If you’re reading this, you want to improve.
You’ve spent a lot of time thinking about your life.
You think and think and think and think…
Until you can’t stand it anymore.
Why can’t you get traction?
Why can’t you change?
Your thinking is going nowhere.
If your thinking is not changing your thoughts, it cannot change your results.
— Our thoughts lead us to beliefs.
— Beliefs lead to emotions.
— Emotions motivate us to behave.
— Behaviors become habits.
— Habits become results.
The improvements you want to make require a different type of thinking.
In this post, I’ll tell you why your thinking is going nowhere and offer a powerful way to think that will improve your life.
Your Thinking Goes Nowhere Because You’re Only Thinking In Statements
Thinking in statements sounds like…
“Their lying to me.”
“I’m going to be late!”
“I can do this.”
“I’ve had it.”
Or statements can be hidden within a thought question like…
Why am I so stupid?
What am I going to do?
What’s their problem?
Why doesn’t anything just go right for once?
Whether positive or negative, thinking in statements is like building with bricks.
It creates beliefs that are solid, enclosed, and rigid.
Of course, this isn’t all bad.
Who wouldn’t want a sturdy brick house when the wolf comes to blow it down?
Thinking in statements helps regulate emotions by reminding ourselves of reality.
Like when you remind yourself that you don’t need an extra scoop of ice cream to be happy.
Or when you tell yourself that things will be ok to calm anxiety.
Thinking in statements also protects our minds from dangerous mental invasions.
Like thoughts of dissatisfaction impressed on us by advertising.
I often tell myself, “Josh, you don’t need that” when I see an ad for some sweet new gadget.
Basically, thinking in statements protects us from unwanted change.
But it has a shadow side.
Thinking in statements prevents any change—even desired, necessary change.
Change requires deconstruction.
And bricks are meant to resist deconstruction.
They’re used for enduring structures, not transformative processes.
Transformative thinking is more like a caterpillar than a brick.
Caterpillars are eager to enter a chrysalis to dissolve and reassemble into a completely different being.
A wonderopolis.org article says it well…
“Inside a chrysalis, a caterpillar’s body digests itself from the inside out. The same juices it used to digest food as a larva it now uses to break down its own body!
The fluid breaks down the old caterpillar body into cells called imaginal cells. Imaginal cells are undifferentiated cells, which means they can become any type of cell. Many of these imaginal cells are used to form the new body.”
Like the butterfly in a chrysalis, transformative thinking digests current thoughts to form new emotions, beliefs, and behaviors.
So, how do we shift from thinking in statements to transformative thinking?
Ask yourself helpful questions.
Think in questions at least as much as you think in statements.
Thinking in questions opens the mind to new perspectives and emotions.
Questions naturally deconstruct (challenge) assumptions and reveal patterns.
Unhealthy, invalid assumptions and unconscious thought patterns keep us stuck in poor moods and performance.
Once you expose and dismantle those with good questions, you can create better assumptions and thought patterns.
Hire someone to ask you questions.
Yes. Spend money on your thinking.
Good friends are worth the cost of hanging out, good counselors are worth their fees, good pastors are worth their wages, and good coaches are worth their prices.
If your thinking is going nowhere, hire a counselor for mental health challenges and/or a life coach for strategic improvement.
Their questions and insights are powerful vehicles of transformation because they can watch you from outside your mind.
And if you are a follower of Jesus, a Christian counselor and life coach will engage you with the aid of God’s Word and Spirit.
With their help and personal effort, your thinking will begin leading you to the life you want.
Ask and ask until you find the answer.
Effective questions aren’t always self-evident, so you may find yourself asking shallow or misleading questions.
Even when you ask yourself a powerful question, you don’t always know the answer.
When you run into these problems, ask more questions until the key questions are answered.
Hire a trained coach or counselor to ask powerful questions that you can’t think of.
“Ask and it shall be given you…”
Contact me HERE if you want a life coach to kickstart your transformative thinking.
You can learn more about the benefits of life coaching on my website.
And my Facebook page is always there for useful content and encouragement.
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Thank you for your help.
I’m rooting for you!
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