Rick Osborn | Life Coach, Nutrition Consultant & Graphic Designer

Descartes wrote it long ago - this philosophical statement designed to describe how the very act of thinking indicates the existence of self. Many quote it today, myself included, almost in jest as a means to sound like an erudite. In my estimation the statement, “cogito ergo sum - I think, therefore I am” is nothing more than one philosopher’s pursuit to understand reality. That’s pretty much all I care to say about it here. In fact, the only reason I even mention it is because the phrase “I think, therefore I am” is easy to remember and can be used to positively move us in the right direction if we keep in mind, with a couple of adjustments. With that in mind, let me delineate how this phrase can be used to keep ourselves on track in the midst of making difficult and right decisions.

What we think about ourselves makes us who we are.

Labels and words - we all use them - for everything. Using labels and words to categorize and compartmentalize things gives us a sense of comfort and wards off ambiguity. Don’t get me wrong, I believe that labels have a proper place in our lives, helping us to identify things and people and to put them in proper perspective.

However, words and labels can also be very detrimental with regards to successful and joyful living, as well as towards achieving our full potential in life. Let me explain. For the purpose of brevity, I’m going to get right to the point. We’re all guilty (at one time or another) of using names and word descriptions to degrade or insult others. In fact, the very words that we utter do one or two things - they can either edify or destroy. In my opinion, words and labels have the power to create or to kill. My purpose here is not to reiterate the obvious - that words and labels (wrongly used) can hurt others. My point here is to show that our thoughts, which become words which become labels, applied to ourselves, can either help or hurt us. They quite literally, create who we are. With this in mind, let me just give a couple of biblical references about the power of thoughts/words/labels.

It really comes from the heart. Christ stated in Matthew 15:18-19,

“But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man unclean. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.”

How do you talk to yourself?

For a moment, imagine how the above verses apply to the way that you talk to yourself, that is, the thoughts, language and words that you use to label or describe yourself. And, I don’t necessarily mean the way that you describe yourself to others, but to you. More to the point, ask yourself this question,

What do I tell myself about me?

Let me rewrite Descartes’ phrase “I think, therefore I am”, and make it more applicable and practical. If you will, think of it this way:

“I think _________________, therefore I am ___________________.”

How would you fill in that phrase? Maybe it’s something like this:

“I think I’ve made so many mistakes, therefore I am a loser.”

Or, maybe you don’t say things like that, but maybe you’re constantly down on yourself saying things like,

“I’ve made so many mistakes, I’ll never get any better.”

My point is this - your thoughts, your self-talk, the words you use internally about yourself, become your actuality, your reality.

If you want to succeed, if you want to get past your current circumstances, if you want to be a winner, an overcomer, a survivor, a thriver, then you must begin to change the way you think about yourself.

“I think I am capable and smart, therefore I am a success and a winner.”

“I think (GOOD, POSITIVE THOUGHTS), therefore I am (A SUCCESSFUL, HAPPY, THRIVING PERSON).”

On the other hand, when you constantly are focusing on the bad, the negative, on what’s wrong with you, you’ll continue to have a bad, negative, pathetic reality.

When you think of yourself a certain way, when you label yourself a certain way, when your self-talk is a certain way, your actions will become what your thoughts already created. This was very much the point of my last blog entitled “Begin Each Day with the End in Sight.”

Before you act, before you react, before you respond, before you even move in any direction, stop and already see yourself in a positive light, where you want to be. Visualizing yourself in a good positive light will lead to actualizing yourself in a good, positive, successful light.

Next time, I’ll write about how to make an inward change (the heart), which will make the outer you - your reality, much better - how to clean up your act from the inside out and positively affect your future.

An Exercise in Visualization to Gain Perspective and Achieve Goals

Sometimes in the midst of life, we tend to become overwhelmed with the difficulties of the moment, to the point of being paralyzed with fear and confusion.

Perhaps this is the case with you. Maybe all you see right now is problems and not solutions -

• the stack of papers that need to be reckoned with on the edge of your work desk,
• bills that are ever mounting and need to be paid,
• family and personal issues that are growing by leaps and bounds,
• clothes that fit too tightly due to recent weight gain or being overweight.

It’s summertime and you feel miserable, but there is hope. It takes focus.

Think of it this way. You’re like a submarine - perhaps too deep down in the dark water to even raise your periscope to look above and beyond where you are.

Whatever your problem is right now - and God knows we all have problems - I’d like to offer you some encouragement for staying on track and moving towards solutions for your life.

Try this little visualization exercise -

1. Stop what you’re doing right now, just for a moment, and close your eyes.
2. Imagine you’re a submarine deep in murky water.
3. Mentally, turn your engine off.
4. With your eyes still closed - take in a deep breath and hold it.
5. Allow yourself to be perfectly still and fully absorb where you are for the moment. (Feel all the pain of your current situation.)
6. Exhale slowly.
7. Now inhale again and as you do so, imagine your periscope beginning to ascend through the dark water towards the lighted surface. Higher and higher it goes - eyes still closed, body relaxed.
8. Imagine your periscope breaking the surface of the water into the sunlight and turning towards a beautiful island. The breeze is blowing, the palm trees are swaying. (refer to image above)
9. With the above site fixed in your crosshairs, exhale slowly.
10. As you exhale, envision starting the engine on your submarine. With that island in view and in focus through your periscope, imagine your vessel moving upwards to the light surface and forward towards the island.
11. Inhale as you keep the island in sight and exhale, allowing the escape of air to propel you towards your destination.
12. As you reach the island, your vessel surfaces and the top door opens.
13. Step out onto the beautiful beach, inhale the clean air and take in the landscape of paradise.
14. Open your eyes and begin your day.

