We can spend so much time and give so much attention to what we look like, the clothes we wear, the way we style our hair, the type of car we drive, or how we decorate our homes.

The amount of concern and effort we give to the quality of our things or appearances for a lot of people far outweighs the amount of concern or effort they give to the quality of their thoughts. Because it is our thoughts that create our life experiences and not our hairstyle, or car model, or home decor it’s important to reframe our thoughts on the things that we are grateful for and things that brings us peace, joy, and happiness.

Let me first say; there is absolutely nothing wrong with having an awesome car or beautiful home and anyone who knows me well will tell you that I’m all about having great hair and clothes! What I am saying however, is that when we focus more on going inside ourselves, quieting the mind through prayer and meditation, and shifting our priority to minding our thoughts, motivations, and bettering ourselves through constant personal development, all of the external stuff will take care of itself. When you live in this way, moving with the flow of life instead of fighting the current, things just work out in the best possible way for us.

This isn’t as easy as it may seem. It is a practice that takes constant diligence. We have been conditioned to think in the realm of pessimism. We have been trained to speak of discord and in complaint. If we are to make a real and life changing difference we must train ourselves with the same amount of dedication that an athlete possesses when training for a competition. It takes implementing habits to shift your thoughts from those of focusing on the things that are going wrong in our life experience into those of the most high and good.

Here is something you can do right away to begin to re-wire your thought processes.

Every morning when you’re brushing your teeth think of three things that you’re grateful for; it could be that you have a roof over your head, a comfortable bed to sleep in, or even that you have teeth to brush!

At night when you go to bed say out loud three things that brought you joy during the day. It’s very easy to forget to do these things so if you keep a handwritten calendar I suggest writing them into your “to do” list.

Try doing this for a week and see how you begin to notice the “good” things instead of only the “bad” things that are happening around you.