New Mantra

You are what you think. You feel what you want.

Tomorrow would be my 29th birthday.

Compared to past years, I'm feeling a bit of pressure this year. Maybe it's because it's my last year in my 20's and i'll be joining a new batch next year. Maybe it's because this is the first birthday in several years that I'll be spending without someone special to celebrate it with. Maybe because I just feel a lot older.

This had been building up in me since the start of the new year. There's this urge inside me to make this birthday extra special, make it significant, make it COUNT. I want this birthday to be something I would fondly think of years later, when I'm so old and gray I dont even remember my age.

I made a lot of plans early in the year - things I wanted to get done this year, things I wanted to learn, places I wanted to see. And I think that's great, because those are things that I know would make me happy for a time.

Still, those are just temporary solutions. What I need is really a paradigm shift.

It's something I've been trying to do for a while, without success. I hope that, through repetition, I would soon be able to develop a more positive attitude.

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Why Think Positively?

All of our feelings, beliefs and knowledge are based on our internal thoughts, both conscious and subconscious.

We are in control, whether we know it or not.

Aim high and do your best We can be positive or negative, enthusiastic or dull, active or passive. The biggest difference between people is their attitudes.

For some, learning is enjoyable and exciting. For others, learning is a drudgery. For many, learning is just okay, something required on the road to a job.

"Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be."

Abraham Lincoln

Our present attitudes are habits, built from the feedback of parents, friends, society and self, that form our self-image and our world-image.

These attitudes are maintained by the inner conversations we constantly have with ourselves, both consciously and subconsciously.

The first step in changing our attitudes is to change our inner conversations.

What Should We Be Saying?

One approach is called the three C's: Commitment, Control and Challenge.

Commitment

Make a positive commitment to yourself, to learning, work, family, friends, nature, and other worthwhile causes. Praise yourself and others. Dream of success. Be enthusiastic.

Control

Keep your mind focused on important things. Set goals and priorities for what you think and do. Visualize to practice your actions. Develop a strategy for dealing with problems. Learn to relax. Enjoy successes. Be honest with yourself.

Challenge

Be courageous. Change and improve each day. Do your best and don't look back. See learning and change as opportunities. Try new things. Consider several options. Meet new people. Ask lots of questions. Keep track of your mental and physical health. Be optimistic. Studies show that people with these characteristics are winners in good times and survivors in hard times.

Research shows that, "... people who begin consciously to modify their inner conversations and assumptions report an almost immediate improvement in their performance. Their energy increases and things seem to go better ..."

Commitment, control and challenge help build self-esteem and promote positive thinking.

- Donald Martin, 1991 **********************************************************************

Happy Birthday to me :)