by Rev. Marla Sanderson
“You need to remind yourself that Spirit surrounds you and is unlimited, and is the source of all things; also that it is always becoming something in your experience, and the nature of that “something” is decided by you.”
—Ernest Holmes, How To Change Your Life
If we had any idea just how our thoughts affect our lives, we’d be a lot more careful about what rattles around in our heads.
Everything starts in Divine Mind and is perfect. It filters down through our “consciousness” to form all the conditions and circumstances in our lives.
In other words, what we think and believe makes up our consciousness, and creates our personal experiences. To put it simply, positive thoughts and beliefs create pleasant experiences. Negative thoughts and beliefs create unpleasant ones.
You can see how important it is that we choose thoughts that are in harmony with the life we want to live.
Most of us were not taught how life works. We get things all turned around and think what happens makes us happy or sad.
Everybody does it. Something turns out great and we’re excited. Life is great. We feel terrific. So we keep trying to get the stuff we want so we can feel good all the time.
Then, when things go wrong, we think something is wrong with us. We haven’t yet realized that it was our thoughts and beliefs that created the condition in the first place.
We’ve all developed unconscious beliefs based on our upbringing and experiences. We can also choose new thoughts to create new beliefs and have new experiences. But until we take charge of our own mental habits and turn our thinking around, we remain at the mercy of our belief systems.
Thoughts are easier to change. Counter your negative thoughts with a positive statement. Here’s a list of positive affirmations to get you started. Choose some you like or make up your own, and write them down. Carry them with you, and read them several times a day. Better yet, memorize them and repeat them often to yourself.
• Loving myself heals my life. I nourish my mind, body, and soul.
• I prosper wherever I turn, and I know I deserve prosperity.
• The more grateful I am, the more reasons I find to be grateful.
• I know I deserve Love and accept it now.
• I give out Love and it returns to me multiplied.
• I release desperation and allow love to find me.
• I make positive healthy choices for myself.
• When I believe in myself, so do others.
• I am my own unique self—special, creative, and wonderful.
• I trust in the wisdom of life.
• I stop criticizing. I forgive, relax, and am open.
• I choose love, joy, and freedom as I open my heart.
• I allow wonderful things to flow into my life.
• I do not have to wait. Today is the time.
• Until I believe it is, I believe it isn’t.
• To learn how to think is to learn how to live.
• Love is my real nature. I sense love everywhere.
• The way is clear before me. It leads me to joy.
• I am guarded and governed by Infinite Intelligence.
• I celebrate the One Life in all and through all.
• All the Power there is, is mine now.
• The Voice of Truth always tells me what I need to know.
• It is God’s pleasure to give; it is my pleasure to receive.
• My loving thoughts of others attracts friends to me.
• I deserve all the good things of life.
You also must be willing to give up any stake in keeping things the way they are.
Years ago I had a friend who believed he was mentally broken. With a short conversation I could see that he saw himself as a victim. Though he had taken several growth activities well known to help people create their own happiness and success, nothing seemed to work for him.
He was in the middle of a lawsuit against his previous employer. He blamed his unhappiness and mental state on the pressure they put on him to produce. He thought everything would be better when he got his money from the lawsuit. The case dragged on for years.
It was clear to me that he couldn’t be happy as long as there was a possibility of financial payoff for being the victim. How else could he win the case? He was a victim all right, but of his own choices.
In the end, the lawsuit was dismissed and he got nothing from it but years wasted on unhappiness.
If something seems to get in the way of almost every good thing for you, it’s possible you have a stake in keeping things the same. Can you recognize your negative thoughts and turn them into something that will work better for you?
You can make another choice any time you’re ready.
Rev. Marla Sanderson has been a student of spiritual practice for more than 35 years. She began as Assistant Director of The Next Step, a psychic and spiritual community in a New Mexico ghost town. She’s been a workshop leader, teacher, practitioner, and minister of Living Love, and the Science of Mind. She recently founded the New Thought Global Network, a virtual “church” that offers inspiration anytime, from anywhere. The site showcases many powerful Science of Mind and New Thought speakers and writers, and intends to expand these teachings to the world. Check it out at www.newthoughtglobal.org.
