You act the way you act, you feel the way you feel, because of how you think. Our actions are the results of feelings and feelings always begin with a thought. Here is the good news, when you can change the way you think you will change your life. You are living your life according to what you think and believe about yourself. Change your thinking and you will change what you believe about yourself. The key is to align your thoughts with what God says about you as His masterpiece and continue to grow in them. In order to do so there are some basic fundamentals that you must understand about thinking.
1. The beginning of everything is a thought.
Every great invention, every great company, every great masterpiece began as a thought that someone had. You exist because God thought about you and wanted you. The beginning of living out your potential begins with how you are thinking.
2. Who you are and what you accomplish are determined by your thoughts.
There are many circumstances in your life that are beyond your control and perhaps you have blamed them for who you are and what you accomplish. Stop. You may not have been able to control those circumstances or experiences but how you react to them, how you think about it is all you. Don’t let the past dictate how you think.
3. Your thought life determines your future.
Your thoughts have brought you to this point in life, and how you continue or change your thinking will take you to the future God has for you.
4. People who live out their potential think different
To reach you potential you must not live under the limit of small thinking. Successful people are always working to stretch their thinking, to think right thoughts, to be possibility thinkers and to grow.
5. You can change your thoughts.
The greatest bondage of all is to think that you cannot change the way you think. You can control your thoughts, and your thought will control your feelings and your feelings will dictate your actions.
Your circumstances will not change by simply hoping. Quit simply hoping and begin by changing the way you think. The idea of change can be a scary prospect for many, yet it is a constant in life. Without change there is no growth and daily growth is necessary to reach your potential. Begin the process of changing the way you think right now and you will begin to live out your potential. Read through the “Dream Big” quote from my book Life Palette several times today and prayerfully ask God to empower you to change the way you think.
Dream big
Don’t be afraid to let your dreams be “God sized.” His dreams for you are big: they’re His and they’re significant. Don’t dumb them down or try to reduce them to a level you know you can accomplish without Him. Instead, get the values on your Life Palette up to the plateau of the dream He has for you. Remember, your life as His masterpiece has more possibility that you can imagine. “Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” (Ephesians 3:20) The possibilities of what He can do in and through you are limitless, for “nothing is impossible with God.” (Luke 1:37) You may feel like your situation is currently insurmountable for living the dream God has placed in your heart, but don’t feel that way. Impossible thinking will keep you from discovering and living the values necessary on your Life Palette, and tie the hands of the artist as He paints your life as His masterpiece.
(This quote is from chapter 4 of my book Life Palette, Through Squinted Eyes)