My Personal Thoughts on How to Change Your Thoughts :-)

I am so embarrassed that this has taken me two weeks to put up. I have been thinking about it and what I want to say. But quite honestly I still haven't got a good grip on my thoughts so I hope by the end of this we can all learn something. :-) I have been thinking...how do you change your thoughts?? I read in a book recently that you think about your own central purpose, and when you start to think thoughts that you don't want, you think of that purpose and it will help you change your thoughts. The book is called, “As a Man Thinketh”, and the author says,

 “A man should conceive of a legitimate purpose in his heart, and set out to accomplish it. He should make this purpose his centralizing point of his thoughts. It may take the form of a spiritual ideal, or it may be a worldly object, according to his nature at the time of being; but whichever it is, he should steadily focus his thought forces upon the object which he has set before him. He should make this purpose his supreme duty, and should devote himself to its attainment, not allowing his thoughts to wander away into ephemeral fancies, longings, and imaginings. This royal road to self control and true concentration of thought. Even if he fails again and again to accomplish his purpose (as he necessarily must until weakness is overcome), the strength of character gained will be the measure of his true success, and this will form a new starting point for future power and triumph.”

I agree with that but what happens when you are still really weak and you keep having those thoughts that you can't shake? What happens when you have those moments when your goals seem out of reach? How do you change your thoughts then? The last few days my answer had been...I don't know. But I figured finishing my post with that wouldn't be very nice for any of us. :-) So I am determined to at least come up with a start…something to help in those sporadic moments. The ones when you try so hard to think of those goals but the thoughts and therefore emotions that you don't want, are just so difficult to replace or change.

1. For me, the first place I go is to one that knows me best, my Heavenly Father. Sometimes those thoughts just don't want to leave, or they keep coming back more often than you want. You don't have to bow your head and close your eyes to say a little prayer. :-) You can pray anywhere and anytime. He understands your thoughts and He can help you overcome them.
2. Second, Trust God. He knows us individually. He knows our thoughts and the intents of our hearts. He also can see the big picture. He knows what's best for us, even when we doubt that. He wants us to be happy, but sometimes we need to have these moments of struggling so we can know what that true happiness feels like.
3. Third, Realize that change takes time. We usually want immediate results and when we don't see these we get discouraged and want to give up. We can't be good at changing our thoughts overnight, or in a few moments like we would like. It takes time. And it might even be many months before we are able to look back and realize we can control our thoughts a little more than we could before.
4. And Fourth, look for the positive. When I was in high school one of my good friends and I would have to say 3 positive things every time we said something negative. It quickly turned our conversations around and instead of gossiping or speaking ill of others we found other good things to talk and laugh about. Positive thinking is really important for our minds, spirits and bodies (I will go into more detail on my next post about this).

I know there is so much more to this than I know about so if anyone has any other suggestions feel free to pass them along!

There is a book that I want to read called "What to say when you talk to yourself" which I think will help me understand this topic more. But first I have to finish the 5 other books that I have bought and haven't read yet...self control...my thoughts tell me I NEED it! And I have to look at my unread books that I am excited about reading...and tell my thoughts that I need to finish the ones I already have. Haha

Now for a final thought. As we know, the Holy Ghost speaks to us in our thoughts and our minds. Those gentle promptings are not ones that we should try and put out and change. As we strive to try to control our thoughts and emotions be sensitive also to why you might be having these thoughts. Thoughts put into our head by the Holy Ghost are there for a reason. This could be because maybe we need to repent of something. Maybe we are thinking of someone for a reason and we need to do something for them, write a note, send a text or pray for them. This could be the Holy Ghost telling us to do something we don't want to. I am not trying to contradict everything I said above about putting thoughts out of your head that you don't want there...I am just saying be sensitive to the spirit as you work to change your thoughts. Some thoughts, as painful as they might be, may be there for a reason.

Until next time…which I promise won’t be in 2 weeks…If you want something to think about, think about this question.

Why is it important to have control over your thoughts?