Harnessing the Power of our Thoughts

The Power is in YOUR hands...

The incredible Dr Joe Dispenza explains that we have between 60 thousand to 70 thousand thoughts a day! (no wonder I sometimes feel like I can’t think straight and get so overwhelmed!) Saying that, 90% of these thoughts are the same thoughts that we had the day before and the day before that. So what does this mean for us…?

Well, it means that the same thoughts that we have constantly will lead to the same choices that we make. These same choices will lead to the same behaviours. The same behaviours that we display will lead to the same experiences we have. This will then lead to the same emotions which ultimately results in the the same thoughts and around and around we go! Never progressing, never feeling like we are achieving anything substantial.

95% of our thoughts come from our subconscious. Our subconscious is like a giant filing cabinet holding every. single. thing. that we have ever experienced, witnessed, felt, encountered etc …it’s all stored in there, lying there waiting in the ditches, ready for an opportunity to pop up and affect our present day reality. The thing is, even though they are all in there, we are not usually aware of them and the power they hold over us and boy, do they have power over us! Our subconscious thoughts manage to influence how we experience our worlds on a minutely basis. As an example, something that we experienced 20 years ago can still affect how we encounter obstacles to this day. However, it is also said that 50% of what we remember is not actually true or that it has been exaggerated, underplayed or even glorified to fit in with our current personal narrative. A heated conversation with a boss for example, when remembered can be exaggerated into a screaming slanging match if we feel the need to paint our boss with that brush. Conversely, a terrible and emotionally abusive friend's behaviours could be downplayed in our minds when reconnecting with them years later thinking that "they weren't that bad". This means that whilst our subconscious thoughts affect us, for the most part, we can’t actually trust them!

It all sounds very confusing I know... “so we have these thoughts affecting us but we can’t actually trust them?!” Yes, unfortunately that’s exactly right.

So, how do we move forward and harness the power of our thoughts then?

Well, its simple, we need to “give ourselves a check up from the neck up” and often. To make sure that our thoughts are helping to push us forward rather than hold us back. The two types of thoughts and beliefs we hold are called either Supportive Beliefs or Limiting Beliefs. Supportive beliefs can help us to achieve our goals and generally make us feel great. Examples can be “You've got this!” or “I can overcome this challenge”. On the other hand, Limiting Beliefs can sound like “Don’t even bother, you’re gonna fail anyway” or “i’m an idiot, my teacher was right”. Limiting beliefs are those that keep us grounded to our very safe Comfort Zone and prevent us from experiencing anything new - they tend to make us feel bad too. The problem is when we are living in our Comfort Zone, we very rarely experience anything exciting or do anything that makes us say “OMG i can’t believe i just did that!!??”

The older we get, the more used to our negative beliefs we become and the voice sounds so familiar that we don’t even challenge it. “No, you could never do that” it says and “yes, you’re right” we reply… and on we go in our usual patterns and routines not stepping outside of our Comfort Zone for another day, wondering why our lives feel so mundane.

We wonder when are we going to start achieving new things? when are we going to get our big break? when is something great going to happen to me? or even when are we going to start feeling better…?

Unfortunately “When we change nothing, nothing changes”. It’s a very simple concept but totally powerful at the same time.

Doing the same thing day in and day out, will result in the same outcomes day in and day out. We want to grow our business, but we are too busy scrolling through Facebook to put in the effort. We want to learn a new language or skill but we procrastinate and put it off until another day because a new Netflix binge-worthy series is about to start. We want to go and travel the world and yet we can barely make it off our couches to go for a walk around the block.

Change gets harder the older we get. Think about the energy we once had when the world was at our feet, we were raring to go and excited about the future ahead of us. As we get older though and have failures and disappointments behind us, the more reluctant we are to try and think outside the box and experience new things - no one like to feel failure after all. We get more set in our ways the older we are and we fall into comfortable bad habits. Research says that it takes anywhere between 18 to 254 days to break a bad habit - that can be a very long time of constant dedication to break that bad habit! But what is a habit and why do we need them?

There are a million things that we do every day without thinking about them. We wake up, use the bathroom, check social media, eat the same breakfast from the same bowl etc. These are our habits and they serve a vital purpose because they are essentially preventing mental exhaustion. If we had to make a decision about every single thing throughout our day, we would get burnt out very quickly - instead our autopilot kicks in and does these things for us automatically. These habits or routines are there to allow our brain to stay on standby - freeing up space for when real decisions need to be made.

But what would it look like if we learned from day one how to do things the right way. To learn how to form good habits before we form bad ones. To be self aware enough to not allow other people's opinions and perspectives influence how we feel about ourselves and what we want to do with our lives.

Unfortunately I don’t have a magic wand to take you back in time, preventing you from creating and forming these bad habits, however what would you give to be able to give that gift to your child? To hand them the present of learning how to ignore negative opinions from friends, teachers and even well meaning family. To not allow their thoughts, goals and dreams to be manipulated and affected by others that may have a different perspective, don’t have all the information or… simply, they are wrong!

We hear from a teacher that "we will never amount to anything" and just like that, the damage is done. Every time we want to go for a new job role, there’s that voice, etched into our brains saying. “you’ll never amount to anything” and again you let the opportunity pass you by. But what if your child knew to challenge these thoughts within themselves and develop the skills needed to say "hang on, what if my teacher is not right? Maybe they are jealous, or in a bad mood and simply want to make me feel as bad as they do" and NOT let the opinions of others stop them from going for their dreams.

When our kids develop this mindset for themselves, they are set on a very positive and powerful life's journey to success. This would encourage your child to continue working towards their goals and dreams regardless of other's opinions and ultimately not let anyone stand in their way. This would give them a huge boost to their self-esteem and self-confidence safe in the knowledge that they can achieve anything they set their mind on.

At Wisdom Power Kids, I do exactly that. I teach children empowering mindset tools helping them learn how to harness the power of their thoughts as well as many other powerful topics which will serve them for a lifetime.

If you would like to find out more, please contact me on wisdompowerkids@gmail.com or 00972547171282