As We Think

How do you view your world? Yourself?

This post is an extension of Wednesday’s but it’s something that’s weighted on my mind recently.

What are your thoughts?

I listened to a podcast by Michael Hyatt a while ago and he spoke about being responsible for where you’re at in life. He spoke about owning the decisions you’ve made, good and bad, and accepting where you’re at in life is entirely up to how you view it.

I hear the excuses now.

“But I didn’t get that raise…”

“If my car hadn’t broken down…”

“My computer went on the fritz and I couldn’t…”

Excuses are endless but the definition of excuses is literally “seek to remove the blame, justification, or to release from an obligation or duty.” (Dictionary.com) If you live making excuses, you’re at the whim of the world.

I’ve struggled with this over the past months after setting up a writing schedule. It’s so easy to say ‘such and such prevented me from…” but even when I say that, I know deep down I’m still responsible for how I react to the world that distracts me. I can either stay up a bit late to write or I can stew in my own disappointment and frustration and go to bed angry because I didn’t get my writing done. It’s my choice.

We can control how we respond even when we can’t always control what happens to us.

Hyatt speaks about Alice Herz-Sommer, the oldest living holocaust survivor, who says the way she survived the holocaust was by being responsible for the way she responded to it. How amazing! My own petty distractions are minuscule in comparison.

And how we react starts in our minds, in the way we think. You’re never going to respond well if you’re constantly grousing in your mind about how bad things are or how annoying someone is. You may put a pretty face on it for a while but you have to live with yourself and it will taint how you act, sooner or later.

I heard this quote a few years back and it seems to pop up again and again when I start excusing my way out of owning my life. I leave you to ponder it  as I kick my soap box back into the corner. Thanks for listening=)

“Watch your thoughts, they become your words.

Watch your words, they become your actions.

Watch your actions, they become your habits.

Watch your habits, they become your character.

Watch your character, it becomes your Destiny.”

-David Stark

Blessings and have a wonderful weekend,

Jennifer

P.S. Monday starts us on a whole new adventure, so be sure to stop by=)