“Whatever is outside of your awareness runs the show. It is what is going on that you don’t pay attention to that determines whether you get what you want or not. So much of our thinking is automatic and below the threshold of consciousness. It governs everything.

When you begin to take control of your thinking you work with what you are aware of. You change the obvious negative thoughts you encounter into positive. You recite affirmations. You do this a few times a day, consistently and over time. Things begin to shift.

You start experiencing success. You become aware of your thinking and your feeling. You begin to notice whether you feel good most of the time or not. Your life changes. The process takes a while just as it takes a while for a plant to grow from seed to bear fruit. It’s all good.

We Are Fortunate To Become Aware Of The Content Of Our Mind

The subconscious works doing what it learned to do from birth onward. It is a storehouse of automatic habits, beliefs, memories and experiences from which we navigate the world. When we decide to change it’s a conscious decision to change the subconscious process.

I have compared this to the rudder steering a large ship in previous posts. We direct the subconscious, we train and condition it through correct repetition of strong emotions, affirmations and visualization. We do this repetitiously to get it to learn what we want it to now do.

While we learn to be different there still are all these habits of thought that continue. Petty thoughts, sometimes about nothing in particular. We don’t think about them we just think them. We barely ever notice them unless the signal value becomes loud enough.

Once Aware – We Can Move From Chaos And Misery To Bliss

These thoughts dictate our experience. They govern our day. Because we don’t notice them we don’t change them. They are chatter. They are mostly less than glorious, maybe neutral, but make up negative commentary or narration about our daily experiences.

I’ll give you an example I hope illuminates. I am in the lap pool doing laps and enjoying. A woman comes in, could have been anyone actually, man or woman. She is new. She stops me to ask how she gets into my lane. I tell her duck under the buoys. This bothers her.

She doesn’t want to get her hair wet. I noticed when she entered the pool she hadn’t showered. This bothered me. I didn’t say anything. Anyway, she does her thing. Soon, she grabs some floats off the pool side which a handicapped man had been using and takes them.

Become Aware Of What You Are Thinking – You Will Recognize …

He points this out to me. I get out of the pool and go get him some more dumbbell floats and give them to him. She appears oblivious. Too concerned with not getting her hair wet apparently. He thanks me and begins his exercise. I return to my lane and she joins me.

She gets into my lane by going around. Now she moves slowly in front of me. She starts a conversation with another woman in the center lane and they walk slowly. In my lane she moves down the middle arms out to both sides. I am becoming annoyed. It goes on.

I am thinking, who does she think she is? Why does she come here and into my lane? I think, if you are going to be here get wet, go all in. How about being aware of others. There were plenty of floats on the rack why did you just pick the ones at the lane? Soon, I notice.

… A Connection Between Your Mood And Your Circumstances

It wasn’t too long before I began to notice myself feeling less than glorious. My attention had shifted from how much I enjoyed the water, the day, my time in there to how dare this interloper come in here and have no regard for anyone. Who does she think she is?

THEN, I realized I was spiraling downward. I wasn’t angry. I was annoyed. I felt less than glorious. I realized my thoughts we running on about something that wasn’t important. I was spending time thinking and reacting to what I didn’t want. I was caught up.

It was the monkey mind running from treetop to treetop chattering at everything below. Do you understand? I wasn’t in charge it was running me. As I became aware of it I went, Whoa! STOP! Think and speak only to bless, heal and prosper. Stop giving this attention.

If You Want To End Negativity Become Aware Of Positive Things

I remembered Jesus saying, forgive them for they know not what they do. Clearly, this woman didn’t and I could forgive. She hadn’t really done anything wrong, it was just whatever she was doing bumped up against how I thought things should be. Rules. Beliefs.

Once I became aware that I was letting my mind drive me into unpleasantness I could shift it. I realized I had spent a good number of minutes experiencing unpleasantness ALL between my own ears. I was looking through my eyes but my discomfort came from within.

The rest of the day I noticed whenever I would think thoughts of things I could not change. If noticed that if someone or something upset me how I wanted to think it again and again. There was a natural tendency to solve it or continue to relive the discomfort.

Awareness Allows Us To Escape The Trap Of Our Daily Lives

It was as if I could play it enough I might be able to feel better  by thinking the right thing to say or do. It was planning for if this might occur in the future. Actually, I was just getting caught in a negative loop that ran endlessly while making me feel worse. INSIGHT!

Let it go. The thoughts returned. I repeatedly had to put them aside and think what I wanted. I learned there’s a lot of automatic BS goes on; about trying to control situations, how people should conform and behave, thoughts about traffic or slow lines. ALL junk thoughts!

Junk thoughts about everyday things. Just petty everyday nuisances that chewed up time and energy.  Most of the time these  thoughts operate outside awareness but use up critical energy. As I became more aware of these I could let them go and shift to the positive.

There Is So Much To Be Grateful And Thankful For That We Miss

Only as I became more aware of the less than glorious chatter, and let it go, I became free. Once aware I could drop them. As long as it ran on below threshold it dictated experience. This is how many of us spend our days. These thoughts lead to stress and discomfort.

Remember, we become what we think about most of the time. I would never have been able to notice them nor alter them and change my experience from less than glorious back to feeling good without all my previous work, on taking charge, to begin with.

We first begin to change the things with the highest signal value, that which we are aware of. Gradually, because of these efforts, we can recognize more of the subtleties that hold us back or keep us stuck. Then we can keep making changes that move us forward.

Change Comes From Doing The Same Things Differently

We TRULY can transform ourselves by the renewing of our minds. It requires dedication and awareness. At an earlier point in my life I’d have been disappointed to discover the monkey mind chatter thinking I should be beyond that. Instead, I now could celebrate.

Anytime, we can find that which frees us up to enjoy more of the wonderful opportunities living provides for us, we can delight. The more we feel wonderful and think wonderfully the more we create a wonderful life. It all works together. Become aware. Delight in all.

Work on becoming free. Take control of your thoughts and feelings it is worth it! Nothing comes close to helping us enjoy the life we live as getting free from past, old, borrowed, chronic, habitual conditioning. No reason to live that way when we can live renewed.

Be Transformed By The Renewing Of Your Mind

Find gratefulness in everything. Enjoy and delight. Don’t let other people or circumstances rain on your parade. Guess what, as I discovered, it wasn’t the woman who was bothering me. IT was MY OWN thought process. My thinking was causing my hell, not her.

I used her as an excuse. Something, someone to blame and to shift the focus from what I was doing to what she was doing. That is how we live much of the time. It IS what causes our suffering. Stop! Notice. Become aware. Change YOUR thoughts. Be positive

Don’t blame outside yourself. It really isn’t about others, events or circumstances. We just typically think it is because that is what we were raised to think. The discomfort doesn’t come from outside us. It comes from within each of us. It’s due to old thought habits. Take responsibility. Take the right thought action to be free. Most importantly, celebrate everything!” Rex Sikes

How much more can you smile today?

If you like these posts please subscribe. If you think these posts would help others please share them. Help Spread the word. 

Horizons photo used with permission of Phil Koch.

NEW BLOG SITE LAUNCHES SOON – Do you get this blog emailed to you? You will have  to again subscribe to this blog, newsletter. I’d hate for you to miss anything when it switches. Subscribe and Follow Daily Inspiration and Gratitude!