your parents were, physical features and handicaps but it is not the circumstances that should be molding you. Rather you should be the one who changes the conditions that surround you.

We are all given a set of chances, opportunities and senses. We have the ability to reason and determine whether we will accept the situation or change it. Why is it that some who are faced with huge difficulties make good? They change their lives and that of other people. The names of Helen Keller, Gandhi come to mind.

The majority of circumstances in your life are a result your choices and decisions. Nobody forced this upon you. If you are honest and take time to seek the root cause of why you are in your situation, you’ll find that you made a choice or decision that led to it. However, I believe that habits have a large role to play in the circumstances we create. They will enforce your beliefs and you will find it difficult to change. I believe that habits and circumstances are entwined helping the other

So many of us accept the status quo and refuse to go against the flow. Looking at the world around me I see that dictatorships of decades have been toppled when people said they would never change. Why? A spark of hope? Or was it just someone who’d had enough and did something about it?

On the other hand so many of us use circumstances to justify why we are the way we are. It’s far easier to blame something or someone else for our failures than to look at ourselves.

Have you become a creature of habit allowing your comfort zone and circumstance to be your master? Did you create the situation which now controls the way you do things and ultimately the way you think?

So the choice is ours but I’d rather be the creator of circumstances that I want than be a creature to situations that cause me pain and hardship.

Love, peace and joy. Isn’t that what we all seek?

We can let circumstances rule us, or we can take charge and rule our lives from within.
Earl Nightingale

Life creates a lot of paradox in our way of living.
You want to do certain things but you don’t venture out because you are afraid of failure.
You regret not having done many things because you were too scared to try.

A child gets onto a bicycle for the first time and falls.
The tears flow as the pain runs through their body. But now the decision.
Should I climb back on and try again?
Should I risk falling and hurting myself again?

The motivation to trying again can come from inside, with a strong desire to ride around with my friends or from outside through encouragement from my peers or parents.
On the other hand the fear of falling again could be so great that they never learn to ride a bicycle.

I believe that as a child, you have a strong desire to learn and enjoy all that life has to offer. Pain wears off and balanced against the sense of achievement of learning something new, failure pales into insignificance.

However, when you grow up, you associate failure with pain, rejection and emotional trauma. Physical pain is something that can be controlled by an external force like pain killers but emotional pain is an internal thing that you alone control. Time is the alleged healer but we all know different.

Another type of failure affects your self-image.
What will people think of me if I attempt this and fail?
This is especially bad when you have a poor self-image and expect to fail. You really want to be different and accepted but the fear of failing again opens the doors to excuses.

The question is whether you allow the fear of failure to override your desire to try something new.

I think many have fallen into the trap of living the same way every day.
The Comfort Zone?
Doing the same things you did yesterday, speaking to the same people and working at the same job.
No need to stretch or test your failure fears as you’ve already past that test.
You live a routine life and might even be labelled as boring because of your choices.

There are some areas in life that really hurt deeply if you have failed in areas like:

• Relationships
• Divorce
• Retrenchments
• Disabilities from bad decisions
• Illegal activities

I’m sure you can add many more items to this list but the question remains;

Are you never going to try again because you failed more than once?

If you continue to fail because you’re doing something wrong then you need to change your approach. There is so much information available about everything you need to know on the net. Forums, chat rooms, websites and blogs cover almost every angle of the human experience. Many of the authors would be more than willing to share how they succeeded in overcoming their problem.

The decision is yours but only after you decide which is worse – failing or never trying?

The men who try to do something and fail are infinitely better than those who try to do nothing and succeed. 
Lloyd Jones

How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?

Age is a number that we place great emphasis on. Children celebrate their birthdays every year with parties and fun. Why?  What is so mysterious or magical about a number? We do not live by years but our lives are made up of days. Surely every day that you awaken is another birthday? Consider even the word is made up of day – birthday not birth year.

I was never impressed by birthdays as I was born on the last day of the year. It was just after Christmas and there usually was no money for presents. I was often asked if I wanted a Christmas present or a birthday present and many a time it was combined. The other downside of that day was people were thinking about old year’s eve and the celebrations of the New Year.
That is another very odd thing about society, in my mind, celebrating a year gone by and a New Year to come in. Nothing really changed except a number. Or am I missing the point?
In all, birthdays did not make much sense to me nor did they appeal to me.

Birthdays are set to remind you of how old you are.
Children do their very best to remind you that they are not just four, but four and a half to be exact. Women on the other hand do their best to keep their age a secret or look as young as possible. Teenagers try to look older so they can get into the restricted realms like bars and clubs where age is of utmost importance.

Please tell me how it is that an 18 year old is suddenly at the magical age where they are now responsible? What happened overnight from 17 to 18? How did this person gained knowledge, wisdom and judgement? Once again, the magical number denoting age.

