“Truer words have, nearly, never been uttered than the statement, ‘I Am – Two of the most powerful words; for what you put after them shapes our reality.” We need to remember that we create our reality, we create how we experience this life and world and everything in it.

We intersect with the ‘out there’ through our senses translating vibrations and electrical impulses into meaningful sights and sounds and feelings. We translate the outer world. We are meaning makers and time binders as anthropologists would assert. We are ethnocentric, chronocentric and egocentric. We think our culture, our time or era and individual self are the best or the only actual way to be. 

Neurologically we filter our experience. Since we can’t consciously attend to all the data in each moment (trillions and trillions of bits of data) we delete A LOT of it and leave things out.

We distort the world around us and the incoming data by leaving things out.  We don’t have accurate access to the information through our senses. We have what we get to have, which is allowed in and we are able to notice by virtue of this process.

We generalize. We build stereotypes and rules about the outside world which is another distortion.  So not only do these three processes occur neurologically but when we think or go to speak about things. We don’t consider every possibility or say everything there is to say on each topic we leave things out. By necessity we leave things out.

We decide what to leave out sometime and other times we just leave out what we might normally leave out. What we habitually leave out, or distort or make generalizations about.

On and on this goes. We do this about the world out there – we cannot not do it, and about ourselves. We make statements about ourselves that may not be accurate by virtue of these very same processes. Even in what I am telling you here I can not tell you everything, some of the information is distorted and there are generalizations being made. We can’t not do these nor can we not communicate without these affecting what we take in and put out.

So it is through our limited neurology that we leave things out, change them and make it conform to what we are able to notice. Hence, we develop opinions, beliefs and attitudes about the nature of existence and ourselves. There is somewhat of a “which came first phenomena, the chicken or the egg? concern in describing this. For our purpose now, it does not matter.

Suffice to say much of what we conclude about ourselves and about what we call reality is in error.

SO when making conclusions about the nature of ourself or of our universe it makes sense to err on the side of what one can be, what one can do, what one can have that is positive.

Because we have declaratory power it shapes our perceptions by letting us know what to attend to. If one says “I am not enough” the brain will find examples of other ways you may not be, or at other times when you may not be etc. and reasons (associations) for why this may be true (whether in fact it actually is or not). It does this by association too as in ‘birds of a feather flock together’.

Soon after enough examples are provided the brain (or the human) can conclude ‘yup this is true’ and then limit additionally one’s reasons for being, doing or having many things.

We are all capable of being deluded by our own self. If we feel we are not enough then we must not be. Thus, we don’t do or try to be anything else.

On the other hand if one says “I can do anything’ the brain will likewise attempt to find examples to support this. After a while or enough examples the brain (or the human) will conclude or develop a belief that his is accurate (even if this is not actually the case). Both may or may not be founded in any reality at all BUT which belief serves you better?

Which reality would you prefer to live from? I would opt for the powerful, the positive, the expansive. I would want to think and believe and act from what ever allows me to feel the best and do the best. I would prefer to chose that which makes me feel life is more wonderful and engaging.

For the purpose of this discussion I would aim to be realistic and state it perhaps somewhat differently. For example I might state it as  “I can do anything I learn to do”  because that seems more reasonable, wiser and safer. Stating that one could fly without a plane or one could turn oneself invisible might not be the best or most productive beliefs to develop. The notion that ‘I can learn anything I put my mind to”, or ‘I have a good mind’, or ‘I am a great and willing student’ all aim the mind to find examples, or pay attention to these aspects of your experience.

This is what is meant when we say ‘What you focus on expands’ or ‘You get and become what you think about most of the time’.

Our beliefs determine what we think, what we see, what we hear, what we feel. Our beliefs determine or impact what we try or don’t try, what we do or don’t do (and how well we do it), how we act, and whether we experience life as wonderful or not.

I am not stating that one declaratory sentence uttered one time has this kind of power. It is the statements or declarations or assertions that we repeatedly make to ourselves about our selves that determine our reality. We don’t even have to be saying them out loud, these are our thoughts.

There is so much more to this discussion but in a nutshell I chose the finest to think and believe about myself and I suggest you do to. Pick the best statements to assert and declare and you will find, in time, reality reflects back what you declare. Pick the strongest, most positive, useful beliefs to repeat over and over to yourself. Pick the finest to occupy your thoughts with. Then when you become what you think about most of the time it will be the best you. 

You determine your future present by who you decide you are right now, by what you decide you are capable of, and what you decide you are worth and what you can have.

If I were you I’d make it incredible is my advice. Notice the example, ‘I am in charge of how I feel today I am choosing happiness’ when you state it, even if it does not feel completely true for you yet, notice that it puts you more in the driver’s seat. You declare, “I am in charge” and if you were actually in charge how would you stand, how would you hold your body, how would you move, what would you be seeing on the inside, what kind of ‘in charge’ things would you be saying to yourself, and how would you be feeling powerful differently than if you felt you were not in charge, or if you felt you were a victim?

I assume you can notice the difference in yourself and how thinking this can affect you. Simply saying it may not, at first, but really believing it certainly will. So if you are in charge and you have choice, or power to choose, what would you choose that would be great for you to have. Seems like, if I could choose choosing happiness makes a lot of sense, It could be peace, or sadness  and notice if you chose any of those how you would think, feel and act or be different.

So, assuming you choose happiness to feel  if you were actually in happy how would you stand, how would you hold your body, how would you move, what would you be seeing on the inside, what kind of ‘happy’ things would you be saying to yourself, or out loud and how would you be feeling happy differently than if you felt you were not happy, just okay or if you felt you were sad?

