The Power of Your Thoughts
So what would you think if I told you that your thoughts have an impact on your very neurology and that you can hardwire your brain to develop your abilities?
If you’re like most people, you leave your brain in charge instead of remembering it’s there to serve you.
First of all, understand that you are not your thoughts. And despite what “everyone” says, you are not your behaviour, either… but we’ll save that for another post.
Let’s get back to understanding that you have the power to adapt and to learn how to train your brain for your greater good instead of letting your brain train you.
Your brain is wired in a plastic way… meaning it is adaptable. It’s malleable, it’s flexible, and it works with what it is given – so be careful what thoughts to which you choose to give energy.
It makes more sense to choose to engage with thoughts and emotions that actually serve you, doesn’t it?
Did you know that your thoughts and actions produce neurochemical changes in your body?
The type of chemical produced and released is a direct result of the types of thoughts you choose to indulge in. These chemicals influence the choices you make because they influence how you feel.
Think about that. EVERY thought you have, changes your neurochemistry and your molecular make up.
When you choose to indulge in negative thoughts you may not have any idea how much harm you are actually doing to yourself. Your own unguarded thoughts can do you more harm than most any enemy you can imagine. If you truly understood how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think a negative thought again.
Depression, reactive behaviours, unsuccessful strategies, feelings of inadequacy, as well as various other physical and mental health issues are just some of the results of allowing your thoughts to run rampant.
Every single thought you choose to engage with creates a cascade of physical reactions that you feel in your body. This is called the mind-body connection.
I have heard a lot of people declare that they have the right to be angry. And, of course, we all get to make our own choices.
Most people do not seem to recognise that such choices impact their mental, emotional, and physical well-being, as well as impacting others.
It is really important to understand that consciously choosing to embrace anger or any other negative thought or emotion always has a price and takes a toll:
When your fight or flight response is activated, your body releases hormones that increase your heart rate, muscle tension, and stress levels, among other side effects. These hormones change your body’s chemistry, further accelerating the anxiety, which then continues to cycle and to further install the anger and fear into your neurology.
Everything you choose to grapple with in your mind, literally changes your body’s chemistry and your physiology. The more you engage with negative thoughts and emotions, the unhappier you become. The longer you engage with negative thoughts and emotions, the more it will impact your mental and physical health. Not only will it zap your energy, but it can lead to all sorts of short and long-term health problems including high blood pressure, stress and feelings of helplessness and hopelessness.
If you decide to have a problem with something or someone instead of seeing an opportunity to bridge a gap, realise that you are choosing to have a problem!
Your thoughts, which are also energy, are transmitted outward like a radio frequency and join together with other energies vibrating at a harmonious frequency to shape what you come to see and experience in your physical world.
Did you know you were such a powerful creator?
Let’s have a closer look…
If you believe you’re not good enough to get the promotion you’re after, you will project that energy and your life will reflect that belief.
If you believe money is hard to earn and that it does not come easily to you, it will not.
You are always responsible for the results you are experiencing in life. If you want different results, you need to learn to change your thoughts.
Begin by recognising the negative energy your past thoughts and behaviours bring to your experience and to the world around you.
You manifest what you focus on, whether you want it or not, because energy flows to where the attention goes. Your thoughts are that powerful. Your thoughts will always determine your experience.
Choose to be grateful for your blessings and for the opportunities that are there waiting for you to see them. When you radiate positivity, you will attract positive outcomes.
Every new experience, new learning, new practices and new insights will create neural pathways for processing information. The old unproductive patterns you’ move away from and fail to reinforce will eventually dissipate. Likewise, every time you make choices to own your path and to honour who you are, you reinforce those new neural pathways and those new patterns of behaviour will eventually become automatic conditioned responses.
As you can’t just snap your fingers and make those pesky undermining thoughts disappear, here are some helpful steps you can take to create a brighter future and a happier NOW:
- Be fully present in the moment. Leave the perceived problems of the past behind and do not engage in anxiety for the future.
- As soon any negative thoughts or feelings come, re-label them and file them under false messages.
- Step back from the thoughts and make room for them to pass right on through
- Figure out why the thoughts are there and what you need to learn to let go of them and the limiting beliefs that frame them
- Let go of limiting beliefs about yourself and the world around you and open yourself to possibility
- Believe in and love yourself and consciously choose strategies that serve who you are and wish to be
- Take action toward what you want and allow abundance to flow to you
As you actively take these steps to create change, you will begin to change your faulty brain chemistry and step into your role as creator.
