What we think and believe is very powerful – our thoughts create our experience and reality.

Everything that we think contributes towards the reality that we experience on a daily basis.

It is therefore vital that we remain vigilant of our habitual thoughts and try not to succumb to the habit of negative thinking or limiting beliefs.

Most of us at some point have at least considered that we are not good enough.

This thinking is not objective at all though.

It is our subjective, habitual fears playing out in our heads – often accompanied by that incessant mind chatter that keeps us awake at 3AM in a blind panic – ‘everything is going to go wrong and it’s all my fault’.

The more we succumb to these thoughts and allow them to have power over us, the more our outer lives will reflect the fears we have carried with us through life.

Our outer experience is a mirror of our inner habitual thought patterns.

If we constantly tell ourselves that we are too stupid to get that dream job, we won’t get it.

We will make silly mistakes or blurt out something inappropriate in the interview and that will be the end of it.

Our perception of our own inadequacy will become our reality because we expect it to.

Fortunately for us, the opposite is also true.

If we truly believe that we are worthy and capable, we will be more successful, confident and happy.

Because life is changing all the time – no two moments are exactly the same – we are presented with a glorious opportunity every moment of every day.

At any time, we can change what we get out of life by changing what we put into it.

This is very freeing once we know it at a deep level.

We can learn to choose only those thoughts that support and encourage us to do our best.

We can dissolve and forget the thoughts that hold us back.

We can make those changes instantly, any second of any day – all it takes is awareness of the thoughts that are going around our heads and the discipline to change those thoughts to ones that support us.

So, how do we achieve the level of consciousness that is required to catch our thoughts as they are happening?

How do we replace unhelpful mental habits with supportive, empowering ones.

There are a number of techniques that can work – such as sitting in quiet contemplation, watching the thoughts as they arise and choosing to let the unhelpful ones go.

Practicing being aware of our thoughts will help to make us more conscious of what we are constantly telling ourselves.

Something that worked for me is to decide to do things with ‘the wrong hand’.

For example, try stirring a drink with a spoon using the hand that you don’t normally use – it feels ‘weird’ and you will almost have to consciously teach your hand to make the circling motion from scratch.

There are hundreds of opportunities to do this every day: we can use the wrong hand to do almost everything – using the mouse, holding our toothbrush, picking up drinks, shaving, throwing, eating cake – anything.

Habit is the death of creativity, so if we want to create a new mental perspective on life, we have to be aware of the limiting mental habits that we have.

Do you always say ‘no’ when asked if you want something?

Try saying ‘yes’ instead.

If you catch yourself saying no, correct it by adding – ‘you know what, I think I will have that after all, thanks’.

Learning to say yes to life can be tremendously liberating and itself opens up many new possibilities.

By retraining our mind to say yes more often, we will bring more variety into our lives, feel more connected to life and become more fulfilled.

If we are going to be stuck with mental habits, it makes sense to make them supportive ones.