My Relief Society President read this quote at the beginning of her lesson last Sunday. It is worth some pondering and reflecting - how are my thoughts effecting my actions?
Noble character is the result of right thinking. A man's mind might be likened to a flower garden. It may be a thing of beauty or it may be filled with weeds and the potential beauty hidden.
As a plant springs from a seed, so every act of man springs from the hidden seed of thought. This applies equally to those acts that are described as spontaneous and unpremeditated as well as to those which are deliberately conceived. It has been said that our actions are the blossoms of thought, and joy and suffering are its fruits. Therefore, a man reaps the fruit of his own husbandry.
A noble character is not a thing of chance, but is the result of continued effort in right thinking. Man is made or unmade by himself. He fashions the tools with which he builds mansions of joy and happiness for himself, or he forges the weapons by which he destroys himself.
As a being of power, intelligence, and the master of his own thoughts, a man holds the key to every situation, to make his life what he chooses it to be. When he discovers the divine power within his soul, he can lead his life to a God-like nature. If one dreams lofty dreams, so shall he become. There is magic in the way one thinks. If we expect the worst, we will get the worst. If we expect the best, we will receive the best. If we train our minds to have faith in God and ourselves, we are using one of the great laws of life. If we think and live righteously, happiness will find its place in our lives. It is amazing when we expect the best how forces are set in motion which cause the best to materialize. (83-02)
Our thoughts more than circumstances determine the course of our lives. Outward circumstances do not determine the course of our lives as much as the thoughts that habitually occupy our minds. These thoughts carve their impression on our faces, in our hearts, and on the tablet of our eternal souls. (83-02)
The gospel teaches us to avoid negative thinking. The news media, radio, television, newspapers, national magazines, and many other things we hear and read, bring to us depressing, negative thoughts. We are constantly reminded of crime, war, riots, divorce, theft, murder, death, disease, vulgarity, pornography, strikes, short skirts and long hair, marijuana, hunger, birth control, LSD, corruption in government, and even questionable politics. A few days ago, I examined every article on the first few pages of the newspaper. Every article I read expressed a negative thought or a depressing situation. There was nothing to add a cheerful note, a positive or uplifting thought, or a hope for the future.
Stepping out of a negative world into such an atmosphere of love and a positive hope for the future, not only in mortality but exaltation in eternity, is known only by a small minority. How blessed we are for an understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ. His gospel of love encourages us to look upward and not down, to look for the good in life and not the bad, to seek the positive and not the negative.
Negative thinking has ruined many lives. Persons who might otherwise have been successful have been defeated because their thinking was negative.
(Howard W. Hunter, The Teachings of Howard W. Hunter, 74.)
I recently experienced just this - the result of a negative statement, said in order to prompt me to do better, and a positive statement with the same goal. The negative statement left me resenting the judgement, and wanting to defend myself and say a few negative statements right back to the speaker about motes and beams. The positive statement made me want to emulate the speaker.
Telling myself that I am fat doesn't make me exersize, it makes me want to lay down in bed with a treat and have a pity party. Telling myself that I can lose the weight helps me to do just that. I've tried it this week, making a positive goal, actually writing it down - and I have worked out 6 times this week! Meeting and exceeding my goal. One week does not 20 pounds lighter make, but learning the pattern of being positive will help as much as learning the pattern that will work for me to exersize.
I need to watch the condition of my heart, towards myself, especially towards my children and my husband, and towards everyone else. If I am feeling a hard heart, then there is something wrong in my thoughts, and I can and should change that. Once I change my thoughts, my heart will begin to change, and I will change. THIS IS THE POWER OF PRAYER - leading my thoughts to be more Christlike, learning to mirror His image in my mind and heart, comparing my desires with His desires, and wanting His desires more than my own. Once I change my thoughts my heart will begin to change, and I will change.
So, once I realized that I had hard feelings for the negative speaker, looking that source, seeing why I was defensive about it, and seeing what had made the speaker feel the pain that was hidden behind the words made me better able to let go of my own negative feelings.
I learned to look to the condition of my heart (the literal, physical feeling of my heart in my chest) from "A Heart Like His", by Virginia H. Pearce, President Hinckley's daughter. It is a good book to read at least once, as I learned better self-reflection from it. What does my heart say about me? Only I can tell. Check it out!
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