We all have heard the saying: “Be careful what you wish for”. This saying relates to the fact we should consider the impact of our wishes and that wishes could therefore be dangerous. But something which is more dangerous than our wishes, are our thoughts. But how can our thoughts be dangerous? Our thoughts are dangerous because our thoughts have power. One of my favourite motivational speakers, Robin Banks, says that our thoughts are real forces. He suggests that nothing really happens to us, but all things are created by us. All things that happen are therefore outcomes of our thoughts. The reason for this is that our thoughts initiate energy. When I want to lift my arm, I first must have the thought of wanting to lift my arm, which creates energy in the synapses of my nervous system to then create energy in my arm muscles to lift my arm. Because our thoughts create energy, the way I think about myself, situations, people and my environment become the energy which I expel into the universe and then comes back to me in a similar manner. Although this way of thinking makes sense on a neurological level, how can we think about this to help us in our everyday living and thinking.
Recently I have been playing around on Google looking for motivational quotes and I became aware of something obvious for anyone who has used search engines before but meaningful in trying to explain the phenomenon that what and how I am thinking results in how things come back to me. Below I have added two screenshots of two different search phrases used.

Both search phrases are identical except for the suffix of the word worth. The one searches for I am worth-less and the other that I am worth-y but these small difference in my way of thinking or talking yielded different results coming back at you. I am worthless resulted in further demeaning and belittling phrases with dark and morbid colours. I am worthy resulted in uplifting and motivating words with bright and happy colours. This is then a good example of how dangerous our thoughts and way of talking can be by illustrating what I think and speak is exactly what I will find.

A meme I saw recently said that if you’re thinking about red cars you will most probably see more red cars on your way to work. If you’re thinking about blue cars you will see more blue cars on the road, etc. This is also known as the Baader-Meinhof effect which means that the more you become aware of something, the more you will see the frequency thereof. So, the more you are aware of a certain thought the more you will see it in your everyday life. Thinking that I am worthless will result in you seeing more situations where you interpret yourself as worthless. Thinking you are worthy will make you see all the situations where you are worthy and good enough.

Many people then suggest that the antidote is to just think more positively, but for negative and depressed people this is like telling a leopard to change its spots into stripes. The aim of changing our thoughts is therefore not to become positive but to become more effective and healthier. This can be achieved by becoming aware of how I think about myself and my situations. If you realise you are having negative thoughts to stop those thoughts immediately because you now know that my thoughts have power and I do not want to have negative things come back towards me. The next step is to then challenge your negative thinking by having more effective and healthier thoughts knowing that if I alter them, more effective and healthy interpretations can be made which will result in more effective and healthier feelings and behaviour. This will then result in more drive, motivation and success to come your way.