Thoughts Are Your Life

Discover how your thinking habits shape your emotions, behavior, and overall experience of life. This powerful cassette reveals how to develop successful thought patterns that support peace of mind, happiness, and personal growth. Learn to take control of your inner world—because your thoughts are your life.

Transcript

Because we are involved with life,

We have to deal with problems.

We find ourselves in stressful situations,

And sometimes we have to deal with conflicts.

So it's extremely important for us to learn how to make wise choices and decisions,

And to effectively deal with problems,

Conflicts,

And stress.

And because of our job,

Family,

And friends,

We spend most of our lives interacting with other people.

And in order to be effective with others and to promote goodwill,

It's important to improve our people's skills and understand our human nature.

In fact,

The wisest people throughout history said that the most important thing that we can do in our lives is to understand our own human nature and learn how to live in harmony with the positive aspects of our human nature.

They said that this was the goal in life,

The way to be successful with life.

So the purpose of these human equation tapes is to help you to understand your human nature so that you will be able to live in harmony with the positive aspects of your human nature and become more effective with every aspect of your life.

Let's begin by making some comparisons so that we can see how people interact with life in different ways.

Two people can work in the same office and one individual can be upset and frustrated most of the time,

While someone else can be happy and contented most of the time.

Two families can live in the same culture,

In the same neighborhood,

And one family might always have trouble with their children,

Have trouble with the neighbor's children,

And find the generation gap to be a major problem in life,

While another family doesn't have any trouble with their children or anyone else's children and finds the generation differences fun,

Exciting,

And enjoyable.

Someone can be poor and be completely happy with life,

While someone else can be rich and be unhappy with life.

A crisis situation can completely devastate an individual,

While someone else can use the crisis as a stepping stone to get more out of life.

Here we have people involved with the same situations,

But some people respond to the situations in life in a negative way,

While some people respond to the situations in life in a positive way.

So it's important to realize that it's not the situation that determines how you feel and what you are,

It's the way that you respond and interact with the situation that determines how you feel and what you are.

The way that you make decisions,

The attitudes that you have,

And the way that you interpret events determines how well you work with people,

The environment that you create,

And the control that you have over stress and problems.

The way you experience life at each moment depends upon how you interpret each moment.

When an event occurs,

You give it a meaning,

You make a judgment,

And as a result of your judgment,

You create your own fears,

Anxieties,

And nervousness.

Each of us create a unique way of life,

A unique quality of being because of our thinking habits.

As humans,

We form thoughts,

Then we become the thoughts.

And since we can choose our own thoughts,

Then we can determine our reactions,

Emotions,

And way of life.

And whatever we are,

We can change.

As humans,

We are free because of our creativity.

It's our creativity that we can use to design our life and emotions any way that we want them to be.

As humans,

We are the creators of words,

Thoughts,

And ideas.

We create fads,

Cultures,

And belief systems.

We create personal habits,

Then we serve our personal habits like a slave.

By the way we think,

We determine our behavior,

Our conduct,

And morals.

Our character,

Our personality,

The way we talk,

The way we comb our hair,

The way we dress and act are determined by the way we think.

And when we change our thinking,

We change our behavior and conduct.

We change our quality of life,

Our lifestyle,

And the way that we feel.

People usually don't realize that they can take control over their life and emotions.

People often say that they can't help being the way that they are,

That they can't help feeling the way that they do.

People say that they are naturally depressed,

That they are naturally upset and frustrated.

But they are not naturally this way,

It's just that they are unaware of how they are programming their emotions.

We play a game of life,

And our game of life is mental.

So it's wise to be aware of the way that we combine words,

Thoughts,

And ideas,

Because this is how we shape and remold ourselves.

What's important is that there are successful thinking habits that will bring us happiness and joy,

And with them we can build a happy,

Dynamic,

Abundant,

Successful life.

And there are unsuccessful thinking habits that will frustrate,

Upset us,

And cause us to have troubles and problems.

So the key to success with life is to learn and use successful thinking habits.