Read the keywords below and plug them in to the above visualization scenario to make it practical for your situation.

Keywords

Deep, murky water = problems, tasks, issues, fears, frustration, being overweight, personal issues, etc.

Submarine/vessel = you

Periscope = your mind, your soul, your spirit

Crosshairs/view/sight = your focus, your intent

Raising of the periscope = planning, praying, setting goals, strategizing, etc.

Island/destination/paradise/beach = goals, end results, rest, hope, relief, where you want to be

Engine = work, mind, intelligence, wisdom, talents, synergy

Breath/Inhale = inspiration, fuel, knowledge, empowerment, balance, spark, ignition

Exhale = expelling the negative thoughts, problems and emotions; propels you forward and helps fuel your engine

Now that you understand what the above keywords represent in this visualization exercise, apply them to your particular situation. If you have trouble doing this, feel free to contact me and I’ll help you. That’s what I do. If you’re confident to do it on your own, write down what each particular part of this exercise involves for you and allow it to bring your vessel back to the surface and towards your dreams and goals.

Don’t worry about tomorrow or the next day, but focus on today. Focus on what you can do today to make a difference. Focus on getting to this one island today, because getting there will bring you closer to the mainland - where you want to ultimately be. It’s not your final destination, but this island - now in the crosshairs of your periscope, is where you can get to today. Once you have it in view - once you have in your mind what you can do today, you’ll begin to move through, past and upwards towards your dreams and goals.

Designate an island for each day. You’ll do a bit of island hopping until you get to the mainland, but if you follow this strategy with good planning, you’ll eventually get there.

In the midst of my dealings with people, I find that those who commonly have major problems are often trying to follow two or more different philosophies at once. Let me explain. As we mature, we all struggle (consciously or not) to find the right paradigm by which to live our lives. In case you don’t know, a paradigm is a set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality or life.

To be a well-balanced, healthy, moral individual, we must set our life foundation upon proper principles (the right paradigm). This follows what I wrote about in my recent blog about what I call “foundational suicide”. Without a solid true foundation we remain uncertain, confused and drifting through life without a proper sense of direction - which often leads to problems. Let me give you a simple example.

Mary is overweight. She eats a certain way and cooks the same way her mother used to cook when she was growing up. She tries to limit her portions so as not to take in too many calories and gain more weight. Regardless to all of her striving, she becomes more obese, getting fatter and more frustrated.

Mary’s concept of eating - the way she cooks, the foods she chooses, the timing of her meals, etc. - are all part of her nutritional paradigm, which is faulty. No matter how hard she tries, she continues to gain weight, making her more and more frustrated. She continues to build her nutritional house on quicksand, an incorrect paradigm, if you will. In order for Mary to achieve success, lose weight and become healthier and happier, she needs a nutritional paradigm shift or change.

You can apply this paradigm principle to any aspect of your life. If the rules by which you govern your life are wrong, the end result will also be wrong or less than desirable. If you take a cake recipe that’s missing an essential ingredient (such as eggs), no matter how closely you follow that recipe, you’re still going to end up with something other than cake. You need to change your paradigm/recipe. You can be sincere in your striving, but if your map is wrong, you won’t end up where you need or want to be.

Let me try to make it even more practical. I believe that everyone needs to have good, solid foundational paradigms, at a minimum, in the following areas to support a healthy, balanced life:

1. Nutrition
2. Exercise
3. Morality/Ethics
4. Religion

I’m not saying that the above list is all inclusive, and I realize that they do overlap a bit, but I believe that if you do not have correctly set values, beliefs, practices in the above areas, you will most likely have serious problems in your work, physical health and relationships with others. Many people seem to run into trouble when they have no core system of values, but instead follow their feeling of the moment. This obviously leads to trouble - something I call “goose in a windstorm” syndrome - someone who is aimless, wandering, unsure, frustrated . . . Need I go on? The list is endless.

The Apostle Paul put it very wisely in James 1:8 - “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”

Are you double-minded?

If you have two (or more) belief systems about any certain issue, whether it be nutrition, fitness, morality, work, relationships, etc., you’re going to be unstable. You’ll be blown all over the place and be constantly frustrated. It’s like the married man who has an affair (he believes it’s okay, which is his paradigm) and tries to maintain two different relationships. Full of deceit and dishonesty, it is based upon a faulty paradigm that eventually leads to disaster one way or another. Sure, he may get away with it, but at what cost?

One very important concept to remember about the paradigms that you choose for your life - our attitudes and behavior flow from our paradigms. Did you catch that?

If your behavior and your attitude about ANYTHING is taking you down the wrong path, it’s time for a paradigm change. Shifting your paradigm (your beliefs about reality, etc.) to a correct one is the quickest way to change bad behavior.

Being “double minded and unstable” is for miserable, lonely losers. If you want to change for the better and stop your bad behavior and unfortunate situation, adopt the right paradigms for your life. Stop being a “goose in a windstorm”. Be grounded and founded!