What Does Your Future Have In Store For You?

African tree refecting onto river at dusk

Outlook into Your Future

“You get what you focus on, so focus on what you want!” and “Say it the way you want it!”

The success of creating your future is your attitude. Success is a habit. It is readily available to all who want it, believing you can have it and putting your desires into action is what it takes. Success has no secrets. Those who had achieved it readily tell their story of devoting years to their careers, to their passions and dreams, before they were able to acclaim success.

So many of us have reached that critical point in our lives that we want to change and attain the success we have been working so hard to reach. No matter how old you are or what circumstances you may be in, all you have to do is be alert and receptive and believe, knowing that it is possible.

Socrates, the Greek Philosopher, was profoundly aware of the weakness in his own nature. Yet he came to realize that people are evolving beings, capable of changing and growing toward an ideal. People can always improve themselves. That is part of our greatness. Moreover, the ability to improve ourselves can develop at any moment in our life.

Our unconscious mind is critical to consider throughout this process of creating your future and achieving success. The key to success resides within the area of our mind known as the unconscious mind, and by feeding it positive messages, our levels of abundance will change.

No matter how many books one reads on building prosperity in our lives or achieving personal success if your self-image is such that you do not believe you are worthy of success, you will never be able to manifest your highest potential from an economic point of view.

So much of my work as a coach for executives and entrepreneurs leads me to see the harmful impact that a low self-image may have on people’s lives. So many people have a fear of succeeding, and most people are not even aware of it. They attend seminars, they get executive coaches, and they go out and read a book, after book, after book on living your biggest life, but no matter what happens, they find that they cannot achieve their biggest dreams.

Changes you need to make

When you change your self-identity, your goals start to change; your actions start to change. The way you feel about yourself starts to change, and then your life changes. The size of your goals reflects the nature of your self-image: small self-image – small goals. Changing your self-image would be the start of changing your life.

Books are incredible teachers, but nothing will teach you more than life, and it is important to stay open to life’s lessons as they present themselves to you every day. The start of making changes starts with inner self-reflection. The doorway to success swings inward, not outward. Therefore, the need for self-reflection is important. Removing limiting decisions, negative emotions, anger, sadness, fear and guilt from our past will enable us to look forward to the future with clarity and a new set of goals.

By not reflecting inwards, I believe that maybe the reason why so many people are living less than ideal lives. They are looking for fulfillment, but on the outside, “let me get a better car, let me get a better title, let me live in a bigger house, and then I will find happiness.” Yet a fulfilling life begins by nurturing and connecting with your inner life.
There is nothing wrong with making more money, nothing wrong in living an externally beautiful life. Still, if that is your number one priority, you will get to a time when you will realize that was not your highest priority after all.

Everyone has a Context Window

Nothing is more important than working on yourself, getting to know yourself, getting to know your beliefs, your fears, your false assumptions, or your stain glass window, as I call it your Context Window. The stain glass window is the combination of your beliefs, your fears, and your assumptions. It is essentially the way you see your world. We all see the world through a filter, and most of us forget that we really do not see the world as it is but as we are. We have a personal context through which we filter reality.

The Context Window looks at our opinions, values, experiences, beliefs and attitudes in what we see through the “window of life.” Through this stained glass window, we determine what the truth is. For many people, the windows have many different colours; some are bright; the expression “looking at life through rose coloured glasses.” While for others, they may be dark or even broken. Different life experiences will govern how we perceive events in our lives.

These truths govern our judgments and whether we take action or remain inactive, which in turn influences the results of our behaviours and impact on our future decisions.
We do not really see the truth that we believe we do. This filter has been set up by all the beliefs we have been taught since childhood and all the experiences that we have had since we were young. I encourage you to get to know your stained glass window or Context Window and look at your core beliefs.

An experiment that illustrates the power of words

Thomas Peters and Robert Waterman, authors of “In Search of Excellence,” describe an experiment that illustrates the power of words, even when those words are untrue:
The old adage is “nothing succeeds like success.” It turns out to have a sound scientific basis Researchers studying motivation find that the prime factor is simply the self-perception among motivated subjects that they are doing well. Whether they are or not by any absolute standard does not seem to matter much. In one experiment, adults were given ten puzzles to solve. All ten were precisely the same for all subjects. They worked on them, turned them in, and were given the results at the end.

Now, the results they were given were fictitious. Half of the exam takers were told that they had done well, with seven out of ten correct. The other half were told they had done poorly, with seven out of ten wrong. Then all were given another ten puzzles (the same for each person). The half who had been told that they had done well in the first round really did do better in the second, and the other half did do worse.

Mere association with past personal success apparently leads to more persistence, higher motivation, or something that makes us to better.
The result of this experiment is worth some thought; the subject’s unconscious minds were influenced by the falsified results. Perception alone radically improved one group’s performance and weakened the other’s.

