What you’re thinking is what you’re becoming: Dreams transform into thoughts that become actions – a powerful statement by Adbul Kalam. For today’s quote analysis I’d like to talk about Muhammad Ali’s quote on being mindful about your thoughts and their influence on your life. You might counter and say that you thoughts are natural and shouldn’t be restricted. Perhaps you’re right! However, if these thoughts wander around without a purpose, you’ll need to control them to get the results you want. Key points I’d like to highlight in this article are:
- Mindfulness about what you’re thinking
- Are these thoughts useful to you?
- How to use your thoughts to motivate you rather than bringing you down
Mindfulness – What you’re thinking is what you’re becoming
We talked about this quote earlier in Muhammad Ali quotes collection. Of late, I’ve become more interested in mindfulness. The most important point about mindfulness is being present at the moment and recognising where your thoughts lie. In our thoughts about the collection of inspirational quotes on dreams, we talk a lot about being aware of our thoughts and motivation.
These thoughts have a phenomenal influence on us and define how we feel on a daily basis. The same applies to your dreams as well. If you have a dream and are constantly worried about how you won’t be able to achieve it or what you’d need to sacrifice – your motivation is lost. Your dream becomes stressful instead of motivational energy.
The simple law is – where you spend most of your time gets you the most results. If your thoughts are focused on worry, then that’s what you’ll get.
How to train the mind?
This is actually a better question and not always the easiest one to answer. The first step in chasing your dreams is to understand your thoughts and define what they mean. Mindfulness helps your awareness but your thoughts are yours to own. They define your emotions, energy and even how you react to certain situations.
Try to recognise your thoughts. Most importantly, question these thoughts – categorise them into whether they are real or not. If they are not real, you ought to find a way to ignore them. If however, they are true – these thoughts need to be addressed.
Sometimes, these true thoughts come in the guise of fear, disinterest and even anger. But you ought to recognise the source of truth. If these thoughts are true, they demand action and some results. The more you ignore, the worse they become. And you’ll immediately find yourself in a horrible situation.
Related: More about mindfulness
Using these thoughts for your advantage
Whether you like it or not, the crux of this quote is – What you’re thinking is what you’re becoming. Whether it is a fearful person or an outrageous optimist depends on the quality of your thoughts. I’m not suggesting that your success depends on being an optimist and you ought to be that. I am however suggesting that you should recognise and listen to these thoughts.
What you’re thinking is what you’re becoming
– Muhammad Ali
They are indeed trying to tell you something and will keep bothering you unless you find a way to address them. You ought to get the negative ones or distractions out of your way so that you can focus on the other thoughts that can help you. If you’re not actively doing that, very quickly you’ll find yourself sucked into the trap of navigating uncomfortable emotions.Emotions are a wonderful support system and for that to happen, you need to be careful of what you’re thinking.
After all – What you’re thinking is what you’re becoming
Inspiring Post