Turning toward your thoughts

When a thought enters our minds we instantly chose whether to turn towards that thought or away from it. As we turn towards it we give it strength by providing it with backup. This backup can come in the form of hard facts from our life experiences or stories that we tell ourselves about what we think the future might be. Fear can be a deadly backup to our thoughts because fear can exaggerate our thoughts and create anger as well as many other powerful emotions. Soon we can find ourselves in bad moods about things that haven’t even happened but that we have played out in our minds as reality. Since it is obvious that we cannot control everything or everyone in our lives, it is clear that the only thing that makes sense to control is what thoughts we turn towards and which ones we turn away from. I am sure we can all stop what we are doing at this moment and think of someone we love who is no longer with us, causing an immediate feeling of sadness. We could wonder what life would be like if they were still here and all the things in our life that person was not a part of. We could start thinking about our own eventual death and before long our thoughts would control our mood. I myself lost my father at a young age and losing him never really became any easier. I have just turned away from those thoughts and turned towards the positive ones. Through the years, I realized that I could not just continuously remain focused on those thoughts. My life would become paralyzed if I did not choose to turn my thoughts in another direction. Now when the thoughts of my father enter my mind I chose carefully how much I turn towards them and if there is a purpose in doing so.
Every minute, of every day of our lives, thoughts will come and go. We must be very selective which ones we decide to turn towards. If we turn towards thoughts of “me, me, me” the world is a selfish, difficult environment and we find ourselves being consumed with thoughts of self pity, envy, anger and resentment. If we turn away from those thoughts of self pity and ego, the world will change before our eyes. Turn towards the thoughts of giving and sacrifice and the world will give back to you without you ever asking. It may sound like lolli pops and gum drops but if thinking about lolli pops and gums drops work, turn to towards those thoughts and watch how things change. If we can learn to carefully choose what thoughts we turn towards we can learn to make our own happiness.