You Are What You Think - Thoughts Create Reality

“You are what you think” is an idea that’s been expressed in Christian teachings, attributed to Buddhist teachings, and expressed by many present and historical thinkers and philosophers. More recently, the concept was popularized by a book and documentary titled, The Secret, which discussed the concept of the law of attraction. Here are a few good quotes on the power of our thoughts:

As he thinks, so he is; as he continues to think, so he remains.
– James Allen

Change your thoughts and you change your world.
– Norman Vincent Peale

If you realized how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think a negative thought.
– Peace Pilgrim

If the above statements have truth to them, then that means you have the power to change your life. That means thinking happy things in your mind can help lead you to happiness.

Psychology has proven that so much of our reality is how we perceive our experiences. As someone who’s had struggles with anxiety in the past, I’ve come to know how catastrophic thinking can make the world seem scarier than it is. I’ve learned through techniques such as cognitive behavioral therapy that I can calm my worries and enjoy the present more.

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Mind-body connection: Thoughts, emotions, and behavior

Johns Hopkins Medicine defines the mind-body connection as the belief that physical illness is determined by the interaction of psychological and biological factors. In other words, it’s the idea that what we think affects how our bodies feel.

But there’s also a theory that our body language can also affect our thought life. It’s referred to as embodied cognition.

Research has shown that good posture can boost your confidence. It’s amazing to think that such a simple adjustment can affect the way we think and feel.

If this all still sounds questionable to you, think about certain conditions that affect your mindset. If you feel too hot or too cold, I’m guessing your thoughts are usually in a state of frustration or annoyance. But when the temperature is comfortable to you, your thoughts are probably in a state of calm and relaxation.

In a HuffPost article, clinical hypnotherapist Leslie Lyle wrote that simply looking up can potentially make you feel good. The reason was because it put people in a body posture that’s usually tied to feeling good. Looking down is often tied to being in a low mood.

Changing your thought patterns

The whole point of bringing up how the body can affect the mind was to help you change your thoughts. Because if thinking the right things can bring about more good in your life, then you need strategies to help you create the right thoughts.

A good illustration of this would be the YouTube rabbit hole. This is when people watch endless videos on YouTube for a few hours.

I’ve found it to be true that when I’m mostly watching sad videos or listening to sad music, I end up feeling sad. When I mostly watch positive videos or listen to positive music, I usually end up feeling happier.

Some may argue you need to change the inside before the outside will change. Perhaps it’s the case that you need to change both. It’s hard to cultivate positive thoughts if you’re consistently in a negative environment.

It of course isn’t to suggest that you can’t be happy until you reach some destination, attain some status, or own some property. It’s only to say that you have to be aware of the influences around you that can make thinking positively more difficult.

Your intentions make up 40% of your happiness

According to positivity researchers, while 50% of your happiness is set by genetics, 40% is based upon your own choices, and 10% is based on your circumstances. So a large part of how happy you are is determined by what choices you make with your thoughts and your actions.

A Psychology Today article noted that simply believing you can control your emotions can make you more likely to practice emotional regulation and help yourself be happier. This is one of many simply thoughts that give you power over your emotions and potentially lead you to better actions.

Because if you think about it, if you’re happier, you make better decisions. The Journal of Consumer Research published an article titled, “How Happiness Affects Choice”, which found that happier people make better choices for their physical well-being, such as drinking and smoking less.

The same was the case for their professional well-being. Happier people were less retaliatory towards coworkers and searched and secured more job interviews. As a result of better decision making, you bring in more of the good things in life that provide you a boost of happiness.

How to have better thought patterns and a better reality

If you’ve read enough to convince you that your thoughts influence your reality, you’re ready to start learning ways to think better, and thus live better. As you consistently employ positive thought patterns in your life, you give yourself a greater chance of having a more joyful existence. Here are some techniques you can use to think better thoughts and help create yourself a better life.

1. Imagine your best possible self

An article published in pubmed found that people who imagined their best possible self became more optimistic. Participants who did this five minutes a day for two weeks felt an improvement in their mood and an increased ability to think positively.

It’s said that the activity encourages you to believe that you can become the person you want to be. As you’ve learned earlier in this article, believing you can do something can influence you to actually do it.

But in case you’re still skeptical about that, it’s time to bring up one of my favorite studies. In a study on luck, those who believed they were lucky were more successful at a task they were completing than those who weren’t. In the same respect, if you start imagining your best self, and thus start believing you can be become your best self, you make it more possible for you to actually achieve that.

2. Limit your time on social media

It’s not only what you do on the inside, but what you surround yourself with on the outside that influences your thoughts. One of the main things we constantly allow to influence us is social media.

While it can be good for maintaining connections with people, it can also be harmful to our mental well-being. We’re inundated with bad news that makes us anxious.

We’re constantly seeing manufactured lives that make us fall into the negativity of social comparison. People who used Facebook the most were found to have lower self-esteem than those who didn’t.

By choosing to use social media less, you decrease the negative influences that can mess with having a positive and productive thought pattern. Here are some good articles below that can help you stay off social media.

3. Start keeping a gratitude journal

It’s been proven in studies that keeping a gratitude journal can help improve our well-being and optimism. There are numerous articles on the scientific benefit of just feeling grateful for life. Here are a few below:

Getting started with a gratitude journal can be as simple as getting a journal, and just writing down what you feel good about. Take time to practice that for a few minutes everyday.

4. Practice self-distancing

Research on self-talk has shown that using your name to refer to yourself can help you manage your emotions and behavior under social stress. When you’re doing self-talk, refer to yourself in the first person. See if it has a calming effect on you that allows you to think better.

5. Have happy people around you

Research noted in a UWHealth article found that those with happy people near them were 25 percent more likely to be happy. And of course if you’re happier, you’ll have a more positive thought pattern. In another study, it was found that a workplace can be damaged by co-workers who are always negative.

Be sure to do your best to have people who are generally positive around you. If you have to be around certain negative people sometimes, try to limit your interaction as much as possible.

6. Challenge your negative thoughts

Studies have shown that challenging your negative thoughts can make you feel less sad. The thing you want to achieve is transforming your negative thinking into something more positive. Here are some good questions to ask to challenge your negativity:

Is this thought based on facts or feelings?
How would others view the situation differently?
How I would view interpret the situation if it was happening to someone else?

Questioning your negative thoughts may lead you to realize they may not be as accurate as you initially thought. You might come to a more logical understanding of things.

7. Practice mindfulness

Mindfulness has been proven to lessen the amount of negative thoughts we experience. You can practice mindful meditation regularly to manage your negative thought patterns and think more about life as you want it to be.

Final thoughts on thoughts

How you see things shapes how your reality is. The more you choose to see it in a logical and positive way, the better it can be.

Be proactive in influencing your thoughts. Choose to think in a way that makes you happier and more successful in life.

You Are What You Think – Thoughts Create Reality