And by this I don’t necessarily mean to stop eating and just think (although that would work too); I mean you need to change your mental diet. Yeah, you read that right; change the food you’ve been feeding your mind all these years.
What is the mental image you have of yourself? Do you see yourself as being “fat”? “thin”? “healthy”? After I had my baby boy via c-section I had to wait at least 8 weeks to start working out (although I finally started several weeks after that) and it was not going as fast as I would have wanted. Still, whenever I went to the stores I would refuse to go to the bigger-clothes sections, I would automatically try on the small sizes (even when they could not fit), because that is the way I kept seeing myself; as a thin person. It wasn’t that I was reciting affirmations in my mind or doing this as a manner of positive thinking, I simply never lost the mental image I had of myself as a thin person.
Interestingly enough, when I stopped worrying about when the clothes would fit again, and without falling into the temptation of buying lager sizes, I eventually “slipped back" into my old clothes and old size again. You see, your outside world is always going to adjust and do whatever it has to, even laying hold of resources you’re not aware you have, in order to match your internal image. And that internal image is created by the things you feed your mind with. We are what we eat, right? Believe it or not, this statement applies more to what you feed your mind with, than it has ever applied to the foods you physically eat.
Always remember these two statements: “we become on the outside what we already are on the inside” and “we remain on the outside what we have accepted and embraced on the inside.”
This principle also applies to one’s financial status. For some of us, however, even when it is natural to have a healthy physical internal image, when it comes to money matters, the self-image is not as healthy. Some people always see themselves as being broke; never having enough to make ends meet. In their mental picture, they and money are always in opposite quadrants. For this type of person it doesn’t matter what kind of income they have, they will always find themselves having “no money” because the two pictures will match eventually.
But here’s the thing, in the most basic form, fortunes consist of pennies, lose change, and single dollar bills that compound upon each other until they become hundreds of dollars that, in relatively short time, become a thousand, then thousands and eventually grow exponentially. I heard a preacher said once that the hardest level when learning to count is from 1 to 10. It is also the most important of all levels, because after you get it right, it will always be a matter of counting from 1 to 10 in different levels.
When you are dealing with numbers in any form whether in academics or with money, getting the lower levels going, is the most important and many times the most difficult. The bigger the amounts become (especially in money) the more and faster they can multiply. That is why in the parable of the talents, the servant that was given two talents was able to produce two more, whereas the one with five, was able to produce five more. The more you have, the more you can produce; but it starts with gathering the pennies and single bills to produce an amount that is later able to yield a bigger return.
It may sound a bit simplistic, but gathering (saving and investing) as oppose to scattering (spending and paying out) is the most basic form of accumulating a fortune. The bottom-line being, it takes a mental shift, a new way of seeing yourself in order to create change. So how do you see yourself? as being poor (broke) or rich (effective money manager)? “poor people” never have any money; “rich people” always do.
Being happy could even be the most simple equation of all. If your mental picture is of someone who expects to always get something from others, then you are setting yourself up for misery, frustration and sadness. You have set yourself up as a victim; a victim of others and of circumstances.
But if you make up your mind to always be of usefulness and service to someone else, that proactive attitude along with the satisfaction of being of value to the world around you, produces an incredibly empowering feeling. When you have placed yourself in this position, it is less likely that you will end up depressed and unhappy.
Besides this fact, many times happiness is a matter of “feeding” your mind the right images. Here’s a revolutionary concept: “You don’t have to think about everything that sneaks into your mind.” The same way you have the option not to eat any and everything that is placed before you, you can also resist the temptation to nibble and ultimately feed on what “falls into your mind” many times even without your consent or awareness. Get yourself into the empowering seat and only concentrate on healthy, profitable and positive mental images.
Whatever the case may be, whether you are on a quest to get in shape, or increase your bottom line or improve your emotional state, the power is in your hands, actually in your mind. If you feed your mind with the right stuff, you will always get back the corresponding results.
So look into the mirror, lift your head up high, square your shoulders, suck in your stomach and get on your way to good health. Put back the lose change and single bills into the bank and create a brighter financial future; then put a big smile on your face as well as your heart and take the world by storm; the sky’s the limit.