What about 21?  Why do we place such significance on that number?
The west considers 21 to be the day you become an adult, can legally get into ‘adult’ venues and are now considered to be independent. Once again it is a number and very few of us became wise because we grew older.

Most of us have had to learn life’s lessons the hard way. Experience has taught us many things but knowledge is not wisdom. I’ve seen many adults who defy the odds in stupidity and yet many youngsters that are wise beyond their years. There are plenty of old attitudes in young bodies whereas the converse is also true.

The above thoughts give you an idea of how much emphasis we place on age. If you did not measure your life in years but rather days, how old would you be? Would you still have the young, fresh, clean outlook on life? That life is an adventure, to be savoured and enjoyed? Would you still pack so much into one day that it almost bursts at the seams?

Or would your thoughts be of getting the day over so you can get home so you can rest your aching body? Perhaps have something to calm your nerves and wish for the holidays?
Are your days filled with worry and trepidation about the future?
You say you have to be responsible now that you are an adult. True but why did all the excitement and fun fade out when that happened?
Have you become older than your years? Is there a way to rectify this?

I think so.

• Place emphasis on enjoying the simple things in life.
• Take a mental break. Sweat out the old beliefs and change your attitude.
• Look after your body – it is the only one you’ve got.
• Count your blessings – you’ll be amazed at how much good there is in your life.
• Make every day a birthday and celebrate life.

Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years.  We grow old by deserting our ideals.  Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.  

Samuel Ullman

I attribute this post heading to a blog that I read that was too good to leave as a question.
Please visit marc and angel for more great posts.

Most of us do unless we are handicapped.

The voices I am referring to are the ones you hear in your head.

But isn’t that a sign of insanity? I mean we read in the media about people who listen to voices and end up as notorious serial killers. Some land up in state institutions where they are labelled as insane whilst others continue to lead ‘ordinary’ lives. Others convince sane people to join them as evidenced in the number of cults in recent times which ended violently.

I guess everyone hears voices but it depends on the definition. We tend to hear the words of wisdom from our parents or peers when we are faced with difficult decisions.
The voice you will hear the most is the voice of your thoughts.
I looked at the significance of thoughts and the role they play in our lives and how they are linked to the decision making process.

I’ve looked at the role of your conscience and how it directs your life as well as the fact that one can be misled by your conscience if you have damaged it.

You’ll find that if you take time to listen carefully to the voice that never ceases in your head, it is one of constant reasoning and calls for decisions all the time.

A typical internal conversation might be as follows:

I’ve got to get that report ready for the meeting tomorrow but Sylvie is holding it up.
I wish she’d just get off the phone and do some work for a change.
She never seems to do anything important until the last minute and I’ll be blamed for the poor quality of the report when I finally get it done.
I guess I’ll have to work overtime again tonight and boy James will be ticked off with me.
He’s often said I spend more time at work than I do with him.
I wonder if he really loves me anymore or whether the thrill of our engagement has worn off?
He seems to be very distant nowadays.
Why did he bring me flowers last night?
Is he seeing someone else?
Why did he ask me about taking up membership at the gym?
Does he think I’m fat or something?
Bloody men!  You can never please them!

The above is a fictitious series of thoughts that link randomly onto one another.
The person has a report to complete and yet her thoughts ramble onto her relationship and why men are so difficult.

An interesting exercise is to stop where you are right now and back track to the original thought you had which set you on the path to your current thought.

It is quite fascinating when you follow the thought trails as it also reveals a lot about what is in your heart. You can often trace patterns in your thought life which reveal what you find pleasant to think about or whether you are in self destruct mode. These patterns can also show how much you are engrained in certain habits.

Most of your thoughts are coloured with emotions which will either make or break you.
I often wonder about positive thinking and its benefits. Is it possible to be a happy, balanced person and have endless negative thoughts charged with bad emotions?
Would the two forces cancel one another out or would you be very confused?

I do know people who have two sides to them. Some present a balanced face to the world and yet they show a totally different face when they are alone or with people they can let their guard down.
Is it a survival mechanism in our society or is it deliberate deception?

When people commit suicide, sometimes those closest to them are shocked as it is completely out of character and yet it could be that that person has been living like Janus (having two opposite faces – being negative and positive).

Back to voices and a few questions to keep you awake at night.

• Does the voice you hear condemn you or commend you?
  Are you able to change the tone of this voice or is it beyond your control?
• Are you habitually following a certain train of thought?
  Can you change this habit and create a better way of thinking?
• Do you believe that your thoughts create habits and affect your way of life?
  Is there any merit to positive and negative thinking or are they just gimmicks / psychological jargon?
• What emotions do the voice you listen to evoke?
  What images do they promote in your mind?
• Is it possible to change your life around by changing your thoughts?

