What to Feed Your Mind to Fuel Your Soul

The only thing you need to get right and it’s within your control

There is only one change you must make that will improve the quality of your life.

It is simple yet profound and you are the only one in total control.

As a people pleaser, I have spent way too much of my life drifting according to how others flowed. I ingested numerous self-help ideologies in hopes that I could finally break free of the “others” shackles and find my own inspiring lane.

Knowledge is indeed power and as a lover of learning, I have picked up some great inspiration along the way.

No matter the source, from Napoleon Hill’s, Think and Grow Rich to Stoic philosophy or The Courage to be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumigate Koga, one theme keeps standing out to me more than many of the great points.

It’s not the power of what you have or do that decides your future but the power of how you think.

Inspiration is born twice.

First as a thought, then converted to action. A successful union that, if paired well, results in the birth of a tangibility that’s ripe with human ingenuity.

As a regular passenger on the how-to train, I’m often eager to be shown how others did what they did. Follow the carefully marketed steps that boasted the secret of success.

Yet, despite all the knowledge available at my fingertips, there was one, very crucial, missing ingredient that I often overlooked – the quality of my inner thoughts.

When my mind was not fully in the game, so many of my attempts were lukewarm at best. While I would blame, time, commitments, energy level, overwhelm, truth be told, I was not fully engaged in the dream. My thought were not being geared for my success.

The ability to think, reason, inspire, imagine houses a human being’s greatest potential.

Hidden within that wondrous three-pound gray matter, is a cornucopia of unfathomable imagination that launched planes, manipulated radio waves, cured diseases and flown to the moon and beyond.

As each generation builds on the visions of the one before, I can only imagine the wonders yet to come.

However, you possess access to the same source. A source that is so often neglected and dismissed.

To construct any kind of personal dream, you need to excavate your thoughts. To motivate yourself towards, what you want, why you want it and why it is worth your time.

If you are not mentally invested, you will never put in the work you need to do or develop the resilience to get you to your goals.

“I think I can” is more than a catch phrase. It is the fuel that moves the engine.

No gas, no go.

The Three-pound wonder

You are in full control of the direction of your thoughts. Your attitude, habits and actions respond to your thought input.

When I was a new brain injury survivor, I had a lot to learn and understand about my condition. One early winter, I sat in the car with my husband watching a Santa Clause parade go by.

Suddenly, I started crying for no apparent reason. I love parades but the tears kept rolling down my cheeks.

Concerned that there was more wrong than I knew, I soon made an appointment with my doctor. He listened to my story and then leaned towards me with a smile.

He gently explained that my brain was in recovery. He compared it to a computer that had all the floppy discs (I know, those were a thing back then) mixed up. Instead of popping the one labeled happy, my injured brain popped in the sad one. Mixups like that were normal and expected.

I gained a new appreciation for my hard working brain that day and was more compassionate.

Become mindful of how you are thinking and the thoughts that you allow to drive you.

Rather than react to the emotion that bubbled up, recognize that reaction, then connect why you were triggered.

I hate, no abhor, conflict. Pit me against an A-Type personality and I would be rubble..

Harmony matters and it is where I find the greatest peace.

If I was not aware of my inner dialogue and how I react in those moments, I would have wasted time belittling myself rather than understand what is important to me and that I am in control of how I react.

Taking the time to listen and discover your own motives for living, is where you will find understanding about yourself that you can, in turn, use to construct your life accordingly.

Quality matters

The thoughts you choose to focus upon are just as important for mindful thinking.

Just as the quality of food that you ingest affects the health of your body, the quality of your thoughts affects your mind.

Your mind believes what you tell it.

• Think positive and your outlook tends to be hopeful.
• Think negatively, and you will be forever doomed to living like a victim.

The mental nature you choose to feed, is the one that will dominate your inner world.

Over-hyped affirmations that feel like blatant falsehood are not what positive thinking is about.

It is an honest optimism that fuels hope. A willingness to find the silver lining in the darkest of clouds.

Rather than staying stuck in a less than ideal situation, you allow your creative power to consider alternatives. To “fly to the moon” on an ideal you become so obsessed about, that you have to make it a reality.

When you command your thoughts in the direction of your hopes and dreams, you begin to see the possibilities before you. Your internal radar is on high alert and determined to show you the way.

Your personal thoughts and attitude you choose to adopt is the greatest source of ingenuity in your arsenal. How your life ultimately plays out depends on how well you inevitably master your mindset.

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