Sure, there are still moments or days where I feel like I’ve hit a pothole, so to speak, where I wasn’t able to steer away from that one. Some are a little bigger than others, in fact, a few may even seem like the Grand Canyon, but the difference is I now remember that the road of life is under construction as well as paved with gold.

It wasn’t always that way though. There were many years where I felt I was always taking detours, or stuck in the traffic of negative thoughts, or feeling the road rage inside myself or the receiver of someone else’s, or my internal GPS system had completely shut down and I was lost, or questioning if the passengers in my life received their licenses from a Cracker Jack Box. Then I questioned my own and realized perhaps I also received mine from there.

You see, life is an ongoing journey, not a destination, and how much or little you enjoy the commute is really up to you.

Think of your life like a highway. Sometimes you can set the cruise control and motor right along and other times you are stuck in a traffic jam, or having to take the next exit, or there’s an unexpected delay and you are stuck, or the weather is a little tricky and your knuckles are a little white as you grip the steering wheel with all your might.

You might even be like the driver in who’s tooting his horn, or yelling at other drivers, or telling them how they should drive, or not letting them in, or cutting them off all together.

Perhaps you want to be like Mario Andretti on the race track and speed through to the finish line.

You can’t control the road conditions, or the events that occur in your life, but you can steer the way you encounter and move through them.You can slow down, take a look around, and open yourself up to the miracles and mysteries that life has to offer you.You can choose to see the negatives or the positives.You can enjoy the simplest of pleasures throughout the day, or none at all.You can be thankful for what you have or bemoan what you don’t have.You can reach out or go it alone.You can believe or give up.You can embrace or brace yourself.You can find a different route or stay on the one you are on.You can choose to stay stuck or move through what’s occurring.You can be the light or the darkness.You can be of peace or war.You can be victorious in your life; or the victim of life or the victor over life, the choice is yours.

It’s up to you whether your journey is about the destination, or the enjoyment of your commute.

Yes, it would be nice to get up and never endure a road block, to know exactly where you are going, or what the future holds for you, but if that was the case you would miss all the wonder, adventures, excitement, joys and sorrows along the way.

These are the very things which provide you with the dreams, tools, skills, and experience to build other roadways.

Remember, the journey you’re on, we are all on together, and its roads are under construction.

How can you enjoy more of your commute?

Use the insight technique to assist you in gaining insights when you hit those potholes that can make your journey more fun and enjoyable.

You are allowing past situations, current situations, your own negative thoughts, or other people to hold you back. This is a set up that will lead to your not succeeding. Many times we don’t look at those things as setting us up. We convince ourselves that for one reason or another that we don’t deserve it, or that it is too late, or that success is not for us.

But that way of thinking is a set up. And you deserve to live a life that is fulfilling and rewarding. You deserve to let your life shine. Even though you may look at your life right now and feel that it is not where you want to be. That doesn’t mean that you park right there and settle.

What that means is that you learn to be purposeful in the present. By that I mean that you learn to love who you are right now, and you are thankful for the blessings that you have in your life today. You know your purpose in the present, but you are also dedicated to work on things that are going to make you feel fulfilled in the future.

A major part of a mindset set up is when you think that just because you have made mistakes in the past that have led you to where you are today. That’s the end. Well, why not flip that mindset? Why not look at today as the beginning?

Why not look at all of the past mistakes as learning experience that have prepared you for where you are at currently. The things of the past can’t be changed. But how you allow them to affect your life can be changed.

When you can look at your mistakes as learning experiences you have gained empowerment to look past the past and toward the future. I admit that I have fallen for many set ups. And the sad part about it is that at that time I didn’t even realize that it was a set up. I just had accepted the mindset that I had missed it. I had accepted the mindset that success wasn’t going to happen for me.

But now when I look back into my life, and see what was going on in my mind before my mind shift occurred I can clearly see that it was a set up. It was a set up to prevent me from living the life that I was designed to live. And that is a life that is rewarding and fulfilling.

