Great sages, philosophers, thinkers from past & present, and successful entrepreneurs all agree on this: You are what you think! Think (ha!) about that for a moment. 

How you feel in any moment is connected to the quality of thoughts you are thinking.

How is your 'thought-life' right now? Feel into it! Do you feel like you are in control of your life and have positive thoughts about yourself and the world around you? Or do you feel washed along by life, or perhaps victimised and find that you beat yourself up with the messages you play over and over in your mind? 

What we think about affects the sorts of things that we say. The things we think and say affect the sorts of things that we do. The things we say, we usually say over and over again and they become our habits. Ultimately we determine our character by sum of our habits, which sets the course for the path of our lives.

For example, when I am in my driving lessons, I sometimes DON'T feel in control (it is London, after all), and so carry those feelings of fear and worry into how I drive. Worry that I'm too slow and the drivers behind me are angry at the "learner." Fear that I'll never understand how to stay in my lane or learn new skills. This affects what I say. Do you think I speak with confidence about my beginner driving ability?

A powerful quote by Buddha says: 'The mind is everything, what you think you become'

When we’re unhappy where we are in life, we seek to create change.

What's the easiest fix?  Transforming our environment believing that doing so will create the necessary change we hope to see. We buy things for a materialistic boost of happiness. We travel to escape our problems. We seek substances to numb the mind and help us forget.

But of course, we fall back to where we had started: unhappy with where we are today.

And so the cycle repeats itself. We buy, we travel, we forget—always focusing on the external factors we need to alter in order to create better circumstances.

Instead of focusing on changing the outside factors, which do play a big role but do not address the root cause, we must hone our attention on what goes on the inside:

1. Monitor Your Thoughts

Increase your awareness by observing your emotions and body reactions. Next time you have a powerful emotion bring your awareness to it by pausing and observing what is going on in your mind and in your body. A daily meditation practice is so important to help cultivate awareness of what you are carrying, often subconsciously. Journaling is also a wonderful practice to help release what can often sit dormant under the surface. As per Carl Jung’s words: “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”  

As I approach my weekly driving lessons, I now pause when it rolls around in my brain... is what I'm thinking going to help me become a better driver?

2. Direct Your Thoughts

You can control what you pay attention to and what isn't worth investing time in and at the heart of it all, its that simple! Choose the thought channels you consciously want to tune into. Decide what you want to amplify your attention on and decide what not to feed. Here is where intentioning is so important - this work is not just for January's new year resolutions but to be visited and assessed regularly to stay on course with what is important to you. When you create thought patterns, you create behavioural patterns, which ultimately becomes your life. 

I now don't think of the lesson as much as what I want from driving: To be able to take my family on driving holiday vacations, take over from my partner when we are on day-trips, and just whisk myself away to see some distant friends when I want.

3. Feed Your Thoughts

Here is where the power of affirmations comes in. Chose some statements to replace the old messages with and affirm these to yourself on a regular basis. Perhaps every night before bed you write down what you are grateful for, that helps you get into an elevated state and follow this up with a few affirmations about what your day has been like. Language is key so making simple amendments such as changing what you would deem a 'failure' a 'learning' instead. 

My old mantra was simple: "I can't drive and it's so hard." Now, my new mantra is: "I am a competent, knowledgable and capable driver."