What You Think Matters!
by Jonathan Hilton
You May Disagree
I have many beliefs that are not very popular with other people. Yet I do not throw my beliefs in the face of others because it makes no sense to argue over them. It is a waste of time. I believe the things I do because of a lifetime of experience and the questions that I ask. Each being answered sufficiently by experience and experiment. You can choose to not listen or to disagree or dismiss that is your prerogative.
How You Think Leads to How You Live
This is a belief that I have come to later in the game of life. The thoughts that you entertain in your mind are going to influence the experience you have in life. If you are thinking judgmental, mean or hateful thoughts about other people or groups of people, there is no doubt that you will experience those things in your own life.
These are negative thoughts which lead to unhappy experiences
If you choose to focus on accepting, kind and loving thoughts then that is going to be the general experience of your existence. How do I know? I used to think the former and now focus on the later and although I am the same person, the experience of life has been completely different.
You can question it any way you want to. Fear is the chief weapon of those who are critical. Often times when things are safe in your life, a person rejects any thought or action that will lead to change.
There is nothing wrong with experiencing fear itself, because fear gives you adrenaline to act, but if you focus on that and allow it to move your actions from day to day, your experience will suffer.
Change is Always Possible
The most daunting task for anyone to accomplish is to change the way that you think. We have spent a lifetime accumulating experiences which come along with mental programming which has managed to keep us safe and alive.
Yet there is nothing in that deal about enjoying life. Once you start to pursue happiness you have to start to notice what is making you unhappy. What is it that makes you hang your head with worry? What makes you afraid to speak? What makes you hide your individuality? What makes you hide who you are? Fear.
Fear that you won’t be accepted, or fear that someone is going to take something from you that you love. Fear that someone is going to harm you or those that you care about. These fears are fed by the mainstream media to gain ratings and Madison Avenue to earn consumer dollars.
The reality is that fear is just a thought and an illusionary thought at that. What you are afraid of is not real, it is a thought and that is it. What if? What should? What Might? Questions that provide these thoughts, they are not real they don’t exist yet they provide very real suffering for people.
Getting Out of Fear
Beliefs are merely thoughts that you choose every day to add weight to.
Getting rid of fear in your thoughts is simple but it is not easy. Stop thinking fearful things. Now that would be easy if we could control all of our thoughts, but you really can’t.
Thoughts pop into your mind at a rapid pace, representing your lifetime of experience. Bias, prejudice, hatred, fear are all a part of your experience and they are all associated with others.
You can’t stop them from popping into your mind, but you can control how much you pay attention to them. Simply noticing the thoughts of fear as what they are , fake, surprisingly releases you from their power. All of their power over you comes from you. Let the negative go and replace them with something more positive.
Replaced thoughts of fear with thoughts of love
Once you recognize and admit what your fears are and let them go, it is amazing how easy the good thoughts and feelings flow. It feels better to be happy, it is healthier to love and it is more enjoyable to live without fear.
It takes some time and you have to be honest with yourself. Recognizing your own weaknesses can be painful and difficult, but you have a simple choice here. Keep living your life in fear and be unhappy or admit to your negative thoughts and recognize that you have the ability to just let them go and think differently.
That is one of the things that I believe that many would disagree with and that is OK with me because I don’t really have any personal stake in whether anyone thinks I am right or not. I can only worry about the decisions that I make on a daily basis. That is all I can control and worry about. It is up to you what thoughts you think and the experience that you have in the world.
What’s a belief that you hold with which many people disagree?
theINFP 
Well for one, I believe in God (and Jesus Christ). Not a popular one lol. But it does impact how I live…now…
I am assuming that your belief impacts how you live in a positive way, in which case it doesn’t matter whether it is popular to others or not as long as it works for you. Thank you for commenting 🙂
It does impact my life positively, the problem is there is such disdain for the idea of this, you can quickly become the one locked out of a circle. In other words the narrative or reputation of Christians (in the world) isn’t great, people have an intense dislike of it….
Anyway, you got it. Great post!
Dear godtisx those who believe in the Creator Jehovah God would always find adversaries (the word often translated as ‘devil’ or wrongly taken as a person with a name like ‘Satan’) Those who take Jesus to be the son of God who died for the sins of the world and accept him for what he really was, a man of flesh and blood, will even be more troubled than Christians who do not want to accept the position of Jesus and made him a god.
Great Post.. and my beliefs I normally keep to myself to avoid the arguments that normally ensue from speaking your mind… however I do have beliefs that others would not agree with but they are mine and that’s where they remain.. I believe them so why would I need to share with my friends… religion and politics .. we never discuss… these are personal beliefs that can only go on to create arguments…
Fair enough, we are similar in this regard 🙂
That you can love any child as your own 🙂
I believe alot of things many do not…even had an argument with my sister recently concerning one of those beliefs. However I do not usually have a “personal stake” … so normally keep the more “controversial” ones to myself…least in mixed company. I tend also to be a bit of an elitist…and so I therefore keep them to myself so as not to have to defend them to morons. 😉
I love your way of thinking, it is similar to mine 😉 sometimes it’s just not worth wasting your breath.
LOL 🙂
🙂 🙂
I believe that all people are fundamentally ‘good’ or want to be. As such I try to find reason for crappy behaviour – not to excuse the behaviour itself but to give reason for it, set it aside and concentrate on the better parts. I have been torn apart for this on more than one occasion but can’t seem to let it go. It is ingrained in my psyche for a purpose I am supposing (*sigh*)
Good on you, your belief in the good in everyone is inspiring, thank you for commenting 🙂
According to the Holy Scriptures, in which I do believe, all human being are created in the likeness of the Divine Creator Jehovah God. To all of humanity He has given the possibility to find Him, but even when they do not want to look for Him or do not want to see Him, they all get to know Good and Evil.
Believer in the creator God, or in other gods, or in plants or animals, in black holes or other things, all have been given the possibility to think and to have feelings. Every person is been given the right to decide for himself or herself and to make a free choice.
We should not look for the bad in the people but better concentrate on the good in them. We also better let them see thee good things in them. Not the crappy behaviour needs attention, but the good behaviour should be noticed, marked and be encouraged.
Loving our enemies is a challenge I believe in. Easier said than done.