Do you look for the happy outcome each day, or do you find yourself focusing on what has gone wrong and what could go wrong?

Our feelings are powerful drivers – they can drive us to achieve great things in life or they can drive us to despair and self-destruction (self-sabotage).

But our emotions are not untameable runaway horses, although we may feel like they consume and control us at times.

Our emotions are tameable, and we can master them to help us move onwards and upwards.

What we dwell on, becomes real.

What we do often, we become.

If we dwell on dark thoughts, endlessly repeating negative scenarious and words, we’ll become down and despondent.

If we dwell on the negatives, we can only see the negatives. If we focus on our losses and our misfortunes we’ll be overwhelmed by feelings of sadness and regret.

Life ain’t easy – terrible things do happen, but don’t we have ambitions for our future to consider? Don’t we want love and laughter in our lives?

If we dwell on the things that make us happy, we’ll be happier. If we’re happier, more interesting and enjoyable things will happen to us. And when the bad things happen, we’ll be in a more logical frame of mind to deal with them, rather than allowing them to crush our spirit and ‘prove’ to us that we’re ‘no good’.

Bad things do happen, and many of us struggle with the challenges that we come across, but if we focus on the negative thoughts we’ll only drive ourselves crazy with self-doubt.

Your thoughts are yours – they are not separate to you, or something that ‘happens to’ you – they are yours to control and make use of.

Your emotions are yours – they are not separate from you, or something that ‘controls’ you – they are yours to experience and control.

Why not decide to acknowledge every feeling, and then turn your thoughts to other things?

“OK, I’m feeling disappointed about how I spoke to that person, and I’m worried they might think I’m stupid or rude. But on the other hand, I was rather surprised by their question, and I’m sure they’re not obsessing about my answer! It’s time to move on and think about what I’ll be doing this evening with my dog / brother / friend / computer / art project.”

Your thoughts control and direct your emotions. Take charge! Think decent thoughts!

Please leave your comments below if you ‘get’ what I’m talking about – it’s not just me that thinks the same negative thoughts over and over again is it?