Remember, all your hopes and dreams already exist as a wave in the quantum field and are just waiting for you to make them real.
34 Responses to The Power of Your Thoughts
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Shelley Lundquist
Shelley Lundquist is an international best-selling author, motivational speaker, and Self-Mastery & Success Coach who uses her intuitive gifts and powerful transformational breakthrough processes to empower audiences all over the world in leveraging the unlimited power of their own potential.
By guiding you through a journey of self-discovery and a shift in the way you perceive yourself and the world, Shelley will help you create your best life—a peaceful, harmonious life of joy and abundance, that acknowledges body, mind, and spirit.
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Hi Shelley:
I love this post. It should be shared widely as a reminder to all of us in order to recenter ourselves throughout the day. I would like to share this on our Facebook page if you don’t mind. This is a message that our organization is trying to bring to youth as these are skills that need to be taught early in life to empower them to create postive and fullfilling lives, and as a way of dealing with the epidemic of bulling, addiction and mental health issues amongst our young people.
Hi Una… Thank you so much. Please do feel free to share. I agree. It’s such an important message and lesson for us all.
Great article, Shelley. I needed this today! It’s easy to sometimes feel discouraged about the world’s problems–there is a lot of air pollution in my city today–but I definitely believe in cultivating, curating, or guiding our thoughts for our own highest good and that of others.
Hi Chara, It can be hard and we can certainly go into overwhelm when we look at everything that needs to be done. I find that if i just start where I am, and do what is in my power, my outlook changes and I find hope and happiness.
We inspire each other as we bring our loving energy to the world instead of contributing to its darkness.
Thanks for stopping by. ((hugs))
I totally agree with the message of this post. I speak often of the connection between mind and body and that even though our thoughts may be uncontrollable at times, we’re not totally at their mercy. We have more control than we know if we just choose to exercise it. Where your mind goes your body will follow but the same applies when the tables are turned.
Excellent point, Marc. Where the mind goes, the body will follow. And we are not totally at the mercy of our thoughts unless we choose to give them energy, and we absolutely can choose which ones are worth giving power.
Shelley, we are on the exact same page with this. Excellent article. We are responsible for it ALL – the blame game is over! Our brain is plastic and adaptable as it molds to what we put in it. We have the power to change our thoughts and that is exciting! xox
Thanks, Debra. I find that we are pretty much ALWAYS on the same page!
YES! We are responsible for it ALL! And the sooner we own it, the sooner we can take charge, own it, and change it!
Fantastic article Shelley. So much information and wonderful tips to incorporate into our lives. Great one to share. Love and blessings Debra
Thanks, Debra! I’ve found these tips very helpful in mine. It seems kinda silly to self-sabotage once we truly understand that that’s exactly what were doing. Much love to you. xo
Excellent article and I loved your tips at the end. I am always telling my coaching clients that they can use their thoughts to grow their business! Success comes from belief which comes from honoring all of who we are. Thanks for these great reminders of WHY we need to focus on the positive.
Thanks, Minette! And yes, we can use our thoughts to create the world we want to live in. When we honour who we are, we create a beautiful world to live in.
Great article Shelly. Quite a reminder of why it is important to have positive thoughts. The tips at the end should assist us in focusing on the positive.
Thanks, Veronica! They’ve sure helped me so it seemed to make sense to share them! 🙂
Powerful stuff here. I love the specific strategies you provide for re-channeling negative thoughts.
Thanks, Candi. We can re-channel negative thoughts and create new neural pathways to create real change in our lives. 🙂
Love this post, Shelley! Very powerful and educational. I think that you are right that most people don’t really understand how their emotions impact their body’s chemistry and physiology. Once folks make that connection and begin to practice positive thinking, what a different experience they will have!
Thanks, Sheila! I completely agree that most people have no idea what the impacts of indulging in negative thoughts and emotions.
When we learn, at least we’re understanding what we’re doing to ourselves if we don’t change the behaviour.. but hopefully, we do!
FABULOUS and very informative article lovely Shelly! Our thoughts most definitely create our reality AND they either nourish or deprive our health and vitality. Thank you for writing this wonderful article about such an important practice.