What and how would it be different if you chose to feel peaceful. You see, what you chose determines how you are. Most people just never realize that they have choice. They think it happens to them. AND YOU KNOW WHAT – they are correct because in their reality choice is not an option, it is outside of their control. If you have no choice and it is outside of your control then you are a victim and experience the world very differently from one who decided they are choosing what to think and feel and believe.

So if you don’t yet feel in charge, you can begin slowly by beginning to give yourself some room to imagine what it would be like for you if you could be in charge of yourself and your thoughts. You might begin by imagining how that would be different, better, more enjoyable and you might want to do this ALOT, you might want to re-visit this mental picture many, many times.

Because as you do this you are actually practicing being in charge – if you do it wisely. The brain does not know the difference between mental rehearsal and actual experience when you provide it a detailed sensory inner experience. What are you seeing, hearing and feeling, (even tasting and smelling), what are you experiencing, breathing, saying to yourself. How are you standing, sitting or moving. The more vivid, the more real. The brain acts on a vivid inner experience as much as it does an outer on.

We know this from people who hallucinate, from people with irrational fears or phobias, and many other examples. Athletes have long know the benefits of mental rehearsal in improved performance, as do actors, presenters and now days people from all walks of life and jobs.

So we get back what we rehearse in our mind. Someone, who does not think they are in charge has only practiced not being in charge enough that they believe it and live from it. One who is in charge has practiced and believed that s/he is in charge. Sometimes it is only a matter of a very small adjustment to make to go from being one way to the other. At other times more effort or rehearsal is required, more time. But if you sow you will reap. If you plant the seed there will come a time, if you have nurtured the plant, that you will harvest. You will get back what you put out.

For me, I want the best for myself, for my life and for those in my life. I want to find and if necessary create the best circumstance, events, and connections with people. I want to savor the world and my life and live fully so I want to think the best and feel the best as much as I am able regardless of what is going on in ‘reality’. I want to choose what I focus on and what I get.

It does not mean to ignore. If there is a problem, notice it, correct it and move forward. Having a problem does not mean one has to be unhappy about it, although granted for most people they have grown accustomed to the notion that there is no other way to feel at that time or in that circumstance. YOU CAN FEEL HOWEVER YOU CHOOSE TO FEEL once you gain control of your own brain.

Consider this, your brain, your thoughts IS the ONE thing over which it is certain you DO have control. You can’t control the weather but you can your response, you can’t control natural disasters but again you can your response. Need I continue? I think you get the point.

Either you determine yourself to be in charge or you are not. If you are you experience life a certain way just as you do if you are not. So what are you going to decide to do. You may say, “Well I can’t be in charge I don’t know how” and while that may be true for the moment, you could begin to consider that you could be more in charge as you learn how.

Everything begins with the thought you have. It originates with you, even if you got your thoughts and beliefs and behaviors from your parents, teachers, peers or strangers. It doesn’t matter. If you become aware of your power thoughts when and as you think them or shortly thereafter, and your less than glorious thoughts when and as you think them OR shortly after you will notice where you spend most of your time in thought. Is it 50/50 happy or sad, or positive and negative, 20/80 or 90/10? What is it? How much time do you spend thinking power thoughts that make your life fabulous? If the answer is not much you probably aren’t very happy, if it is 50/50 my guess would be life is so so. Not too bad could be better.

So whatever your answer, what every your experience, isn’t know a good time to decide to be more proactive, at least a little bit and determine who is in the driver seat of your head, heart and life? As the saying goes “If it is to be it is up to me” no one else can do it for you.

You may not presently know how but you can learn. You may not have lots of strength to do it but the more you do the more strength you will get. Once you make it a point to practice thinking powerfully positively you will have plenty of opportunities to notice when you are not. All you need to do at that time is attempt to steer your mind back to the positive thought in the same manner you would steer your car back on the road if you went off. You adjust and correct and you do it as often and as necessary until you are back on course and staying on course.

Actually staying on course means constantly adjusting and correcting to continue to your destination. When driving down the middle of a freeway lane one is always making larger and smaller corrections to stay in the middle, many of which or most of which are all done unconsciously. That is precisely what learning how to do this will become for you – and unconscious habit for powerful thinking.

You already have whatever habit of thinking that you live from. It is already a habit. If you feel you are not in charge or spend most of your time thinking less than glorious thoughts that is what habit is. Something you engage in automatically without thinking, and/or that you do because you must even though a better option may exist. For example smoking or over eating or drinking. You may know better but you find yourself doing what you swear you won’t ever do again. HABIT! Habits are hard to break BUT NOT impossible.

To change a habit you replace it with a better habit. The one you want. The one that makes you win. The habit that gets you closer to what we might say ‘god intended for you’ would be a wise one to chose.

You can develop positive habits and let go of and replace the less that productive ones. It starts with thinking you can, and deciding you will. The it means keep going without giving up. If you give up on the way to your vacation you would never get there. So you keep on going even when it is difficult and you know what – sometime it will get easier and you will still screw up, but it will get easier. Eventually, the screw ups get fewer and fewer and then one day WOW, you find yourself spontaneously doing what you had been practicing. It excites and amazes you when you notice it. Your new positive habit is born. Now it becomes reliable, strong and difficult to break. This is great news.

So what new habits would you want to develop that would make your life much more wonderful and delightful? What thoughts would you choose to start yourself of with. Remember “I AM” are two of the most powerful words because whatever follows them shapes your reality.

What will you think differently today, that while it seems small and insignificant, that there is no way it could do anything, might be the basis, the beginning of an entirely new, positive, powerful, productive, happy you?

As for me, I AM in charge, and I choose to be happy!!!” Rex Sikes