“For a man to conquer himself is the first and noblest of all victories.”
— Plato
There have been many people all over the world throughout history that have fought for freedom. Some who I’ve heard about are Chief Joseph, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr., Dalai Lama, Pancho Villa, Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi, Thomas Jefferson and Cesar Chavez.
Of course, this list is nothing compared to how long slavery existed, and it’s not possible to count every single person who has fought for freedom all over the world. And it’s true we can find all kinds of slavery and all kinds of revolutions.
The truth is that I am very happy that I am free, not only free from slavery but also free to become a better person. I bet that any of these leaders, before they could free other people, needed to free themselves.
Can you imagine creating a revolution where you could be killed or incarcerated for life?
These leaders needed to overcome some real fears before they could lead other people.
A strong mind is a great mind...
Remez Seasson said, “Your mind is your instrument. Learn to be its master not its slave.” I think the first battle to win is the one with oneself. My thoughts used to enslave me, but now I have more control over them. One thing that has helped me is to differentiate the carnal or superficial desires from the things I really want from the bottom of my heart.
There is not a better battle to win than the one with myself. I understood that I can control my superficial desires and I can do better in life and overcome my fears and put all my energy to improve myself. I can control my thoughts instead of my thoughts controlling me. Battles with oneself are the hardest ones, but freedom begins here.
If you want to control your thoughts and overcome any difficulty and achieve your goals, here are a few tools I use to do it. By the way, personally, I can tell you that putting my life in the hands of a Superior Power has helped me the most.
Meditate…
Being with myself and giving me time alone to think about what is in my head allows me to understand my thoughts and find answers. At the same time, it helps me to focus on the future and the goals I want to achieve.
While all this is part of my meditation — and it helps me understand myself and what I really want — the best thing about meditation is that I can manipulate my thoughts and focus on them. When a negative thought comes into my head, I replace it with my dream. I focus on all the positive events.
Be aware of what you are thinking…
During the day there are many thoughts running through my head such as fears, negative events, negative feelings and others. I don’t let these thoughts occupy my head. I am aware of them but think about the good side of everything. It becomes easier as I become more aware of what I think. Now it is a choice to put good thoughts in my head instead of just thinking wherever my brain wants to think.
Accept That Some Of Your Negative Thoughts Bring You Pleasure And Suppress Them…
Many times we get pleasure from our negative thoughts, such as seeing someone fail, reading or hearing gossip, seeing other people in a negative stage, thinking about junk food, thinking about getting drunk and so on.
For some reason we have bad habits.
There is nothing wrong with getting pleasure from these thoughts: The problem starts when we allow these thoughts to occupy our brain. It is important to cut out these feelings and think the opposite right away. Otherwise, our brain gets full of negative thoughts and we become what we think.
Start Putting In Only Positive Information And Real Knowledge…
There is no doubt that we become what we have in our brain. If we put junk or trash in our brain, we can’t expect to come up with ingenious ideas. If we put trash in we get trash out. If we want to become positive, we must input all the best information provided in the world by reading, listening to other capable people and leaving behind negative people, TV programs and gossip magazines.
Surround yourself with the perfect environment…
I make my environment. I meet different negative people. I choose my friends carefully, and when negative people are around me I turn their negativity around at least for the moment. If I can’t do it, then I let them be and walk away. I choose what I am ready for, what I am watching online and what I am spending my time on.
Focus On Your Dreams…
Your dreams are not going to come alone. Your dreams affect your life. You behave according to your dreams. The only way you can achieve your ideal life and be happy is by you winning your own battle. You decide if you let your dreams go by not fighting or winning over your thoughts.
I am not perfect by any means. But I have grown a lot thanks to controlling my thoughts. I know that a strong mind is a great mind.
“Conquer your thought and you will conquer the world.”
— Sivananda
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