Life right now

In my previous post I talked about your thoughts and how they create your feelings.

So what? Why do we need to know that? What do we do now?

Well, let me tell you…

Look at your life and all of your accomplishments. Why did you want them? What would having those make your life mean? How did thinking about how you wanted them make you feel? Why did you get what you wanted? How does having them make you feel?

What about the things you wanted but didn’t get? Why did you want those things? How did wanting those things make you feel? Why didn’t you get them? What are you making that mean about you? How does not having them make you feel?

I know I want more and I always have. I’m grateful for my life as it is, but that doesn’t mean I can’t want more.

I remember as a kid thinking about all the things I had to do so life would be perfect for me. I didn’t really see it as a “Do this to get that”. I realize now I thought it was a “Do this so you deserve life to happen to you perfectly”. I was taught that if I did things bad or wrong, things would end up bad or wrong (natural consequences and all). It all felt very out of my control and like the universe was giving me rewards or punishments based on how I performed. And I tried (and mostly succeeded) to do everything good. At least good enough that I thought the universe would give me what I wanted. But, if little me were to see me now she would say “What??? I did all of that and the universe STILL didn’t give me everything I wanted??? Why did I bother?”.

Why didn’t life give me what I wanted? Was I not a good enough person? Is it all just random and based on luck? If you like how you feel believing that, please, don’t let me stop you.

However, I don’t like how I feel thinking that. It makes me feel out of control, disempowered, and like a victim. And I don’t like how feeling that way has me showing up in the world. Or should I say “Not showing up”. I don’t take action. I don’t plan and strategize. I don’t take great care of myself. I let my mind spiral in those self-deprecating thoughts. Tell myself I did something wrong, like always. Focusing on all the things that didn’t go my way. Not taking responsibility for anything I am thinking or doing. Just giving all of my power away. Proving to myself that I have no control over what happens in my life and not getting what I want.

I didn’t get what I thought I wanted because I thought “the universe will give me what I want no matter what”. So I didn’t really do anything. Feeling disempowered had me just sitting and waiting for life to come along and pick me up. And guess what, if you don’t let life know you are sitting there or ready to go for the ride, it is just going to keep on driving past you.

So, why do we need to know that our thoughts create our feelings? Because those feelings set us in motion to get results. If you really want something, you have to have actions that get you there. To do those actions, you have to have a good feeling that will drive those actions. To get that feeling to drive those actions, you have to choose a good thought.

You have the life you have because you chose it. If you don’t like it, figure out why (don’t shame yourself. Shame isn’t a good motivator), choose a motivating thought that feels good and get to work!