Happy New Year to you!!

It’s that time of the year once again when we start to set goals for the next 12 months. Join a gym, read more books, be more organised, be a better person, you name it, the list could go on. The funny thing is, some of us break these goals in the first few weeks of the year. In truth, most of the time we only really stick at something if we are determined and willing to pay the price for it. But what about those things we find hard to stick to, the things we don’t really want to work on because they disrupt our comfort zones? Things in our character perhaps?
I’ve been thinking about what I want my life to look like this year, particularly what type of person I want to be. There are times when we let our emotions take over to the point where we allow them to dictate how we feel. They can also affect our response to certain situations  and stop us from achieving the goals we set for ourselves. If left unchecked they could cost us countless opportunities. Just because we feel a certain way about a situation does not mean that we are right in how we are perceiving it to be, and remember, feelings change all the time, they are not consistent. One minute you could think you have the most amazing life and then someone criticizes your work and you go from being on cloud number 9 to down in the dumps all in one day.

“When we allow our thoughts to go unchecked, a steady drip of lies cements the wrong patterns within our minds, building a Berlin Wall of bad beliefs.” Steven Furtick.

It’s so important to think about what we are thinking about and why we are feeling the way we are feeling. We must also put things in perspective to access the situation for what it really is and then making a DECISION …. that is it really …. We must choose to think the opposite of what our negative thought patterns tell us. They attack our minds because the way we think affects how we feel, and how we feel affects how we act and respond to those closest to us as well as our attitudes in the way we live.

I guess when it all comes down to it, we have to ask ourselves the question: Is what I am feeling truth? What has triggered that thought? And are these thought patterns going to help me achieve the goals I am setting for the year ahead? Is my destiny more important than how I feel? Is it worth pursing despite whether or not we feel adequate?
If there are things we need to deal with it’s important to acknowledge them and deal with them and then continue on the journey to living a life of purpose. Don’t get stuck in a moment and allow emotions to set the tone of your life, you have to set the tone for your emotions to follow suit. You do this by changing your thought patterns even if it means looking in the mirror every morning and speaking these words to the face looking back at you:

I am loved
I am capable
I can do this
I am beautiful
I have the ability to be disciplined
I am a world changer
I will achieve what I have set out to achieve
I was born for a purpose
What I contribute matters

Each time the negative thoughts come, and bring alongside them negative emotions, you need to speak back to those emotions by saying positive things like the above statements. Just watch how your thoughts begin to line up with your words, and your emotions with your thoughts.

And before you know it, you will get into the habit of rejecting those negative emotions each time they try and invade your space. It will enable you to keep moving forward with your goals because every time you feel like you can’t be bothered to do something you know what you need to do … you will speak back to those feelings and get on with what you set out to do despite how you feel.
My final question to you is: What do you choose?

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