Just Change One Word And Your Reality Will Change

I want to share one moment that has made a big impact on my thoughts and experience of reality.

I was on a course where we should learn to be more mindful and less stressed. It was a little warm meeting room, with fans whirring in the ceiling. We sat 15 people around the rectangular table.

Our course leader had talked a long time about the thoughts most people have about having a lot of stuff we really have to do or be. Now was the time for the rest of us, two and two, to tell each other about our “have to-thoughts”.

I sat next to a beautiful lady in her upper sixties with white hair and casual but nice clothes.
- I have no musts anymore, she said.
- Don´t you have any at all? I asked, thinking of my own musts. (I have to do a good job, I have to be a good mother, must be a good wife and daughter, I have to be on time...)
- Nah, she replied. I have replaced the word MUST with WANT and it has changed a lot for me.

She was right! We must really nothing more than breathing and eating- and that is only if we want to stay alive... Everything else is a choice we make.

I tried to replace the “have to” into “want” in one of my own thoughts to see what should happen.

- I want to be a good mother!
That thought made me immediately want to do something nice for my daughters and I immediately got a warm feeling in my chest and felt love for them.

Contrary to what my old thought made me feel.
- I must be a good mother!
That thought made me feel bad conscience and low self-esteem as I was not a good mother at all.

With the new thought I felt hope that it was possible and that I already am a good mother.

Incredible! Can you believe that it made such a great difference to only replacing one word in my thoughts?

I already knew that our thoughts affect our feelings and that they influence what becomes our reality but it was amazing to get such an easy and simple tool like this.

Try it yourself to replace the “have to” into “want” in one of your own thoughts. How do you and your feelings change when you think like that instead?

Tell us in the comments below...

Love to you!