Change your mind

When I was in my early twenties a friend started a spark in my brain that changed my perspective on what was possible.  At the time I was married to the wrong person, had two small children and we weren’t even really making ends meet.  I had to go to the local food bank to make sure my kids were fed.  One day, my friend and I were driving up PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) through Newport Coast, one of the wealthiest areas of Orange County [read: in the U.S.].  To the right were beautiful homes perched on the hillside, overlooking the glittering pacific ocean.  I jokingly pointed to one of my favorites and said, “Oh there it is, hmm my landscaping is looking a little shabby.  I simply must talk to the gardener!”  We laughed for a moment, but then she honestly asked me, “Andrea, don’t you see yourself in a home like that one of these days?”  I said that I didn’t.  After all no one in my family had houses like that and for that matter no one I knew very well did either.  It seemed totally out of the range of anything I could ever hope for.  I also shared that I had been raised in an Evangelical Christian culture where wealth was pretty much looked down upon.  Where it was sinful to even think that you could/should have something that nice and it is a virtue to live in the humility of poverty.  I then asked her the same question back, and was astonished yet piqued by her answer.  She said that of course she saw herself in a house like that some day, why not?

It’s amazing how much what we think shapes our lives.  It’s really the only true place we can begin to change things.  We cannot change our lives or live our dreams without first changing our minds.

This friend was the first person in my life to open the door to giving myself permission to think big.  I’ve always thought life was too short and that I was meant for something bigger than the “norm,” but to actually think that I could live in a big home overlooking the beach, well that was another story.  To be honest, I don’t even want a house like that anymore.  But the things I want (like helping people on a BIG scale) are even more grandiose and exciting.  I’m still, to this day, retraining my brain to live in the possibilities rather than be limited by my fear, insecurities or leftover dogma, but at least I can SEE the possibility now.

I encourage you (as well as myself) to continue give yourself permission to think BIG this week (and on).  Start giving yourself permission to daydream about what it would feel and look like to be living your dreams.  Then write that s#*& down!  Start changing your mind and your life will start changing too!

Here’s a nice little blog post I came across today.  If you have extra time check it out:  http://www.maxingout.com/positive%20thought%20one.htm

-Andrea