Improving The Quality of Input

The average mind has a minimum of 10,000 separate thoughts a day. In fact, Dr. Denis Waitley, a recognized national authority on high level performance and personal development, says we talk to ourselves at the rate of 600 to 800 words per minute.

What are we saying to ourselves on a minute-by-minute basis? Most of us do not think about what we think about.

Remember, our mental records play back dominant messages. If 90 percent of our self-talk is negative and only 10 percent positive, the mental playback is sure to be negative.

A man was pushing a cart in the supermarket containing, among other things, a hysterical baby. As the man proceeded down the aisles, he talked in a soft but firm voice: “Keep calm, George. Don’t get excited, George. Don’t yell, George.”

A lady had been watching with admiration for several minutes and finally said to him, “You certainly are to be commended for your patience in trying to quiet little George.”

“Lady,” the man declared, “I’m George!”

The words we use to talk to ourselves have the power of stimulating and arousing activities associated with them. Words can make active the meanings and ideas they imply.

When you or I decide to control the quality of input into our minds, we will choose words that express the positive because of the likelihood of the corresponding behavior occurring. For instance, you can decide to choose words such as: “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength”; or “This is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it”; or “God is love and because God lives in me, I am a loving person.”

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Another option would be a thought such as this one by Ella Wheeler Wilcox:
“I’m going to be happy today,
Though the skies are cloudy and grey.
No matter what comes my way,
I’m going to be happy today.”

By repeating words, phrases, and passages such as these mentally or out loud, the corresponding activity is being reinforced.

To get started, choose a word, phrase, or verse of Scripture that expresses the quality you want to develop. Write it on a card and place it where you will see it often. Place it on your desk at work, by the phone, on the mirror, on the dashboard of your car, etc. Even when you aren’t consciously aware of it, that note will be working into your receptive unconsciousness. The effect will be similar to the message you read on a local billboard or street sign.