Thanks, Lisa. It’s up to all of us to help each other along and act as beacons along the way. Your own writing provides valuable insights to help make life a little easier. We are all just walking each other home. L(
Shelley, you are speaking my language…the language of thought it’s immense power in our lives. Don’t know what to say except, Bravo for this article. I LOVED it and I LOVE You!
Thank you, dear Debra! I’m so glad you appreciated this post. And I love you and your beautiful light, too!
Thank you for this Shelley…so true and so powerful. I know so many people who fall victim to their negative thinking. If they could just shift their mindset their world wuld begin to flourish!
You’re so right, Deanna. I think we’ve all been there at one time or another. And shifting our mindset makes all the difference in the world. And when we open ourselves up and let of judgement, we open to the flow of life, love and abundance.
Hi Shelley, Enjoyed your post on the Power of Your Thoughts. I particularly resonated with the following: “You have the power to adapt and to learn how to train your brain for the great good instead of letting your brain train you.”;”Every single thought you choose to engage with creates a cascade of physical reactions that you feel in your body.” Thanks for the tips. It is so important to get this message out. In support of your post I particularly enjoy Norman Doidge’s book “The Brain that Changes Itself” and Bruce Lipton’s “Biology of Belief”. I so believe in the mind-body connection and when I coach clients one of the tools I use is “Body-Centred Coaching” to enable them to get in touch with limiting beliefs and traumas that are no longer serving them and release them from their bodies. Keep up the good work!
Thank you, Pamela. It’s so wonderful to see you doing the same important work and making such a big difference in helping others discover their greatness. Thank you for sharing your Light. xo
I absolutely LOVE this article Shelley! What we think becomes what we say, what we say becomes what we do, what we do results in our circumstances. And if we don’t like our circumstances, we need to go back to the beginning and change up what we’re thinking! SPOT ON!! xxxooo
Thanks, Peggy!You’re so right! Our experience has always been up to us. You’ve obviously already learned that, because you got it going on! xxxoooo
LOVE THIS POST. It’s wild to think that EVERY thought we have, changes our neurochemistry and molecular make up. Up-level Your Thoughts and Change Your Life! I agree that Bruce Lipton’s book that Pamela mentioned is an excellent read.
Thanks, Shann! It really is wild! And I’ll be sure to check out Bruce Lipton’s book “The Biology of Belief” 🙂
Dear Shelley
Thank you for sharing this wonderful piece of writing and all that you feel from your heart. I get so excited and filled with joy when I read such Positive messages. I wish everyone would breathe and just take the time to examine their thinking patterns. Thankfully, your article will most certainly encourage people to become more aware of the fact that how they think moment to moment affects their actions day by day. The truth is, mental gymnastics are extremely important to our overall health. We hear all the time that we must exercise our bodies, well the same is true for our brain. I absolutely believe we should be paying more attention to how we train our brain. The first thing is to become aware of our own negative thoughts and reactions. Once we become aware of our trigger points, then we can begin to massage the issues and redirect our flow of energy. When we manage our own state of being, with love and care, we empower ourselves to be proactive rather than reactive. We begin to understand and appreciate our vulnerabilities. As we exercise our brain, we tune into our weakness’s and our strengths. With effort, we can actively reshape our thoughts, raise our happiness levels and condition ourselves to steer away from thoughts and actions that have negative impact on our life. More importantly, as we train our brain to think positive now, in the moment, we also create an energy around us that propels positive forward. As this happens, we invest in trust. We ditch our fears. We gain confidence. We gain hope. We feel optimistic. We become aware that the dividends we receive from our healthy investment of exercising our brain and reshaping our thoughts so that we live positive, far exceed expectation. And that is Powerful.
Thank you Shelley, for being the courageous woman that you are!
In Celebration,
Tara
What an insightful commentary, Tara. We really always are our own downfall with the thoughts we choose to give energy to. Fear messes with the mind, but we do have the power to step past it and to reshape the moment and our futures.
In ever moment that i must make a choice, whether to speak or act, and i pause and simply ask, Is this who i am? And if it is not.. i back away from it and make a different choice. I choose joy and to bring more loving energy to the world. And I will jeep on choosing it.
Thank YOU for being such an inspiration and a beacon of positivity for us all, dear Tara.
You are magnificent!
Awesome Shelley!
Thanks, Carl! xo