Being Steadfast

What happens when we walk into an exam room completely oblivious and not prepared with what will be on the exam? We feel anxious, we doubt ourselves, and we worry about not passing the exam, which is normal because we haven’t studied. Same goes with life, and the challenges we face on a daily basis along with the goals we set for ourselves. If we’re not prepared and ready to withstand the challenges of life, we risk failing, and giving up all together.

We’ve heard the saying, mindset changes everything, so if we’re completely oblivious on how to handle the obstacles on our path, how do we not waver? How can we believe in our well being or prosperity, if we’re not confident, and we have no reason to believe in ourselves? We all need wisdom in life, to make good choices and to become the greater version of ourselves. Without wisdom, we have no guidance or direction and it’s the circumstances and experiences in life that will decide for us.

Having the right mindset means focusing on our source and the solution. It can be health challenges, relationship challenges, career challenges or any future endeavours. If we don’t spend time refocusing our thoughts, or reflecting, we will be clueless when we face the trials of life. Then we end up failing, when a little bit of contemplation and refocusing would have changed the course.

Only when we focus on the solution and we prepare ourselves mentally by changing our thoughts, we are able to handle whatever comes our way. We can have all the knowledge in the world, but if we lack wisdom and we don’t know how to handle adversities and challenges, the knowledge won’t do any good.

We’ve heard the parable of the two men who built their houses, one of them built his house on a rock while the other one built his house on the sand. When the storm came in, the house on the rock was still standing while the house on the sand fell. The parable says we are to build our house on a rock to withstand the storm. This simply means being prepared and solid to withstand times of adversity, by immersing ourselves in the truths that govern humanity.

All we need is a few minutes every day devoted to our spiritual relationship with ourselves. Five, ten or fifteen minutes of meditation or refocusing allows us to face challenges in life with greater ease and wisdom, and the adversity isn’t as overwhelming.

When we are prepared for the exam, we’re confident, and successful. Same applies in life, and the everyday day challenges and the opportunities for growth. If we devote time for our wellness and growth, we will be confident and successful in life. The adversity will teach us valuable insight that will be beneficial for the next challenge or endeavour.

Discipline and Self Control

How do we master discipline? How does anyone master anything other than practice and repetition, and a determination to persevere to our goal.

How does a great ball player become a great ball player? How does a great stock broker become a great stock broker? How does a great father become a great father?

Mastering discipline means being in control of our thoughts, words and actions. When we’re disciplined enough to change our thoughts, words and actions when they’re not serving us, we’ve mastered discipline. We then take this practice wherever we go and it serves us. Every day we deal with a whole new set of circumstances and experiences in which we learn again how to gain self-control.

Lacking self-discipline can be described as an affirmation that we don’t have self-control. When we’re undisciplined we’re basically saying that our thoughts, words and actions are not in our control.

Ponder a subject in which you exercise self-control, and ask yourself why you have control over this subject, and not the other subject which you say is out of your control. If you have control over one matter, then you can have control over all matters since you use the same practice of discipline over everything. The only difference is your feeling of powerlessness on this subject in which you’re lacking self-control.

When we affirm we have self-discipline we’re changing our beliefs system into believing we’re in control. If we were to tell ourselves all day long we want to eat a piece of chocolate cake, what would eventually happen if we didn’t change our focus?

This applies to everything in life including the larger problems we believe are beyond our reach. If we keep focusing on something over and over again, we move towards it by law. If you were to tell yourself in your earlier years, I have discipline and self-control, I believe in myself, I trust myself, and I can do anything I set my mind to, would you be in the same place you are today?

If you say yes, I think I would still be in the same place as I am today, then you’re basically saying that your thoughts and words hold no power. If you say I believe I would still be in the same place regardless of how many times I spoke these affirmations, you’re basically saying I have no control. What do you have control over other than your thoughts, and the words you speak? Doesn’t all action stem from the thoughts and words you repeat over time?

What happens when we live with someone who lacks discipline all our lives? Many times, we begin to pick up on these traits, and if we don’t do anything about changing these negative patterns, they will eventually create our experiences. Don’t wait until the problem manifests before changing the underlying thoughts that created the problem to begin with.

Without discipline we can’t stick to anything because everything in life requires self-control in order to move forward. Everyone can have discipline, it just takes time, practice and perseverance to achieve our goals. This practice begins with the affirmation I HAVE DISCIPLINE

Affirmations

What are affirmations and why do they work? Think about your thoughts and the words you speak for a minute. What are they? Your thoughts and words are a stream of affirmations and beliefs. Every thought you think and every word you speak, you’re affirming what you know about the subject, and how you feel about the subject.

When you’re feeling depressed, you’re affirming you’re depressed for a variety of reasons which are all affirmations. When you’re feeling fear, you’re affirming the very reasons that make you fearful.

If you never work at changing your thoughts or words they will remain or become your beliefs and expectations, which will become your reality in time. You must make an effort at changing your thoughts and words, or it’s the experiences and circumstances in your life that will decide for you. For without a change in thoughts, life remains.

How can your life change if you don’t change your thoughts, and your affirmations? If your life would change regardless of your persistent fear and depression, that would mean thoughts and words have no power, which defies logic and law.

What happens when you speak a positive affirmation is that you interrupt the negative thought and you focus on a new thought of what you want to experience rather than the opposite of what you want. What God has given us is a tool to take charge of a situation and our lives. The tool makes sense because if we continue to dwell only on thoughts of fear or depression, we will remain in this state and we will eventually attract what we fear and what we’re depressed about.

Even if you have that thing you want, would you be happy to have it if you were dwelling only on thoughts of fear or depression? Essentially, you have two options, allow the adversity to speak for itself and take you wherever it leads, or you can speak to the adversity and to yourself, which inevitably changes your reality.

In order to change a thought you must introduce a new thought. When you introduce a new thought, you may not believe it yet, but what happens is when you keep on repeating it you’re not thinking so much of the old thought and you’re focusing on a new train of thought.

We can not have a life without thought, nor can there be a universe without thought, since this would defy all logic and the laws of the universe. How can we create without thought? Isn’t every idea from thought? Doesn’t all action and words stem from thoughts?

Now ask yourself this, how much impact do my thoughts have over my life? If you say my thoughts have no power over the unfolding of my life, then you’re saying your life is predetermined, and that you have no control. What control do you have other than your thoughts? What moves you to action other than your thoughts? If you say your thoughts have partial control over the unfolding of your life, then you’re saying your life is partially under your control. If you say your thoughts have complete control over the unfolding of your life, then you can say I am in control.

As we speak affirmations, we move towards the new thought because we speak about it and act on it. As before you were thinking, speaking and acting on your old beliefs but now you’re thinking, speaking and acting on a new belief.

So next time you face a dilemma or you feel inadequate, change your affirmations and know that the very things you’re affirming will inevitably become your reality, and know that the process will unfold just as you spoke it into being.