What motto your do carry around with you? Most likely it is something in your subconscious that filters everything you think about yourself. As an adult are you able to see what programming you carry that was embedded into you by the people who raised you? Think about it for second. What is the first thing that would come to your mind as the phrase you were raised with?
I now realize how fortunate I was to have positive influences in my life. The phrase that sticks with me is from my mother: “Everything happens for the best, you might just not know why yet.” In most cases, even the seemingly worst events turn out to have consequences that work out quite well in the long run. Another phrase I carried with me was from a poem I was given. When I was about 9 years old, my grandfather gave me a bookmark that I used until I lost it just a few years ago. (I think it ended up in a book that was returned to the library.) That bookmark had a poem on it that I read over and over and over; I memorized it and often said it to myself, nearly subconsciously. It was only recently that I realized the significance of that poem. The bookmark had the first half of this poem:
You Can if You Think You Can! —C. W. Longenecker
If you think you are beaten, you are.
If you think you dare not, you don’t.
If you like to win, but you think you can’t,
It is almost certain you won’t.
If you think you’ll lose, you’re lost,
For out in the world we find,
Success begins with a fellow’s will.
It’s all in the state of mind.
If you think you are outclassed, you are.
You’ve got to think high to rise.
You’ve got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win a prize.
Life’s battles don’t always go
To the stronger or faster man.
But sooner or later the man who wins,
Is the man who thinks he can.
Think about the subconscious programming you repeat to yourself regularly. What is it? It may take a bit of time and reflection to find it. It is probably lurking in the corners of your awareness, hiding behind things you think are “facts of life” or “that’s just the way I am”. To find it, look in those areas of your life that are the most challenging to you; look to those experiences that seem to repeat themselves in your life. Maybe you are believing falsehoods that are getting in the way of making progress. If your subconscious programming is a positive statement, then FABULOUS! But, if you find your programming is sabotaging your life, then it is time to erase it and get reprogrammed!
This is a difficult thing to do, but being aware of what filters we carry around with us is the first step to getting “reprogrammed.” A great place to start is to post a meaningful quote in a place (or places) where you will read it on a regular basis. The best thing is to place it where you will see it first thing in the morning, and the last thing before you sleep. Eventually, this quote will sink into your subconscious and begin to impact your daily life. Our thoughts are powerful things; we need to make sure we choose good ones to think!
Namaste.