What is the mental image you have of yourself? Do you see yourself as being “fat”? “thin”? “healthy”? After I had my baby boy via c-section I had to wait at least 8 weeks to start working out (although I finally started several weeks after that) and it was not going as fast as I would have wanted. Still, whenever I went to the stores I would refuse to go to the bigger-clothes sections, I would automatically try on the small sizes (even when they could not fit), because that is the way I kept seeing myself; as a thin person. It wasn’t that I was reciting affirmations in my mind or doing this as a manner of positive thinking, I simply never lost the mental image I had of myself as a thin person.
Interestingly enough, when I stopped worrying about when the clothes would fit again, and without falling into the temptation of buying lager sizes, I eventually “slipped back" into my old clothes and old size again. You see, your outside world is always going to adjust and do whatever it has to, even laying hold of resources you’re not aware you have, in order to match your internal image. And that internal image is created by the things you feed your mind with. We are what we eat, right? Believe it or not, this statement applies more to what you feed your mind with, than it has ever applied to the foods you physically eat.
Always remember these two statements: “we become on the outside what we already are on the inside” and “we remain on the outside what we have accepted and embraced on the inside.”
This principle also applies to one’s financial status. For some of us, however, even when it is natural to have a healthy physical internal image, when it comes to money matters, the self-image is not as healthy. Some people always see themselves as being broke; never having enough to make ends meet. In their mental picture, they and money are always in opposite quadrants. For this type of person it doesn’t matter what kind of income they have, they will always find themselves having “no money” because the two pictures will match eventually.
But here’s the thing, in the most basic form, fortunes consist of pennies, lose change, and single dollar bills that compound upon each other until they become hundreds of dollars that, in relatively short time, become a thousand, then thousands and eventually grow exponentially. I heard a preacher said once that the hardest level when learning to count is from 1 to 10. It is also the most important of all levels, because after you get it right, it will always be a matter of counting from 1 to 10 in different levels.
When you are dealing with numbers in any form whether in academics or with money, getting the lower levels going, is the most important and many times the most difficult. The bigger the amounts become (especially in money) the more and faster they can multiply. That is why in the parable of the talents, the servant that was given two talents was able to produce two more, whereas the one with five, was able to produce five more. The more you have, the more you can produce; but it starts with gathering the pennies and single bills to produce an amount that is later able to yield a bigger return.
It may sound a bit simplistic, but gathering (saving and investing) as oppose to scattering (spending and paying out) is the most basic form of accumulating a fortune. The bottom-line being, it takes a mental shift, a new way of seeing yourself in order to create change. So how do you see yourself? as being poor (broke) or rich (effective money manager)? “poor people” never have any money; “rich people” always do.
Being happy could even be the most simple equation of all. If your mental picture is of someone who expects to always get something from others, then you are setting yourself up for misery, frustration and sadness. You have set yourself up as a victim; a victim of others and of circumstances.
But if you make up your mind to always be of usefulness and service to someone else, that proactive attitude along with the satisfaction of being of value to the world around you, produces an incredibly empowering feeling. When you have placed yourself in this position, it is less likely that you will end up depressed and unhappy.
Besides this fact, many times happiness is a matter of “feeding” your mind the right images. Here’s a revolutionary concept: “You don’t have to think about everything that sneaks into your mind.” The same way you have the option not to eat any and everything that is placed before you, you can also resist the temptation to nibble and ultimately feed on what “falls into your mind” many times even without your consent or awareness. Get yourself into the empowering seat and only concentrate on healthy, profitable and positive mental images.
Whatever the case may be, whether you are on a quest to get in shape, or increase your bottom line or improve your emotional state, the power is in your hands, actually in your mind. If you feed your mind with the right stuff, you will always get back the corresponding results.
So look into the mirror, lift your head up high, square your shoulders, suck in your stomach and get on your way to good health. Put back the lose change and single bills into the bank and create a brighter financial future; then put a big smile on your face as well as your heart and take the world by storm; the sky’s the limit.
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Photo by Marcos Santos
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