Master the Mind 1/7 : The Garden of Thought: “The thought you tolerate this morning will shape the life you live tomorrow.” #MakingMovesMonday

Welcome, welcome to the sweet spot.

It is making moves Monday and you're here, you're ready, you're going to do this, we're

going to get it done.

I'm Dr. Derek Sweet, I'm your host here on the sweet spot.

As you know, I'm a board certified psychiatrist, I work in high performance.

More than that, I am your teammate in the game of life.

And here on the sweet spot, we're about science, soul and success.

Every week we choose a theme.

Every week we have an idea that we want to explore.

This week we're going to look at a book by a great author that I love.

I read him in college and the book never gets old.

It's called As a Man Thinketh.

And you know, it's a great book to look into because it speaks to something that we all

have become quite accustomed to hearing that our thoughts, what we think, what in our

heads really shapes the reality if that we experience here in life.

Yes, before you check your calendar, before you open your phone, this author had a great

question.

What are you thinking?

What are you thinking right now?

Because that answer is already shaping how this making mood Monday is going to go for

you.

He took that title right out of the ancient wisdom, absolutely.

For this idea of as a man thinketh in his heart, so he is, as a person thinks in their

heart and in their mind, so are they.

It's in Proverbs.

It's in the book of Proverbs 23 verse 7.

Check it out for yourself.

So look, long before neuroscience figured this out, long before performance psychology got

into this idea of your thoughts are going to control your behaviors, your actions and your

reality, James Allen in 1903 had already figured it out, he had already published this book.

Yeah, he figured it out, life tends to follow the direction of thought.

So the real move for you today on making mood Monday, it doesn't start on your calendar,

it doesn't start on your phone, it doesn't start on your to-do list, you know where it

starts in your mind, you are the architect.

And I want to quote this author James Allen today, he said this, man is made or unmade

by himself.

In the armory of thought he forges the weapons by which he destroys himself, he also

fashions the tools with which he builds for himself mansions of joy and strength and

peace.

Yes, sweet spotter, literally I'm going to interpret this, you are made or unmade by yourself.

By the thoughts that you're forging whether it's a weapon to destroy yourself today, or

with a great thought that's going to build for you the fruit of spirit, joy and peace

and gentleness and all that good stuff, it's all in our heads, hmm, Monday doesn't build

you or break you, it's not about that, it's your thinking, it's what we have in our

minds that hits us before we even get out there to take the action.

Your thinking does that before the first conversation even begins.

The stoics saw this pattern early too, they saw it centuries earlier when they wrote

Marcus Aurelius wrote, the happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts.

That just makes so much sense.

And you know what, it makes us have to take responsibility for what we're thinking.

It doesn't matter if you're into the Buddhism or the Christianity, I don't care what

you're thinking, in the Dhamma Pada, a Buddhist text, it opens up with this line.

All that we are is the result of what we have fought.

You see, it doesn't matter, the culture, the century, it doesn't really matter.

The message is clear.

We have one shared realization as human beings.

The mind goes first and everything comes after that.

What's in your head this morning?

What's in your head this afternoon?

What are you thinking?

So before reacting to anything today, I want you to pause for a moment.

And ask yourself one honest question, am I building something right now in my mind

or am I forging a weapon or am I constructing a prison in which I'm going to live?

Because the thought you carry into the day this Monday will quietly shape everything that

follows for you, today and most likely all week long.

You see, the author James Allen was putting it this way, our circumstances are not the

starting point.

The way he wrote it and it still works 100 years later, remember?

This was like in the early 1900s, he wrote this, we're in 2026 and he wrote this, people

are anxious to improve their circumstances, but unwilling to improve themselves and therefore

they remain bound, I repeat, we are anxious to improve our circumstances, but unwilling

to improve ourselves and we remain bound as a result.

You see, a lot of us not you, just not me and not you, just other people.

Most people spend Monday hoping something outside of them is going to change, right?

I'll get a better break, it'll be a better schedule, you'll be waiting on a better environment,

a shift, but that's not how it works.

We can't make the external stuff fit what we want.

Even the stoics depicted us wrote, seek not that events should happen as you wish, but

wish them to happen as they do happen and your life will flow well.

Control the controllables, that's your thoughts, that's your thoughts, own your thoughts.

Jay-Z put it this way, I will not lose, even in defeat there's a valuable lesson learned.

In other words, the real advantage is not controlling circumstances, it's really about

training your response, you see how Jay-Z put that.

Even in the middle of the feet, will you know that tells me that he's faced some stuff,

he's been through some things.

To be able to put that out there, right?

I will not lose, even in defeat there's a valuable lesson learned.

He's trained his response.

He's a man, think it as a person, think it so are they, what's everything in your mind

in your heart is going to determine how you look at the problem or the challenge.

So here's the move on making moves Monday, name one thing in your life, one thing that

you've been waiting on to change externally or that you're grappling with or you're really

fighting with, then ask yourself quietly.

Whether the first shift might not be something internal in your mind, get clarity before

your strategy, get your mind clear, get your thoughts clear.

