Tag Archives: thoughts

Thinking

March 11, 2021 Jonathan Hilton Leave a comment

Penny, for your thoughts? They are worth much more than that. Each moment we are inundated with a million thoughts from our mind. It isn’t easy to shut off the flowing river of mental messages that we are exclusively experiencing in our heads. We can have all types of thoughts, positive, negative, and neutral, and the ones that we decide to focus on will create our reality and our feelings about it. Positive thinking will lead to positive results in life.

You are in control of your thoughts’ quality and content and that decision that you make in each moment, so you are the one in control of the content of your thoughts and the level of happiness that you have found in your life. It is all up to you.

Avoid the Negative Thought Spiral

positive thinking, good thoughts — Avoid this downward spiral of negative thinking.

Negative thoughts are around us each day. They are powerful and seductive and draw us closer to them. One of the most powerful is gossip. Gossip is thinking and expressing ideas about someone else behind their backs. This is usually about negative events, and it allows people to find common ground in their discussions and charges all people in the conversation with negative energy.

Once you have established this type of negative thinking of gossip, criticism, hate, jealousy, or anger, your pattern is created and you will feel less and less happy. It is a spiral that happens when you criticize others or entertain mean thoughts. They are something that reflects from you. You might simply feel inferior in some way or insecure, and knocking someone else down feels powerful, but it is only an illusion. You are feeling more and more unhappy at the moment. The only thing that can turn that around is to change the pattern of thought, speech, and action that you have been practicing into something more positive.

Changing to Positive Thinking

This is where your power of choice will come into practice in your life. You have a choice with each thought to be positive or negative. Your thoughts will lead to words, positive or negative, and then actions, positive or negative. But it all starts with choosing the positive thoughts to move the entire process in a direction that will lead to your happiness and enjoyment in life. It is all a choice. If you don’t believe me, then experiment, choose a negative thought, and focus your attention on the words that come from that and the actions that follow. See what results and how it feels to you. Then repeat the experiment using the other choice and compare and contrast the results.

The choices are easy to make love over hate, laughter over crying, creating over destroying, perseverance over quitting, praise over gossip, healing thoughts over those that wound, giving rather than stealing, action over procrastination, growing over rotting to live rather than die. Each thought is as simple a choice like this, the words will follow the same light or darkness, and the actions cannot be any different. And it all begins with your thoughts and the ones you choose to pay attention to. This will determine the quality of your life and the interactions that you have with it.

Pay close attention at all times to the ideas that creep into your mind. They are all your responsibility as much as your actions. You will be a force in the world for light or darkness based solely on your thoughts. The experience you have and thoughts you think will define your life to the world.

The Happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts. ~ Marcus Aurelius

Time

March 9, 2021 Jonathan Hilton Leave a comment

Time is On Your Side

We should all find activities in life that cause us to lose track of time and, more importantly, to not worry about what we “should” be doing with those precious moments.

In our daily lives, we are controlled by the clock. From the time we have to go to work to the time we are allowed to eat, and the time we can rejoin the freedom of life yet again. Time can be an all-controlling factor if you let it, but it does not have to be. You can live your life in your own time.

My Thoughts on Time

In reality, time is an invention of man to measure how we are doing in life. Our entire lives are run on time, from when we start our education to when we retire and every facet in between.

Yet what is time but an arbitrary agreement between us all that how long it takes the sun to move around the sun in a year? The time that it takes for the Earth to spin on its axis constitutes a day. Would the workweek be longer if it took more time to journey around the sun? Would we need less sleep if the day was shorter?

Really time is an agreement among all people on how we should measure our lives, and measure we do.

Getting Off Track with Time

For myself, when I am totally engrossed in an activity, there is a suspension of this arbitrary rule of time. Whatever activity I have been doing must be my complete focus. Not a part of my focus but the whole thing.

Writing to me becomes this many times. Leave all other thoughts behind and commit to the task of capturing a thought. There is no thought about what I am doing next or what has happened before but only the thought of the words and the page’s expression.

The time fades, and the thoughts continue to express. Yet this is not the only time I have experienced timelessness.

Finding the Timelessness Each Day

This is really a difficult thing to do, but shouldn’t there be a moment during each day when time really doesn’t matter? I have found this in different places over the course of my life. Meditation is a great one.

I currently have about 15-20 minutes dedicated to this. Since I am relatively new at meditating, I am always shocked when you achieve clearing your mind, and time really doesn’t matter. It still exists, but it doesn’t apply to that activity.

I do not set the alarm, but that time seems to pass quickly, sometimes like a second or two. When you lose your awareness of something, does it matter? This is definitely a time where I lose track of time.

When you achieve mindfulness in any activity, then losing track of time is a consequence. If you are worried about finishing what you are doing and then doing the next fifteen things on a list, then there is no way you will lose track of time.

In fact, the time’s awareness will allow you to feel that you don’t have enough time. That is just a perception because time doesn’t really exist anyway. When I focus on the task at hand and experience what comes with it, I can lose track of time.

Love Of Course Takes Time

As anyone who has experienced the pangs of love will know, time does not seem to exist the same as it does anywhere else. I believe that is because your entire being would not rather be anywhere else but fully engrossed with the object of your affection.

How many days have you spent that moved by quickly in the experience of love? Yet as you recall them later, you can remember each part of the experience? How they smiled, how their touch felt? How much you just loved being with them?

These feelings are definitely the times in life that I have lost track of time. Unfortunately, it isn’t easy to keep these moments and to make every day like that. I am told that some can do it. I had only had a few fleeting moments in life when I lost in the moment with love. They were good moments.