It was a set up because if I would not have followed my dreams then all of the people I was created to help wouldn’t have been helped through me. So if I would not have recognized my set up it would have affected more people than just me.

So think about this. Have you allowed something to set you up? Have you allowed something to prevent you from living the life that you deserve to live? Have you allowed the chains of your past to be a set up for your future?

If you answered yes then it is time to take action, and refuse to be set up anymore. Today is YOUR day to make your set up a comeback!

Even though the Universe is for the good of all and the Law of Life is for an ever-upward expansion and freedom, when you are focused on that which is smaller, contractive or little, the Universe can only grow for you what you plant. What seeds are you planting?

Your thoughts are the seeds you are planting. Are you planting seeds of doubt, pessimism, skepeticism, blame, fault, judgment, criticism, hopelessness, helplessness, doom and gloom, naysaying, what’s the use, if only, why me, ain’t it awful, what if, Yeah But, and the list goes on and on.

Or are you planting seeds of hope, optimism, taking full responsibility – I will, I can, I have, I am, No, Thank you, Where there is a will there is a way and the list goes on and on.

Your thoughts, feelings, words and actions are forms of energy, what you think, feel, say and do in each moment comes back to you as your reality. The Universal Laws are interrelated and are founded on the premise that everything in the universe is energy, including humans, and that energy moves in a circular fashion. What goes around comes around. Your positive or negative thoughts come back to you as your reality.

The good news is, because your thoughts, feelings, words and actions create the world around you, you have the power to create what your desire – peace of mind, harmony, abundance and prosperity. In order to do this, it is essential that you learn to plant the seeds you wish to grow.

So which will you do – Doing what you are doing or discovering what is holding you back and clearing a path to your desires.

Be an investigator to prove your case. Listen to your thoughts each moment and keep a record of them for seven consecutive days. Designate which are positive or negative thoughts. Do you think more negative thoughts than positive? Then, calculate your results ratio for that period of time. What crop did you harvest? Did you have the same ratio with the number of positive or negative thoughts during that period of time?

There are two kinds of people…those who continue to do what they are doing, expecting different results and those who take action to resolve what is holding them back. Which one are you? The choice is yours. Happy harvesting!

To improve positive thinking, simply look for the “good” in everything, no matter how bad it is. Although it may not be as easy as it sounds, this will help you develop a good habit to build and maintain positive thoughts.

When you face an annoying situation, this is actually your chance to practice it. As an example, if you find yourself getting trapped in a traffic jam, rather than get upset, it will be better if you do things like conducting a little observation on what kind of stores are full of visitors at that time. This can be very useful if you have a plan to build a small business in a similar location.

Next, try to keep smiling in every situation. This will not only keep your spirits alive, but will also brighten the day for everyone around you. There are 1001 ways to turn a bad day into a good one. Just get rid of those negative thoughts and become a winner.

You can find lots of publications that have been written on the subject of mind control. However, do not forget that it is very important to put what you have learned into practice. Nothing will happen by simply reading an article or book.

Bear in mind that everyone can certainly change his life and shape his destiny. Just begin the process of making positive changes to your thought patterns today. Overtime it will become an everyday habit.

With positive self talk, you can feel more optimistic and positive about life. This requires replacing negative self talk or dialogue with positive self talk. Below are some ways to replace negative thoughts with positive ones. In the following examples of frustrating situations, you can chose to either have positive or negative self dialogue.

•Driving to a job you hate – “It’s not so bad, I only have to be there 8 hours.” “Today will be a good day, I’ll call and old friend at lunch.” “It’s only 3 days until payday.”

•Your child broke his arm at school – “The injury could have been worse.” “I’m so thankful he’s still alive.” “Other kids have had playground injuries that were much worse.”

•You lost money on your stock – “The stock will rise again soon.” “Some people have lost a lot more than me.” “I’ll figure out what went wrong and try again.”

•Your significant other dumped you – “It is better that I know now what he/she was all about.” “I’ll find someone better suited for me.” “It was his/her loss, anyway.” “There are more fish in the sea.”

