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Episode 474 – The mind finds what it seeks 

• I want to put a question out there for all of us today:
• What if we start every day with this sentence:
  • Everything is as it should be
• This question came to me on a recent hike
• My climbing partner and I had agreed to hike Saturday in preparation for my birthday on Sunday
• My self-selected present was to climb Cathedral Peak, one of the most popular climbs in Yosemite
• But – the approach is very tough and the climbing as well, due to the altitude
• So we agree to prepare on Saturday by acclimatizing
• The hike up Mt. Hoffmann in Yosemite with an elevation of 10,850 ft was challenging, but doable
• The hike starts off Tioga pass and steadily leads uphill, with the most challenging part near the summit
• Many people hike only as far as May Lake – a beautiful clear lake about a mile up
• My climbing partner is an experienced backpacker
• Adventures like these are a piece of cake for him
• He is often many steps ahead of me, leaving me time for myself and my thoughts
• There I was –
• with the beautiful nature all around me,
• on a Saturday morning, clear sky, sunshine, in one of the most spectacular places on this planet
• my thoughts went looking for what’s wrong
  • why is he walking so fast?
  • Does he think I am to slow?
  • Why is he not talking to me?
  • Why didn’t he tell me this was such a steep hike?
  • Why do we even have to hike when we are surrounded by mountains that want to be climbed?
  • Why did I not pack that apple that was in the car? I really feel like having some fruit
  •  
• Then I caught myself
  • How is it possible that there can be anything wrong on such a beautiful day?
• But – my friends
• Isn’t it the case most of the time?
• We always find something to complain about?
  • Even if we don’t say anything to anyone, but in our minds, we have these thoughts of dissatisfaction
• The issue is that we are always thinking
• It’s a skill that sets us apart from every species on this planet
• And I am certainty glad to have it because it gives me great powers
• Thinking allows me to make rational decisions that keep me safe, and contribute to my overall wellbeing and my happiness
• But then the question arises:
• Why does my thinking contribute to the opposite at times?
  • Instead of safety – I feel scared
  • Instead of being happy – I feel everything else – unhappy, frustrated, alone, angry, and so much more
• Thinking is power
• But it’s a power that is within our control
  • And we are in charge of how we manage this power
• We cannot stop thinking
• Thoughts will always be there
• I often compare them to a radio that is streaming in music and talk in the background – endlessly
• However, we often forget the power we have to change the station
• But how can we do that?
• Thoughts creep in silently and play without is even noticing
• I have trained myself to wake up when I suddenly begin to feel bad
  • When I experience strong feelings such as anger or sadness
• But I don’t always notice it and sometimes the station has been running all day, resulting in various little things that then add up to negative feelings overall
  • So I complain a little here and there
  • I send a rather curt email
  • I don’t help out someone who needed me
  • I numb myself with social media instead of reading something uplifting
• Our thoughts affect us more than we think
• As the quote by Buddha goes:
• “What you think, you become. What you feel, you attract. What you imagine, you create.” — Buddha
• Our thoughts motivate our actions and those become a reflection of who we are as a person
• The mind will always find what it seeks
  • When you receive a rejection that hurts, the mind is likely to downward spiral and look for other rejections to add to the list of failures
  • When you seek self-pity, wallow in the failure, and only think about this rejection, that is where your thoughts will stay
  • But when you have trained yourself to look for the lesson in the rejection and let yourself be motivated by it, your thoughts will go different places

• Our mind is like a lost wanderer
• It needs direction
• It needs to be trained
• When allowed to run wild, it will lead us astray
• Our goals and our aspirations need to be aligned with our thoughts
  • If we want to lose weight but think about food all day – we are setting ourselves up for failure
  • When we want to reach the next level in our career but only think about how miserable we are in the current job, we will not reach that goal
  • If we want to find a partner but only think about the hurt we experienced in past relationships, our search becomes more difficult
• I know that many things in our lives could be better
• We all have areas that are just not making us happy
  • Maybe it’s the job that’s stressful
  • Or the relationship with our partner, or the lack thereof
  • Maybe our finances are strained
• We all go though difficult times and the thoughts around those areas occupy pour mind
• I know – I have them as well
• But what if we start tomorrow morning and every morning thereafter with this sentence:
  • Everything is as it should be
• It may not be great, but we decide to focus on accepting it as it is
• Instead of letting our thoughts run us
  • Another day at the office
  • Monday again
  • I wish it was Friday
• What if we set our mindset into the proper state by taking charge?
• First thing in the morning
• The mind becomes more powerful when we learn to direct it
  • Independent of how we feel
• Many of us don’t yet have our dream jobs
• We don’t look forward to Mondays
  • Leaving the mountains on Sunday evening is always a melancholic time
• But I refuse to let it bring me down
• There are many good things about my Monday
• The main thing – I have a job that affords me my weekend adventures
• Don’t let your feelings about Mondays bring you down
• The dread about waking up early, about going back to work, about living your live as it is right this moment
• Take charge of those feelings by controlling your mind
• And it starts by not following the negative thought train any longer
  • Everything is as it should be
• That’s a starting point
• Its Monday – great
  • Lets make the best out of this day
• Direct your focus and your thoughts will follow
•  
• It takes discipline to control our mind
• But if we don’t do it, our mind will hold us back from surpassing our current state of mediocrity
• A lot of our thoughts are driven by our environment
  • The stressful job
  • The unhappy marriage
  • The gossipy neighborhood
  • The nagging family
  • The need friends
  • And never any money
• Its difficult to control our thoughts alone by thinking differently
• Focusing is important, but alone its not enough
• We need action
• The right kind of action
• And action can be facilitated when we change our environment
• For example
  • Get rid of all the food you are trying to avoid so your thoughts are not tempted to go through the cabinets
  • Start scheduling activities on the weekends that give you joy so your thought don’t take you into loneliness and depression
• Change your environment by adding more of the things that give you joy and subtracting those that drag you down
• If hanging out at bars on Friday nights leaves you feeling empty, find a different activity for those nights in place of it
  • I have been there – I went to happy hours because I thoughts that what one does to celebrate the end of the week
  • But it left me feeling lonely and empty the next day
  • So I started going to the gym on Friday evenings
  • And now I am quite often on the road to the mountains
• Figure out what brings you down and what lifts you up
• If you are only living for the weekends, then something needs change your Monday to Friday life
•  
• Change your thoughts by directing them consciously instead of allowing them to choose the station
• Change your environment to promote better thoughts
  • When I am in the mountains, or somewhere out in nature, I don’t have a lot of negative thoughts
  • Its just not possible to be depressed or angry for very long with so much beauty around
• And then
• Change your actions
• Do the things you want to do, even if you don’t feel like doing them
  • Go to the gym
  • Get up earlier – mind over mattress, as Robin Sharma calls it
  • Take a cold shower, or lunge on cold water, as Tony Robbins does
• train your mind that you are in charge
• and don’t negotiate
• set a goal
• find the action necessary to do it and then do it
• whether you feel like it or not
• and your thoughts will follow
  • there wont be any more long nights in the bar when you know you have to get up early to go running
• the mind find what it seeks
• that is why we need to control it so it doesn’t get lost
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Much love my friends