Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life: A Practical Course in Successful Living was written by Ernest Holmes. This powerful concept teaches us that we can create our external world by changing our thoughts. I tried this idea a few years ago when I was confronted with a supervisor that I found particularly challenging. Using a technique to help me observe what I was being shown by her behavior, I described her in a few words. What I saw was that she did not trust her employees, did not communicate what she wanted, and appeared to control every detail. The next step was for me ask myself if I trusted life, communicated what I wanted, and felt like I had to be in control.
After I owned these thoughts (that I labeled negative), I realized that if I created that job situation, I could also create something different. The first step was to forgive myself, and the second was to change my thoughts. Within a few weeks, the supervisor was no longer in my life, and I began a new position at another organization.
Since that time, I am learning to integrate Lesson 16 from A Course in Miracles, “I have no neutral thoughts.” The Lesson teaches, “Everything you see is a result of your thoughts. … Thoughts are not big or little; powerful or weak. They are merely true or false. Those that are true create their own likeness. Those that are false make theirs.”
The Lesson continues, “Every thought you have contributes to truth or to illusion; either it extends the truth or it multiples illusions. … Recognize that every thought you have brings either peace or war; either love or fear.”
I’ve stepped up my game; I know I can change my thoughts if I wish to change my life, but now I realize that I need to monitor all of my thoughts. It is no longer enough to only be aware of my thoughts when I label them as negative. I am choosing to think thoughts that extend love, compassion, joy, peace, or any other God quality that wants to be expressed.