These words stay in our unconscious mind, and as we reach adulthood, we need to take responsibility for our own belief systems. No programming has to be permanent. Any negative programming can be turned around. Sometimes through the power of a single affirmation that effectively counteracts the negative programming.

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OK, So What Compels You to be the Best?

Be the Best

By having a positive set of beliefs that you allow to become your foundation, you may start to enjoy the positive impact that your behaviour will have on others. These beliefs will also have a deep effect on your state of mind and your personal well being.

Author of the publication Positive Thinking Your Key to Success; Remez Sasson writes that positive thinking brings inner peace, success, improved relationships, improved health, peace and fulfillment. It also helps the daily affairs of life go more smoothly, and creates energy that looks brighter and more promising.

Positive thinking is infectious.

People around you select your mental frame of mind and are affected as a result. Imagine happiness, excellent health and achievement, and you will cause people to like you and want to assist you because they like the feelings that a positive mind releases.

So to have positive thoughts create your outcomes, you want to develop a positive attitude toward life, anticipate a successful conclusion of anything you do, also consider any needed actions to guarantee your success.

Practical positive thinking can create outcomes needs to be more than saying some positive expressions, or telling yourself that everything is going to be okay. It has to be your foremost mental attitude. It is not enough to think positively for a few moments, and then allowing uncertainties and disbelief and negative thoughts to cross your mind. Are you willing to modify the way you think? Are you ready to build a mental picture that can positively affect you, your surroundings and the people around you?

Positive thinking is a mental attitude that allows us to image thoughts, words and images that are conducive to growth, expansion and accomplishment. It is a mental attitude that anticipates optimistic results. A positive mind expects happiness, bliss, well being and a winning outcome of every circumstance and deed. Whatever the mind expects, it finds.
Not every person agrees with or believes in positive thinking.

Some feel the subject as just gibberish, and others make fun of anyone who believes and practices it. Those people who have a less easy time with the concept may not have the capacity to know how to get the best results from thinking positively.

We often hear people say: “Just think positive!” to someone who is feeling concerned or worried. Most people do not take these words seriously because they are sure of their intent or meaning. Some do not deem them as practical or useful. How often have you stopped to think about what the power of positive thinking actually means to you?

While being skeptical can be a healthy way to avoid getting taken advantage of, being cynical and distrustful, assuming the worst, can have serious negative consequences on your life. By looking only at the less tangible aspects of any state may cause you to fail to detect opportunities, disregard problems that need to be resolved, and fail to take action that would otherwise enhance your relationships and quality of life.

Optimists search for the light at the end of the tunnel. If you have always had a cynical and gloomy worldview, it can be less easy to change your focus, but it is possible to begin seeing the glass as half full, not half empty.

Feelings of appreciation for what you have will make the process flow easier because you are giving thanks for the things that you have. This will allow you to put yourself in a position to accept new ideas and thoughts in your life. By being thankful for what we have, the positive feeling will create a center of attention more positive for you.

The secret to positive thinking is the feelings connected with being appreciative. It is not the language you use but the feelings behind the thoughts. You could be thankful for almost ‘anything.’ Focus on something that brings you contentment and permit yourself a good emotion of absolute gratitude. The next time you are eating a delectable meal, take pleasure in it and flow in that positive feeling of thankfulness.

When you think you cannot think positively, here are a few actions and tips to help you develop the power of positive thinking:

At all times, use only positive words while thinking and speaking. Use words such as, ‘I can do it,’ ‘I am able,’ ‘it is doable, ‘I know it can be done,’ etc.

Allow into your consciousness only feelings of joy, strength and success.

 Try not to notice and learn to ignore negative thoughts. Stop thinking these thoughts and replace them with productive, cheerful thoughts.

 Always try to visualize clearly in your mind successful outcomes to your projects and goals. If you imagine with concentration and conviction, you will be amazed at the outcomes.

Read at least one page of an inspirational book every day.

Spend less time listening to the news and reading the newspapers instead watch movies that make you laugh.

Hang around people who think positively.

Walk and sit tall, with a straight back. This will build up your self-confidence and inner strength.

Walk, swim or engage in some other physical activity. This helps to develop a more positive attitude.

Think positive thoughts. Think of what you want as opposed to what you do not want.

The same energy goes into both. The results are very different. If we think more about what we want, we get that. If on the other hand, you think about what you do not want you to get that too.

Effective positive thinking that brings results is much more than just repeating a few positive words, or telling yourself that everything is going to be all right. It has to be your predominant mental attitude. It is not enough to think positively for a few moments, and then letting fears and lack of belief enter your mind.

• Are you willing to change the way you think?

• Are you willing to develop a mental power that can positively affect you, your environment and the people around you?

You decide.

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