Mind over Matter

I have been thinking lately of how I wish we were retired, or how I wish all our family lived closed by or how I wish... but I need to stop and decide to be mentally strong! 

As we go through life we have to decide what kind of person we are going to be. Will we be mentally strong, or will we be mentally weak? The choice is ours. It’s up to us.

When we are mentally weak we act like this description:

Letting obstacles stop you, feeling sorry for yourself, feeling hopeless, dwelling in the past, thinking the world is against you, resenting other people’s success, giving up…

When we are mentally strong we act like this description:

Turning obstacles into growth opportunities, feeling optimistic and hopeful, looking up and moving forward, feeling genuinely happy for the success of others, resilient, will never give up…

When you read both descriptions next to each other you stop and wonder why any of us would ever choose to be mentally weak? Mentally strong sounds so much better, right!? So then why do we sometimes choose to take the path of being weak over the path of being strong?

“Strength doesn’t come from what you can do. It comes from overcoming the things you once thought you couldn’t.”   – Rikki Rogers 

I think at times we forget that we actually do have a choice!!!

I think the times we fall into being mentally weak are the times we get caught up in our circumstances rather than focusing on our own inner strength. We end up on a roller coaster of emotion because the circumstances inevitably take us up and then down and in circles…circumstances move all over the map because that is how life goes. So if we don’t make a conscious choice to be mentally strong we will naturally fall into being weak because that is the default. We either have to choose to be mentally strong or we will automatically be mentally weak because being mentally weak comes naturally if we don’t make a choice to the contrary.

Every one of us has the ability to be mentally strong. We just have to decide that we want to be and then we have to change our inner thoughts. If we control our thoughts then we control our focus and our perception. We can see the negative circumstances in a positive light and we can turn bad situations into good ones. We just have to decide to stay in control of the only thing we can be in control of in life…our choices. So choose to be mentally strong. Choose to be happy for yourself and happy for others.  Choose to be optimistic and hopeful. Choose to be grateful for all that is good….Life is so much better that way.