We can learn how to deal with criticism and aggression comfortably.

We can use stress to our advantage.

We can learn to solve problems without hurting someone,

And we can continually improve our mental and emotional health throughout our whole life.

And what is our human potential?

We don't even know.

The human potential has never been measured.

With the thoughts that we choose,

We can increase our ability to be enthusiastic,

Happy,

And contented to the degree that we are enthusiastic,

Happy,

And contented all of the time,

Regardless of what happens.

Or we can increase our ability to be irritated,

Nervous,

And upset to the degree that we are irritated,

Nervous,

And upset all of the time,

Regardless of what happens.

We are emotional-feeling beings,

And we develop in an emotional-feeling way.

And the choice is up to us.

We can feel the way we want to feel.

We can be the way we want to be.

Now let's examine some principles and concepts and see how they apply to our life.

If the best golfers in the world produced a professional videotape on how to be an expert golfer,

And if we memorized the videotape,

We still wouldn't understand everything on the tape because we can always improve our understanding of golf.

For example,

If we practiced golf for a year and elevated our level of understanding golf,

Then played the videotape again,

The information on the videotape would seem different and it would be more valuable.

Then if we practiced golf for another year and elevated our level of understanding golf again and then reviewed the videotape,

The information would again seem different and be more valuable.

The good information was always on the videotape.

We even memorized it.

But in order to really benefit from the information on the videotape,

We had to keep relearning the same information over and over again.

To really understand the videotape,

We had to practice and relearn what we already knew about golf.

The videotape stayed the same,

And we kept changing our level of understanding golf.

And depending upon our level of understanding golf,

That's the way we saw the videotape,

That's the way we listened to it,

And that's the way we made an interpretation about golf.

And this same principle applies to life.

There are many levels of understanding life,

And depending upon our level of understanding,

That's the way we see,

That's what we hear,

And that's how we make our interpretations.

When we change our level of understanding life,

We automatically change our relationship with life,

Our feelings,

Our view of the world,

And our reality.

The videotape about golf was not very meaningful to us until we took the time and effort to practice and improve our level of understanding golf.

And life isn't very meaningful until we take the time and effort to improve our level of understanding life.

Two people can live in the same neighborhood.

They can work together on the same job and have the same hobbies.

But one individual might find life inspiring,

Interesting,

And fun,

While the other individual might find life dull,

Boring,

And uninteresting.

It's not the neighborhood,

The job,

Or hobby that determines the way we feel,

Hear,

And interpret our life situations.

It's our level of understanding life that determines what we feel,

Hear,

And experience.

A good example of how we can determine the way we experience a place or event can best be observed in the case of Gandhi when he said that,

Jail is jail for thieves and bandits.

For me,

It's a palace.

Those who practice using effective thinking habits are inspired,

So they are not caught up or overwhelmed with events,

Fads,

Or physical appearances.

They determine their own feelings and state of mind.

A beginning golfer and an expert golfer will take the same stance and swing the golf club to hit the ball.

But the expert is more effective than the beginner.

Even though the expert and the beginner are doing the same thing,

They are doing it entirely differently.

Two people can be doing the same thing,

But one is much more effective than the other because of their level of understanding what they are doing.

Successful people,

Inspired individuals,

Are like the expert golfer.

They practice improving their thinking habits,

So they improve their level of understanding life.

Then they have a better relationship with life,

A better feeling about themselves and what they are doing.

Therefore,

It is easier for them to win,

And if they lose,

They will use their loss as an opportunity to improve their game with life.

The individual who finds life dull,

Boring,

And uninteresting is living at a lower level of consciousness.

They have turned their life over to chance.

They are not living in a progressive way.

They are not practicing better thinking habits.

They are not growing,

Learning,

Or gaining,

So they are like the beginning golfer.

They go through life like an amateur.

They go through the motions that are required to win,

But they do not have the feeling or the knowledge to be successful.

Those who are not continually and incessantly practicing better thinking habits are losing out in life.

