Times Of Swaziland: FORCE OF THINKING FORCE OF THINKING ================================================================================ By Charles Samunenge on 11/09/2018 03:30:00 IN order to be effective in life, one must work at increasing the ability to think effectively. All successful people are good thinkers, and have cultivated a culture of positive thinking. It is usually said successful people think differently from unsuccessful people. Actually all things begin in the thought realm. As a matter of fact, your thought life is a prediction of your future. What we think frames and gives structure to what we are to become in life. Ralph Waldo Emerson says, “Life consists of what a man is thinking about all day.” Our thoughts are the fundamental creative force in our lives. We create our entire world by the way we think. When we change our thinking, we actually change our lives. Small and poor thinking brings limitation to what one could achieve in life. No one will force you to think differently, feel or behave the way you do, it’s a choice you freely make. We actually choose our emotions and behaviors by the way we choose to think about our situation and what’s happening to us. In order to climb the ladder of success, we must begin to think differently. Poor thinking locks the power of imagination, and ultimately puts limits on how far one could go or dream in life. Thinking is defined as ‘having the faculty of thought; cogitative; capable of a regular train of ideas’. We are all thinking beings, endowed with the capacity to reason, therefore, we must exercise our thinking abilities. Thinking is the process of using your mind to carefully consider something. It is a process in which ideas (words and images) suggest other ideas in sequence. Ideas are birthed in the realm of thought and imagination. If we want to achieve something significant in life, we must also of necessity increase our thinking capacity. Becoming better thinkers demands that we cultivate the right mindset. A mindset is a habitual mental attitude that determines how one will interpret and respond to situations. Farlex’s Dictionary defines mental attitude as ‘a complex mental state involving beliefs and feelings and values and dispositions to act in certain ways’. Our mindset can bring limitations in the way we think or process ideas in our minds. It is, therefore, important for all of us to cultivate a positive mindset. The mind is the womb that incubates creative ideas. Ideas are seeds that germinate and birth success. Every great achievement in the world started as an idea in someone’s mind. Great thinkers are also great achievers. We must value, appreciate and practice thinking day and night, so that ideas will begin to flow easily and naturally. When it comes to thinking and imagination, there are no limits and no box, and every idea that comes out of our thoughts has the potential of changing our lives and the world for the better. Therefore, we must always record our thoughts. Find a good place to do your thinking and write down the ideas that flow. Then evaluate the ideas periodically just to be sure if they are useful and in context. In order to keep the momentum of an idea, we must learn how to systematically verbalise it. Writing it down creates clarity in our thinking, but talking about an idea or thought usually gives it emotional strength. We begin to feel it and it begins to get connected to our heart and ultimately impacts our lives and those around us. Whatever we constantly think about and believe with feeling, will finally become the reality of our lives . We must exercise our will to free our minds of years of wrong thinking. Discipline and perseverance will finally produce the desired results. We must feed our minds with positive messages, stay at it until we see a change in our thinking. Remember we will always gravitate towards our most predominant thoughts. We can actually think our way out of any negative and limiting situation. Our thoughts, words and actions have power to transform our future. Our minds are the faculty where success, good, wealth, evil or poverty are daily being processed. No matter what is happening in our life, we can rise above it and move forward by elevating our thoughts. When we refuse to elevate our thoughts because of our environment or our feelings, we have just signed our ticket to failure and poverty. The proper use of our minds is essential to a productive and successful life. Every change into success and significance in life is usually a function of the renewal of our minds. We must be willing to allow the process of deleting wrong information in our minds about ourselves, others and our environment. Our success and significance in life lie in how much we creatively maximise the use of our minds in the realms of our gifts, talents, strength and passion. Never get discouraged or give up on your dreams, you were created and designed for dominion and ascendency. It’s never too late to cultivate an excellent thought life.