The Process of Change
Want to stop biting your nails? How about quit smoking? Perhaps
you would even like to change your thought patterns in order to
assist in your own medical treatment. All of this, and so much
more, is possible once we learn how to focus on positive thought
patterns. On average we have 50,000 - 60,000 full and complete
thoughts every day. Of those thoughts, because we are such
creatures of habit, only 5% are new. In other words, 95% of the
thoughts we have today are the same thoughts we had yesterday.
In order to change that percentage, we must first change the
thoughts we chose to focus on. As creatures of habit, we do
choose the thoughts we focus on. There are four ways we can
choose to handle those thoughts: 1) We can focus on the thought,
which is not terribly productive. Focusing on negativity simply
creates more negativity. This kind of thought builds upon itself
until it causes stress, which eventually leads to health
problems. 2) We can choose to release the thought. Simply by
letting go we can begin to make room for new, more beneficial
thoughts. 3) We can modify the thought. Instead of thinking
"I'll NEVER get this report done! My boss is going to kill me,
we're going to lose the account and I'm going to be jobless by
noon!