What do you think?

Sometimes I lay awake at night and wonder ‘Just where did I go wrong?’
Then a voice comes to me and says, ‘This is going to take more than one night’.

I was doing some research for a book I’m writing and this statement jumped out at me;
“Tell me something good that depression does for you?”

That statement rolled around my thoughts and I realised that I’d a number of preconceived ideas about depression. I went on the net and dug out some fascinating facts but the statistics are alarming.

Here are some facts:

• 1 out of every 6 people suffer from depression.
  I wonder what the other 5 are suffering from because I know from experience that the rest of those folk are not all happy. Perhaps they are on happy pills so they do not realise they are depressed anymore.
• Everyone will at some time in their life be affected by depression – their own or someone else’s.
  Didn’t really think about that one until I read the stats about people who do not go for treatment.
• 80% of depressed people are not currently having any treatment.
• Pre-schoolers are the fastest-growing market for antidepressants.
  This one rattled my thinking. Pre-schoolers?
  In my day, my biggest stress at that age was whether I’d be able to stay up later than usual!
• 15% of the population of most developed countries suffers severe depression.
  The definition of severe (clinical depression) is further down.
• 30% of women are depressed.
• 41% of depressed women are too embarrassed to seek help.
• 54% of people believe depression is a personal weakness.
• 92% of depressed males do not seek treatment.
• 15% of depressed people will commit suicide.
• Depression will be the second largest killer after heart disease by 2020 – and studies show depression is a contributory factor to fatal coronary disease.
• Depression results in more absenteeism than almost any other physical disorder
• Studies are increasingly linking more illnesses to depression, including: osteoporosis, diabetes, heart disease, some forms of cancer, eye disease and back pain.

Causes of depression:

• Short-term depression can be caused by loss or extreme trauma.
• Chronic or life-long depression is caused by trauma in childhood which includes: emotional, physical or sexual abuse; yelling or threats of abuse; neglect ; criticism; inappropriate or unclear expectations; maternal separation; conflict in the family; divorce; family addiction; violence in the family, neighbourhood or TV; racism and poverty.

I always believed that depression was a state of mind that you created because you were unhappy about your circumstances or your life but if you’ll look closely at both definitions, a negative external condition or circumstance resulted in the depression.

I wondered how severe depression was defined and this is the accepted criteria:

• Depressed mood most of the day, nearly every day
• Loss of interest or pleasure in most activities
• Significant weight loss or gain
• Sleeping too much or not being able to sleep nearly every day
• Slowed thinking or movement that others can see
• Fatigue or low energy nearly every day
• Feelings of worthlessness or inappropriate guilt
• Loss of concentration or indecisiveness
• Recurring thoughts of death or suicide

If the above was the only criteria for being severely or clinically depressed then we are all in the same sinking boat as there are very few who have not suffered or suffer from some of the above symptoms.

However, the bottom line to be officially clinically depressed is that you must suffer from five or more of the above symptoms, especially the first two, and it must be over a two-week period.
I wonder what is so mystical or magical about two weeks? Why not three or less?

This depression is not the same as that caused by the loss of a loved one, substance abuse or a medical condition.

So what good has depression done for you?

I know some people who suffer from depression and there are no easy solutions.
If you are depressed, there are few options available to you. The most viable option is professional help and support however most therapy involves seeking a solution to the thoughts and feelings that cause your depression.
Medication is the preferred antidote but it appears that certain anti depressants have even worse side effects than depression.
Alcohol is another solution but it in itself is a depressant. Thus you’re between the devil and the deep blue sea.

I believe that the past is gone and there is nothing you can do to change it or dissolve it. Those things happened and being depressed about it will only make things worse.
It makes no sense to relive those events in your mind when all it does is cause you more pain and anguish.
Surely the amount of time that you spend doing that could be put to much better use focusing on your future instead of letting the past control your present?

Isn’t it time you took charge of your own life by controlling the thoughts and images that shape your emotions?

You largely constructed your depression. It wasn’t given to you. Therefore, you can deconstruct it. — Albert Ellis

Thoughts are strange things.
We have them all day long in the countless thousands. We pay little attention to the majority that marches through our minds.

So where so they come from and what is their purpose?

I’ve often wondered if animals have a thought life.
Most of what I’ve read says that they act purely on instinct. I’ve often watched my cat licking himself in the garden when suddenly a bird lands nearby. He shakes his head in wonder and focuses on the bird. He both pays attention to the bird and begins to stalk it or he continues with his boudoir.

This is now where I will take writer’s license and speculate about my cat’s actions.

