Everything starts with a thought. The thought creates an emotion which in turn creates a behaviour. So, change your thoughts to change your life.
Are you aware that your mind can hinder, or help you achieve what you want in life? And that every day your thoughts raise or lower your human experience?
Even more, what you choose to focus on has an impact greater than your own experience. Neuroscientist David Rock calls this “attentional density” – the weight of attention we give to each thought that passes through our mind affects the whole of society. We see this played out in everyday life. Thoughts become a reality, whether that’s people shouting at one another or showing compassion.
There is a neutral ground of thought, but most minds don’t stay there for long. The poet Rumi wrote “somewhere between right and wrong, there is a garden. I will meet you there.” We don’t often reach that garden. It’s easier to sway toward good or bad, right or wrong. Left to their own devices, our thoughts weave opinions and we convince ourselves these opinions are truths.
I would like to encourage you to become consciously aware of your own thoughts. Attend more deeply to them over the coming minutes and hours and ask yourself the following questions: Do my thoughts represent my moral compass? Do my thoughts help me move towards the world ideal I hold in my heart?
I’d like to think that the science of human flourishing – including positive psychology, neurobiology and other research-based investigations into living a good life – is encouraging a positive global transformation.
I’d like to imagine that, in a hundred years, a historian collating data on our thinking, will look back in time and come to the conclusion that what you and I are doing individually today, fostered a combined swell of positive change in society!
Wouldn’t that be a great legacy!
