Our Thoughts Filter Our Experiences - The Affirmation Spot for Monday December 14, 2009
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One of the reasons it is so important to work on the way you think about your life is that your thoughts are the filter through which you see every event in your life.Let's take a simple example of how the exact same event can be dramatically different based on what you think about the situation.April: You're watching your favorite baseball team play a spring training game. It's bottom of the ninth and two outs. Your team is up 3-2 and the opposing team has runners at second and third. The hitter hits a ground ball right to your shortstop. It goes right between his legs allowing the winning runs to score.How do you feel? You're probably upset for a little while, but then you have the thought, "Well, it's just a spring training game. It's not that important."July: You're watching your favorite baseball team play their arch rival. It's bottom of the ninth and two outs. Your team is up 3-2 and the opposing team has runners at second and third. The hitter hits a ground ball right to your shortstop. It goes right between his legs allowing the winning runs to score.How do you feel? You're probably a lot more upset than you were about the spring training game. It might ruin your night. You might spend much of the next day commiserating with other fans of your team on how they let that game get away against the big rival.Objectively, this is the exact same situation. The difference is your thoughts about it.November: Your team, despite a shortstop who can't field ground balls, has made it to the World Series. You're watching game seven. It's bottom of the ninth and two outs. Your team is up 3-2 and the opposing team has runners at second and third. The hitter hits a ground ball right to your shortstop. It goes right between his legs allowing the winning runs to score.How do you feel? You're thinking, "We just lost the world series because on play that should have been handled and we could have won." Again, the events are objectively precisely the same as the other two situations. However, you might have a crummy few months during the off season constantly thinking about the World Series victory that should have been. If you're a big fan, it might even impact other parts of your life. You'll probably still be talking about it in 20 years.Of course, this scenario is just for example purposes. But how many things do we do this with in life? You could choose to see all three events as, "Well, it's just a baseball game and these things happen."I'm not saying that's the way you should see it or that you shouldn't have passion for things. I'm saying that the only difference in the three scenarios is your thoughts about the situation and its relative importance.We all do this constantly. Our thoughts, not people or events, create our mood and our mindset. Obviously, outside circumstances serve as triggers, but ultimately it comes down to how we choose think about the event.Today notice the times in your life when you make everything the world series situation instead of being willing to see life as a kind of spring training game where you and the people around you are all working to get better.Stay inspired!Ray2009 Affirmation"This year I am absolutely committed to being the person I came here to be!"