I spent an entire chapter in “The Princess Guide to Healing a Broken Heart” talking about controlling your own mind, and I was only able to scratch the surface. There’s so much more research and updates that have surfaced during and after releasing the book, that I’m writing an entire book on this one topic.
Your brain is your most precious possession — It controls all the functions of your body without you having to think about them or focus on them at all. It also helps you create brilliant ideas and execute them. I’ve been on this bandwagon for many years, and first wrote about it in 2014. Here’s that Flashback Friday post …
What are you feeding your mind? Are you giving it a steady diet of TV programs depicting sex and violence? Are you listening to songs full of cursing and obscene lyrics?
Just like your body is a product of what you eat, so is your mind. Whatever you think about and meditate on is what will appear in your life.
“The only way to change your life is to change your mindset,” said Bishop T.D. Jakes in one of his Potter’s Touch interviews. “Without it, let’s examine the realities. If you change your surroundings and you get in with the right crowd and you wear the right clothes and you get the right job and you have the right position but you still have the same old perspective, eventually you will alienate every good thing God put around you.”
Some substance users and mentality ill people I’ve known expect others to do everything for them from paying their bills to making them happy, but happiness and peace of mind are inside jobs.
“You must be new, and your perspective must be new. And you must be willing to be fresh if you’re going to change your life because people can’t change your life for you,” Bishop Jakes said. “Parents can say amen to that. How many parents do we know who really want to change the lives of their children? You cannot make the child do what you say. That newness must begin in the individual and then spread to the environment and situation around you.”
I was seeing a therapist before and during my engagement, and he kept suggesting I try mindfulness training. Living in the moment hasn’t been a safe place for me during much of my life, so I dreamed of how I wanted my life to be.
“I encourage you to begin a practice of being more mindful,” said Dr. Wayne Dyer in his 2014 PBS special. “This is, in fact, what I did to end my lifetime habit of being forgetful, particularly when it came to where I placed my car keys.
“These days when I swim, I experience my arms moving, my legs kicking, my shoulders stretching, the feel and taste of the salt water, my fingers cupped and moving the water, my breathing, my heart rate . . . all of it. Practicing mindfulness has taught me how to be in the moment and find myself as well as my keys,” he said.
Dr. Dyer often said, “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” It’s easy to worry and look at things from a negative perspective in the world we live in today. The more aware of your thoughts you are, the better chance you have of changing them.
“You can change your life by changing your perspective,” Bishop Jakes said. “The only difference between you and the person you admire is the perspective they have on life.”
What do you do to generate and maintain positive thoughts, especially during times of trouble?
You can find these Flashback Friday blogs posted every Friday. If you want to know more how to have successful relationships and peace of mind, you can get a free PDF sample chapter of “The Princess Guide to Healing a Broken Heart” by filling out the form in the sidebar on this page.