Perhaps he was not hungry at that moment and although a snack would’ve been nice, it still had to be caught. Perhaps he did not feel like eating bird but would’ve preferred a rodent or an insect instead. Perhaps he was tired from the night out and wanted to sit in the sun and relax.

I’ll never know because I’ve no idea if these thoughts ever crossed his mind.
Perhaps they did but because I’ve never actually had a conversation with him I cannot say.
There are some folk who claim to have the ability to understand animals and hear what they’re saying but I’ll leave that for you to decide.

We know that we think thoughts because we communicate with one another and articulate what we’re thinking.
What about babies? Do they have thoughts?
Do thoughts only exist when they can be expressed in words?

I do not have these answers and added the questions to get you thinking.

My posts over the past few weeks have looked at the signs of a weak mind and the case for a strong mind. The common point of both is that our mind process is based upon thoughts and how we deal with them.

Who defines what a good or bad thought is?
Does it revolve around the type of emotions it generates?
If these emotions are anger, fear or envy, does it mean the thought is bad?
Are bad thoughts ones that break you or others down?
Does your belief and culture dictate what a good or bad thought is?

In The Art of Thought Transformation, I looked at the action of rewiring your thought process.
I made it sound very simple but in fact many books have been written about the disciplines required to achieve this process.

These books detail the benefits of positive thinking, mind control, affirmations, meditation, the law of attraction and other subjects that tell you how to control your thoughts. From what I’ve read it appears to be a long involved process.

Surely if you are the originator of your thoughts, you should be able to control them at will?
Is it a matter of lack of discipline that has allowed your thoughts to run rampant or is it your lifestyle?
Have you seared your conscience knowing that you are acting contrary to your values?

I’ve asked a lot of questions that have no right or wrong answers other than to determine whether thoughts are the source of your problems or solutions.

My last question is not for the faint hearted: – What if your thoughts come from an external source?

You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you. James Allen

Most of the great inventors and thinkers of our time were not conformists.

They were prepared to take the accepted norms of society, whether they were religion or science, and test it against another truth. They observed and came to conclusions that upset the conformists to the core.

A number were tried and found guilty of crimes against religion. They either had to recant or face death.

Are you prepared to embark on such a journey or are you happy to just conform?

Would you dare to test the ideals, values and beliefs that you hold so dear?

Are you ready to be labelled as a rebel with all of the related consequences?

If you answered yes to any of the above questions then fasten your seatbelt as the road forward gets a bit rough.

Any form of change that you make is usually met with resistance because your ingrained habits are threatened and you enjoy your comfort zones. People who are conformists will resist or belittle your move towards change.

Most of your life is habitual.
Habits are things that you do without thinking.
You do the things that you did yesterday, the day before and ever since you can remember.
Some habits are good whilst others are bad.

To transform your thought processes is not difficult but it will require discipline and persistence. Your mind will revolt at first but do not give up. You didn’t wake up one morning with all your habits. They formed over a period of time until some of them enslaved you.

Like all habits, you will have to work at this to get the results. It’s similar to changing eating patterns or a deciding to get fit again. You must decide what your goal is and how you are going to achieve it. Then comes the discipline and persistence.

It takes discipline to say no to the fine tasting food or to exercise when you are tired.
It takes persistence to keep on going when it looks as though you are achieving nothing.

Before you can begin transforming your thoughts, you’ll have to evaluate what you want to change.
For an example, I’m sure you’ve heard of positive thinking.
The question to ask yourself is whether you need to apply it in your life. Most of the time you react to things you don’t understand with a healthy dose of cynicism.
Why? It’s either because you have heard something bad about it from someone or you’ve not spent time trying to understand what it is and why it works.

In a nutshell, you do not believe in it and you know the immense power of belief. If you don’t believe it, you’ll never accept it.

It’s a twofold process to transform your thoughts.
First you have to remove your old wiring or beliefs.
This involves evaluating your belief about positive thinking – as an example.
Once you’ve decided that it’s something that will improve or enhance your life then it’s time to change your thought patterns.
If you’ve been pessimistic in your thought life, you’ll need to recognise the thoughts and seek their source.
Why? Unless you find the root cause of your pessimism, you’ll never change the fruit which is the negative thoughts.

How long will it take to transform your thoughts?
Research shows it can take between 30 days to a year.

I prefer to break it down into smaller portions.
1 week to break a habit
3 weeks to change a habit
3 months to kill a habit.

You can relapse at any time in the first year. Ask any smoker who has given up!
It takes hard discipline to keep walking on your new road of choice.
This process can be applied to anything that you want to change in your life.

Thoughts are the foundations of words, which form our actions and then our habits.

Take charge your life by transforming your thoughts.

The unfortunate thing about this world is that good habits are so much easier to give up than bad ones. ~Somerset Maugham