“You sow a thought and reap an action.
You sow an action and reap a habit.
You sow a habit and reap a character.
You sow a character and reap your destiny.”
– Swami Sivananda
Everything begins with a thought, every dream, everything we want to do starts with a thought. Swami Sivananda said, "The prime requisite for happiness is control over
the thoughts."
If you are overeating, what percentage of the time are you overeating due to emotional eating? What thought is there, when you over eat, or eat unhealthy foods? Listen, become aware, keep a journal, notice the patterns.
What if you have a thought that keeps on playing over and over in your head?
How would it be if you could eradicate that thought and replace it with a
positive virtue? Say your thought is one that says, "I am not good enough." And that thought keeps you from moving forward to attaining your goals.
Perhaps it keeps you from eating healthily, losing the weight you want to, or giving up the alcohol that you drink every night. How would it be if you could eradicate that thought? In his book, "Thought Power," Swami Sivananda proposed replacing the thought with a positive virtue you would like
to develop.
At the yoga camp we were given a long list of positive virtues we might work on.
Here are a few from the list:
- Accepting one's own faults and mistakes
- Balance of Mind
- Calmness
- Cheerfulness
- Compassion for all living beings
- Contentment
- Courage (fearlessness)
- Diligence
- Discipline
- Feeling God's presence at all times
and in all actions
- Forgiveness
- Generosity
- Humility
- Kindness
- Magnanimity
- Modesty
- Patience
- Pure Love
- Serenity
- Sincerity
Every time the negative thought comes up you can replace it with the opposite thought or one of the virtues that you want to have more of in your life. Courage might be one. Every time a negative thought comes up you replace it with the thought, "I am
courageous."
Changing your thoughts is the first and most important action step. Everything begins in our mind.
Yoga and meditation allow us to learn how to train the mind. When negative thoughts arise we let go of them much more quickly each time we practice, coming back to focus on the breathing. Over and over letting go, letting go, letting go. Until most of the thoughts are all positive and when negative thoughts do
come up, we let them go quickly, with ease.