Because as Alan James Alan wrote, until thought is linked with purpose, there is no intelligent

accomplishment.

And that explains why so many Mondays can feel really busy, but strangely unproductive.

You've got to link that thought with a purpose.

Running and busyness is easy, a direction, a vector, a real direction with your thoughts

and your purposes, really aligned in length.

And you want to think that out so that you're not aimlessly running around just trying to

get it all done.

If you ever feel that, I've been that in that scenario, you feel really frazzled, but that's

not how life is supposed to be lived.

Even in the ancient wisdom, Paul writes, so I don't run, if you're an athlete, you know,

I don't run aimlessly, I don't box as one just beating in the air, I'm not going to

shadow box the air all day long.

First Corinthians 9, verse 26.

Okay, so you're interested.

That's in the ancient wisdom that your purpose has to sharpen your effort.

So what you're going to do, you're going to do, and you're going to do it with purpose.

That's the key.

Why are you taking this action?

Anything you're going to do today, I'm making moves Monday.

Why are you doing this?

Is that attached to a real purpose?

Is this what you really want?

Because even in the Zen teaching, if you're not even into the Christian, ancient stuff,

I'm saying, even in the Buddhist stuff, they say, this is a Zen teaching that says, when

walking, walk, when eating, eat, you know, that tells me, be present, be purposeful.

Yeah, this is not some productivity trick.

This is about purpose and action.

It's a discipline.

It is a discipline of attention.

And when you have that, you walk around with a level of just knowledge.

You walk around feeling centered.

Because when thought connects to purpose, your effort becomes focused.

Are your thoughts connected to a purpose today?

So before the day accelerates, before things are going too fast, ask yourself that question.

What is the real purpose behind what I'm doing today or this week?

And get that connected, right?

Because once you have it, you have a calm.

Once you know it, it's amazing how that will calm you down.

Once you say, you know, hey, this is my identity, this is my purpose.

Alan put it this way, James Allen, he said, the more tranquil a person becomes, the

more calm they become, the greater their success, the greater their influence, the greater

their power for good.

Self-control is strength.

Right thought, he said, is mastery.

Calmness is power.

I'm just quoting from the book.

That sounds almost counterintuitive in a competitive environment.

But you know what?

Think about the best players, you know, the best athletes, you know, the best performers,

they have a calm, when they're really a master of what they do, they're very calm, absolutely

because you see, they have power over themselves, they understand how to regulate themselves.

Marcus really is a story, put it this way, you have power over your mind, not over outside

events, realize this, he said, and you will find strength.

You know what?

When you start understanding the power you have over your own mind, your own thoughts

to choose your reaction, man, you really begin to have a zen like calm, you begin to be

so relaxed because you understand the feelings can come and go like clouds in a windy sky.

Right?

That your consciousness, your consciousness is not anchored to what's happening on the outside.

You have something that's greater in you than what's in the world, and you feel it.

And you're being calm today on Mondays, not a lack of your intensity, no, you're that's

intensity guided by a sense of control.

So today as you go out, I want you not to be tossed left and right to really be in control

of your thinking because that will help your emotions and help your behaviors.

The last thing I'll say is that the author has this great analogy about the mind, and you've

heard it before, he called it a garden, he really loved this metaphor of the mind being

a garden.

And I'm going to quote, a man's mind may be likened to a garden which may be intelligently

cultivated or allowed to run wild.

So your mind and my mind, that's the garden, is it going to go wild or are we going to cultivate

it?

You know what gardening involves pulling up weeds and it's work to keep that garden

looking a certain way, makes sense.

So whatever grew in your thinking yesterday, whatever's growing in your thinking today,

it's like a kind of a soil this morning, this afternoon or this evening.

If you're listening to this, think about the soil of your mind and you are the gardener,

you determine what is going to grow in here.

Don't let other people plant things, right?

Because if you're in the ancient wisdom and Matthew, he says, you know, every good tree

bears good fruit.

Fruit is visible.

Roots are not.

So that's why you got to check out what's going on underneath.

That's right.

Because your thoughts can become habits and habits can become character and character

can quietly shape your life.

That's what's going on here on the He moves Monday.

You're going to guard your thoughts.

You're not going to let outside circumstances determine what you think.

So that's your march you're going to see today.

You've been listening to the sweet spot.

Monday's not really about what you want to accomplish.

No, no, no.

It's about who you're becoming as you move through Monday and what you're thinking.

So whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is right, whatever

is pure, whatever is love, whatever is good, think good things.

Absolutely think good things.

Peace comes from within.

Don't look from there.

Don't look outside for it.

It's already in your thinking.

That's how powerful you are.

That's how amazing you are.

And that's why you are in the sweet spot for science, for soul, for success.

This is Dr. Derek Sweet.

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Send it to your friend too.

We can always use a message on Monday about how to manage their thinking.

I'll see you tomorrow for Take Action Tuesday.

We're going in on this book as a man.

Think it.

We're going to be more revelations.

And we're going to see how thought and action are linked.

Love and blessings.