What You Think is What You Get - Self Improvement 101

It may sound like a big hassle, but you need to be careful what you think about. Much the way you need to be careful of your reactions to things, you need to be aware of what you spend time thinking about.

If all you ever do is think about how bad things are, that's all you're ever going to get. Now, I'm not saying that you should spend your time on daydreams and wishful thinking, but you need to make sure you don't spend too much time on negative things.

If something goes wrong, like your car breaking down, and you spend the rest of the day thinking about how much that sucked, and how bad things are and how your car is junk, etc., etc., that's all you're going to get. The more you think about bad things, the more you put yourself in line for those kinds of events.

If you just move on when something happens, just do what you can and get on with your day, you won't be setting yourself up for more stressful events. A lot of people have the bad habit of obsessing on the bad, and glazing over the good. You really need to take time to enjoy the good things in your life and be thankful for them.

If something bad happens to you, stop, take a breath, and assess the situation. How bad is it, really? If it's not so big, just let it go. If it is really serious, do what you can about it, or make a plan for doing something about it, then let it go. Think about something better.

One trick you can use to make your life better is to think of what you'd prefer instead of what's happening. For example, there is someone I know who used to come around here a lot. She annoyed the living daylights out of me, constantly being rude and insensitive to both myself and my husband. I used to let it really get under my skin, and I'd retort at ever chance. It didn't help, it just fueled the fire. So, whenever she got on my nerves, I started thinking about how much I liked it when she didn't speak to me, and when she didn't come around. You know what happened? She stopped talking to me as much, and stopped coming around as much! I've found that this trick can work on a lot of things.

Try to be aware of your thoughts, and when you catch yourself dwelling on the negative, stop and turn your thoughts to something positive. You may be shocked at how often you linger on negative things, and you'll be happier when you learn to change your way of thinking.