<H2>Did You Take the Challenge?</H2>

Hello - Checking in with all of you trying my challenge from last week. Thanks for your emails. Here are some comments that really hit home with me:

Marilyn from Salt Lake writes
"Have I always been this negative? I'm just shocked! How do I stop this?"

Ivan from U.K. says
"This is like bad song lyrics bouncing about in my head."

Yes, I know it is shocking. Especially if you tend to be an upbeat sort of person and you discover what is going on behind the scenes, as it were. Bad song lyrics are the worst!

What would you be doing in life if the negative thoughts were not there?

There are a number of techniques you can use to replace your negative thoughts. Each one of you will need to search for the one that works the best for you. Basically what you need to do is reprogram yourself. I know it sounds so sci-fi but the mind is reprogrammable. Look at it this way, when we develop bad habits that begin to cause problems - like sleeping with the lights on which does not allow you to get the proper sleep and can cause all sorts of issues or leaving your dirty clothes on the bathroom floor which can make that partner of yours pretty mad - we know that we must make changes or suffer. And so we go about the business of doing so, replacing the old pattern with a newer pattern until the old fades into the background. We do this throughout our lives - our parents knew if we sucked our thumb we would push our teeth into odd configurations as they grew in so they found ways of reprogramming you - my reward was a new bike and it worked! I've been thumb free for 43 years.

You can begin simply by replacing negative words with more positive ones.

Instead of the "I can't" you use "I can." Instead of "I don't" use "I do." Of course you will need to make sure you agree with what follows. Starting to reprogram your thinking this way makes you more aware, of everything. And that's the point, to become more aware. The great part of this are the changes that begin to happen in and around you, all for the better! There is a whole world waiting for you and begging for you to come live in it if you will just make the choice to do so.

It also helps to have another set of ears and eyes in the form of readings and horoscopes - hence the service I give freely to you. But other times it is necessary to seek professional help to untangle the web that we have become. Tough childhoods that include abuse and abandonment can be overcome and the negative programming can be reversed. Just look at Jack Canfield and Oprah among many others. Look for someone who listens well and asks the right questions, the questions that trigger a response in you. You will know when the right questions are being asked - you feel it in the pit of your stomach or solar plexus.

People ask what it is I do to reprogram myself.

I started with replacing the negative words just as I spoke of earlier. I have found that some form of daily meditation - be it a long daily walk, a yoga or physical movement program, traditional meditation or some moment of reflection like writing in a journal - help tremendously with keeping me on track.

I also read my own horoscopes. Yes I really do. I write these a week to 10 days before posting and sometimes a whole month before sending them off to you. After I have read them over for spelling errors I post them and I never intend to read them for my own needs but I find myself drawn to reading them later in the week, sometimes in the course of posting and writing these journal entries. And when I do I can't believe how spot on they are. They help as a reminder that there is more at work in our lives than our narrow focus reveals. If you keep this one idea in mind above anything it makes it sooo much easier to deal with perceived obstacles.

Walking labyrinths, using a healer, or working with reprogramming techniques like Reprogramming the Overweight Mindhelp too. Reprogramming the Overweight Mind can be used by anyone, by the way, because it lays out 7 steps to reprogram the subconscious. You can replace what needs to be said with your own needs and get alot out of this book.

The truth is you must become responsible and accountable for yourself and becoming aware of your negative thinking is a good place to start. When we become responsible for ourselves the world, our world, changes for the better.

Always keep your ultimate goal in mind! Blessings to all of you.