They stay at a beginning level,

So they have a lower level of being,

A lower level of understanding life.

Because of this,

It is hard for them to win,

And if they lose,

They usually focus on their frustrations rather than learn from their losses.

People often rely on the cultural traditions or fads to find personal contentment and fulfillment.

But cultural trends might not be in harmony with the positive aspects of our human nature,

And this can be hazardous to our mental,

Emotional,

And physical health.

In fact,

Society often operates at a lower level of consciousness.

For example,

A culture might promote junk food and sell foods with chemicals that are harmful to our health.

Children might learn to do good deeds so that they can be rewarded with sugar candy.

It might be the custom to overeat and smoke,

Or it might be popular for people to get angry,

To get into arguments and lose their temper.

Those who act childish and get upset easily might be respected,

So people would try to improve their ability to get upset and angry in order to be popular.

The music,

Literature,

Or movies might promote the use of drugs and negative attitudes,

And the cultural heroes might be of a low caliber,

So young children might have the spirit to be sarcastic and witty.

But these cultural trends are not in harmony with the positive aspects of our human nature,

So there would be more ulcers,

Headaches,

Nervousness,

Heart attacks,

And social problems.

The human potential would be lost.

People often live within the framework of a culture.

They follow a trend or fad without thinking for themselves.

The cultural trend becomes their truth,

Their reality.

They might believe that the trend is the best way to live,

Even though it might be harmful to their mental and emotional well-being.

Everyone might be subtracting from themselves and decreasing their level of understanding life,

And no one realizes what is happening.

There is a false security in fads and trends,

Because if everyone else is doing something,

Then we have a tendency to feel safe and wise if we do it too.

In modern societies,

It's often common for people to be psychosomatically ill.

This means that people are ill because of their thinking habits.

They are ill because they are involved with a cultural lifestyle that is unnatural and unhealthy.

So because of the lifestyle,

People live with chronic headaches,

Ulcers,

And nervousness,

And to kill the pain,

They take drugs such as aspirin and Valium on a regular basis.

But these drugs only temporarily stop the pain.

Drugs don't cure the illness.

The only way to cure these lifestyle-related illnesses is for the individuals who are sick to change their lifestyles so their lifestyles are in harmony with the positive aspects of their human nature.

But because junk food,

Drugs,

And illness are common,

People might reject good nutritional practices and refuse to change their lifestyle in order to cure their illness.

They might think of a personal growth seminar or a nutritional program as a waste of money and time.

Because of their cultural programming,

They remain sick and spend their money on drugs that will harm them rather than adopt a better way of thinking.

So their thinking and vision is limited because of their cultural consciousness.

If you are wise,

You will seek to elevate your level of understanding life so you will have better vision.

Instead of blindly following a fad or tradition,

You will seek to know the true nature of things and improve your quality of life.

You will design your life so you can live in harmony with the positive aspects of your human nature.

Then you can relate to the whole of who you are and see more holistically.

The major goal in life is to understand the positive aspects of your human nature so you can continually improve your relationship with life.

Then if a fad or trend subtracts from your quality of being,

You are immediately aware of it and learn to avoid its influence over you.

And if a fad or tradition adds to your quality of being,

You are aware of what is happening and you can capitalize on it and increase yourself.

Because of your awareness,

You are gaining in wisdom and you are learning to improve your relationship with life.

With proper thinking habits,

You don't have to be at the mercy of fads,

Trends,

Or ineffective thinking.

Regardless of the culture,

The fad,

Trend,

Or generation,

You can get your life,

Family,

And relationships the way you want them to be.

You can determine your own feelings and quality of life.

You can mold your life instead of being molded by accidental circumstances.

So be eager to question your own thinking and add to yourself in a positive way because your experience with life is determined by your own thoughts.

So if you really want better health,

A good family,

Congenial friends,

Peace of mind,

And get in touch with the deeper intuitive aspects of your human nature,

Then you must take the time and effort to learn how to think effectively and continually train your thoughts because thoughts are your life.