What if you went to your doctor and your doctor told you
that if you didn’t take a certain medication as
prescribed, your little toe on your left foot, would
require amputation? Do you think that you would ever
miss taking your medication?
What if your therapist, counselor or some other expert
in the field of mental health, told you that unless you
followed a daily routine of spending 3 minutes, 3 times
a day, performing a little exercise, you would lose
everything that you own and end up homeless?
What if it came across the evening news tonight that
if you will repeat a simple phrase, twenty times a day
that you will become massively wealthy in the next
5-10 years? Would you do it? Could you find it within
yourself to go through the exercise? Could you
develop the habit of doing the exercise? I bet you could.
We are where we are in our lives right now, as a result
of our thoughts. Our thoughts are words, language and
emotion that are happening inside of us all day long.
In dialogs and monologues, we are in the process of
communicating with ourselves, all day long. Conversations,
debates, analysis, arguments and emotional impressions
are taking place in the inner world of our minds all
day long.
I met a very distinguished gentleman at a recent event
I was speaking at. With a neatly trimmed white beard,
dark tan, 60 something years old, sear sucker suit and
beautiful oak cane with a brass lions head atop, sparkling
blue eyes, he quickly arrested my attention as I was headed
to the hotel lobby.
‘Sir, sir, Mr. Murphy. What gives you the right to intrude
into my mind and force me to take responsibility for my entire
life? You and I know that it is ‘everyone else’s fault for
how my life has ended up.
Why don’t you realize that taxes are high, gasoline is high,
the price of housing has rocketed out of sight, the government
and corporate America is corrupt and many are in or at least
headed to prison.
And you tell ME that my life is MY responsibility?
Then a huge smile instantly raced across his face. He concluded.
“Why sir, you talk as if I’ve been running my own mind all of
these years? Sir, I submitted my mind to the government, society,
small minded people, culture and unenlightened people many years ago.”
His irony is eerily and sadly true.
The great writer and spiritual teacher, Florence Scovel Shinn made
the observation in her book, ‘The Game of Life’, that “if you don’t
run your own mind, someone else will.”
I have traveled to Russia 7 times over the past 10 years. One of the
first Russian words that I learned was the English equivalent of
‘work’ or ‘labor’. The word, transliterated is ‘robota’. If when
you see that word transliterated into English and it looks somewhat
like the English word,’robot’, then you have made an accurate connection.
As I got in and out of taxis, rode the Metro and watched the people,
this word became much more meaningful to me. After 70 years of Communist
rule, the people still appear to be ‘robots’ as they walk the streets,
go to and from work and live their lives.
Has it been much different here in the West? When you do what my
Colonel Sanders look-alike said, turn your mind over to others,
life isn’t much different here.
Where does ‘taking control of your life’ begin? It begins in your
inner world. Your thoughts. Your inner and outer words. What you
say to yourself.
The dialogs and monologues that take place in your inner world, create
impressions in your subconscious mind. Those impressions create beliefs.
Those beliefs evoke emotions. Those emotions determine motivation and
inspiration which then turn into action. Actions then turn into results
or outcomes.
What has resulted in your life is largely determined by what you’ve allowed
in your thoughts. Thoughts are the place the journey begins. Your level
of happiness, income, wealth, emotional satisfaction and the like, are
the outcomes.
I want to encourage you to start taking your medication. It isn’t about
your little toe. It is far greater than that. It is YOUR LIFE!
Choose now to begin to shift your thoughts. Start finding out what is
good about this world. Find out what is good about your life. Start
today in shifting your inner and outer words to become more positive,
more complimentary to others, more forgiving, more tolerant and more loving.
Begin now to use words and inner dialogs of possibilities for your life.
Start looking up. Let your dreams live again. Get your words, your thoughts
and your life headed in the direction of where you want to end up.
Positive Attitudes 
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