•You lost your job – “I’ll find a better job.” “Where one door closes, another one opens.” “I’ll find a job I enjoy more.”

Self talk is one of the best ways to help you overcome negativity, and become a more optimistic and happier person. Instead of immediately acting upon the negative in a situation, self talk helps you find the positive in any situation, and concentrate on what you do want, and not what you don’t want. When you practice self talk, overcoming negativity will become a cinch.

Self-talk

Building confidence through positive thinking, self-talk is the best method for it. Lead to better self-image positive affirmations can replace negative thoughts in your mind. Whenever you do well at something, you must get in the habit of praising yourself, for trying something new or for any other behavior that you would like to encourage. You need to focus on self-talk until thinking positively about yourself becomes a habit.

To make a written list of your good qualities; it is a more visual form of positive self-talk. Take your time and write down every single positive thing about yourself consciously, from the aspects of your appearance you feel proudest of, to the activities you do excellent. After finishing your list, store it somewhere safe but easy to find. Whenever you feel down and defeated, simply pull out your list and replace the negative thoughts with your list of great qualities.

Creative visualization

Helping people to achieve their goals, creative visualization is a popular technique. In this idea, you repeatedly envision a desired outcome. It’s a form of focused daydreaming. You would want to see in your mind’s eye some action that exemplifies confidence for you, if you’re working to improve your self confidence. It would be giving a speech or being a butterfly at a social event. When you are visualizing, you should make some small movement, like touching two fingers together, in order to imprint the feeling that comes along with the vision. Later you can bring the desired feeling to the forefront by repeating the movement. It is the practice for the outcome you would like to see.

Lack of self confidence can be a result of low self esteem, self doubt or unrealistic expectations of yourself and not being able to accomplish them within the time period you have set for yourself. Lack of self confidence can be a problem. You cannot make others believe in you, if you do not believe in your own abilities.

Moreover you are limiting your own growth and success, since your thoughts and words have the power to shape and change your own destiny. People with low self confidence often find it difficult to meet new challenges. They have a pessimistic approach towards situations and thereby limit their own growth and success.

Some of the things one can do to gain self confidence are to firstly challenge your own negative thoughts. Remember things do not change, we change. Start off by changing the way you feel about things. Inculcate a positive attitude and thought process. Additionally break free from the patterns that limit how you feel and act, and do not indulge in self pity and feelings of worthlessness.

If you feel sad or angry about a situation, do not dwell in those feelings for long. Why let the negative experience continue to trouble you. Instead look at the situation as a learning experience. Also plan out your work and work out your plan. Remember actions bring results. Plan out your work and be prepared to face all the challenges and possible outcome with a positive attitude.

There are many mediums that provided the latest knowledge – there are books, of course. Then there are newspapers, magazines, internet sites, TV shows, news programs, movies, and even music. So what type of content are you focusing on? What type of communication do you receive through your snail mail, texts, and email?

In this age of technological advancement where so much information is so accessible, one should be careful about what they focus on. So much information can also be the cause of undue stress. Bad news that we allow into our consciousness might overwhelm us with negative thoughts if we allow these to do so.

When you turn on the television it’s common to see TV shows with themes of violence and sex. And on the news, you will mostly see headlines that are not positive. Subconsciously, these all impact your mood and way of thinking. It is common to become suspicious and fearful when you see and hear about robberies and hijacking, wars and killing. While these might provide the latest in entertainment and news, by the end of a few hours of watching television, your sense of the world becomes negative.

However, if we choose to be discriminating about what we watch, then we can control what information we feed into our consciousness. Shows that reflect positivity and our values can make us feel happy, stimulated, and nourished.

Do you believe this? I challenge you to control what information you feed into your mind for a week and see how it impacts you.

For a week, choose to watch or read sources that are positive and reflect your values in life. Perhaps you’ll notice after a few days that you feel positive versus disturbed and agitated. Then you will know how all these sources can actually affect your life.

Understand that you do have a choice as to what you let in your mind. You do have the choice of making life a lot less stressful. You have the choice of leading a better, healthier, and more positive life.