The power of thought

Ten years ago had anyone told me that thoughts alone had the power to change people not only mentally but phyically as well I would have dismissed it as nonsense. Now after overcoming what was certain to be terminal cancer and a massive stroke I have to admit that thoughts indeed shape us physically, both good and bad. After looking at my thinking and all of the choices I made up to my illness striking me down it became abundantly clear that my thought patterns which determined my choices and actions certainly did lead me on a collision course with near certain death. Actually I did die twice during surgery when I was first hospitalized April 1, 2003. There was no light, no nothing. I was sent home to get my affairs in order which I reluctantly did. I made my funeral arrangements July 16, 2003 and the arrangements are still in place as I will indeed have one eventually. I withered away to about 110 lbs when on October 16, 2003 I had the stroke. My hospice counselor found me on the bathroom floor and called the ambulance.

In January 2004 my lucidity returned only to find me still hopeless lying in a nursing home. Coming to grips with the finality of all of this was quite overwhelming to say the least. I finally resolved that if this was all I had left then I would make the best of it. I decided to find joy in wonder in all that I saw. The view from my window was the garbage dumpsters behind the home. Yet I still admired the snow and the ice and was truly grateful for the opportunity to still be alive. As my thoughts focused on positive things exclusively I began to feel better emotionally and physically. Mind you this was not some program I conjured up to battle. It was just a change of my thinking to make each moment happier. Since my focus was on finding happiness low and behold that is exactly what I began to find. There was no time to think about illness or pain. I didn't complain.

I realized that if all of my past thinking had led me to illness there was no reason that my thinking couldn't lead me away from it. And so it did. The more I focus on happiness the more of it I get. By the same token, if my focus were to be on negative things the more of that I would get. The great thing about putting your thoughts on the positive is that you begin to attract more positive people around you which is exactly what I needed at the nursing home. The doctors, nurses, therapists and everyone were happy to assist me. Why? Because I was indeed genuinely happy and resolved to get back on my feet. Had I been an old grouch no one would have come to my aid. They most likely would have stood by and counted the minutes before I was gone and had a celebration.

So it is this resolve to find good and happiness that is the starting point. Regardless of your situation once you start looking for happiness, even in the tiniest places, you'll find it. The giant snowball starts with a single flake.

So where is all this happiness? It comes from within. How you feel is always your choice. And that is what winning thinking is about; choices. It is about taking 100% responsibility for how you feel and how you choose to be affected by the people and things around you. If you are set on looking outside of yourself for your happiness you will never find it there. It is always your choice. Taking 100% responsibility for your feelings is indeed frightening at first. We all would love to blame others for how we feel but you can't be insulted or hurt without giving your consent. So when I feel bad I look to myself to see what it is I am thinking that is causing me to feel that way. If someone pushes a button that makes me play a bad thought, I simply find a new thought for that button. I can't stop people from pushing my buttons but I sure can rearrange the records in this juke box of my called the brain.