Conclusion

When you can focus completely on what is happening in your life, time becomes less important, and you are apt to lose track of it. I know there is a time for all things, yet I think that much of the magic of life occurs when we stop keeping track of time and just let things happen as they should. Focus on the moment at hand, not the hands-on clock.

Gratitude Attitude

February 26, 2021 Jonathan Hilton Leave a comment

Another holiday is upon us, and we are still faced with the same old choices of how to respond. On Thanksgiving, more than any other day of the year, it is a natural time to pause and consider all of the great things we have in our lives and, more importantly, all of the people who make your life go. In today’s minutia, it is easy to pass by these things and people without so much as a mental mention. My challenge to myself and you is to find gratitude deep inside yourself and allow the thoughts to bring it to you to surface. Here is my quick attempt to capture my own gratitude today.

See

How much around you do you notice? Really notice and appreciate it? From the way, it feels when cold snow hits your face to the old, worn-out way a tree looks in late November, with a few stray brown leaves clinging to branches as the chill wind blows them around in the dance of the inevitable. Most moments, we are wrapped up in our thoughts too much to notice much of anything outside of us. That is a shame and a loss of possibility. Start right now and put the thoughts of gratitude for the things all around you. The sunshine on your face shows you all will be ok, The rainfall and how it feels. Too many people rush through the rain as if it is a major inconvenience, and in some ways, I know it is, but think of life, somewhere a person is lying on their death bed, wishing that just one more time they could feel that rain on their face. Please don’t take it for granted.

See the world, and appreciate it. We all will face challenges, and people will disappoint us, and life will push us. Yet, it always gives you these tiny reminders of beauty to help us along the way. If your troubles are too big to notice the small salve of nature and the miracles all around you, then you are too wrapped up in yourself. I have been there, and unwrapping your mind and letting the meaningless thoughts go is the first step. Be grateful for all the things in your life you never notice.

See Your Cast

Shakespeare claimed all the world is a stage, and we are merely players. You are the star of your production of life, and you also choose who is cast into the leading roles in your life. Too often, we allow people who don’t deserve to be even minor characters in your life, assume staring roles. You determine who these stars are or are not. Be grateful for the ones who deserve to be in your life. You will know

You have a choice to decide which roles you play and who is on the stage with you. Choose wisely, and your life depends on it.

Because they feel like sunshine. Not just once in a while, all the time. Warm, comforting, and accepting. A wise person constantly evaluates their cast and makes sure to make changes in the production if warranted.

People are good actors, so sometimes it is hard to know who to keep and who to move on from, which creates all the good drama in your live production. Those who are not what they seem will eventually display their true selves. Be careful of the attachments you build to the roles you play, they will change, and the people with you may change too. Allow change to happen, create your cast wisely, allow those who care about you, and contribute to your best self to be in your life. You cast your troupe of players every day and have the opportunity for change. I have learned this lesson the hard way.

You Decide

You make all of the choices in your life, be grateful for that ability, and take full responsibility for those choices’ results. Too often, we want the choices but only claim them as ours if it works out. If things do not happen as we envision, we point the finger of blame at the situation, other people, the weather, God, or everything else but us. We are the driving force behind our lives, be grateful for this gift because it means you really can do whatever you want.

Our thoughts are the power behind the momentum of our lives. A thought leads to an emotion that then will lead to action, and the results of those actions are what we call life. You are the creator of thought and, therefore, of emotion and action. Choosing thoughts that will help you and not harm you is the first step in accomplishing anything. If you don’t like the results of a certain thought, then it is time to make a different choice and think some other way. It is a great day to appreciate that skill in yourself. If you are not where you want to be right now, you have time to think of things you would like to experience and start moving toward it.

Next year you will have more to be thankful for and different people to think about, and probably new adventures to embark on. Understand that you are the creator of it all and with great power comes great responsibility. I wish you well on your journey.

Think

February 4, 2021 Jonathan Hilton Leave a comment

We think all the time! From the moment you wake up to the second your slip back into sleep at night, our minds are a thought creation machine. Smarter people than me estimate we are producing somewhere around 70,000 thoughts per day. The other shoe that must drop on this amazing statistic is that 95% of those thoughts are repeats and totally unoriginal footprints left from days before. That leaves about 5% of original powerful thoughts to create in your day. And there is more. The tenor of your predominant thought patterns, either positive or negative, will determine how things are playing out in your life for you. It is not what happens to you that matters but how you choose to think about them. Remember this as we delve into the ideas I am thinking about today. Think about it.

Thoughts Lead to Happiness or Not

We think so much that you would be more aware of the thoughts we create and how they affect our lives, but we don’t, and those thoughts control the enjoyment and even success in life we experience. Thoughts that are positive in nature lead to how much you choose to enjoy life. Those who are of a negative nature lead to the opposite of enjoyment. If you let your thoughts move unchecked through your existence, then your mood will change at the whim of random thoughts, which can easily be manipulated by someone else.

We live in a society that constantly bombards you with negative messages, so it is no wonder that the mind will produce a virtually nonstop stream of negativity left to its default state. About other people, situations, and of course yourself and how you don’t measure up. The greatest hope is that in all of our thoughts, we have a choice if we allow them to hook into our consciousness or not. We can even create our own positive thoughts to buy into if we choose to. Conscious creation of positive thoughts is the difference between the happy and the sad, and even the successful and unsuccessful in life.

All Things are Twice Created

Everything ever in existence was created twice. The first creation is in one’s mind as a thought. The second is when forces combine to make that imagined thing a reality. It is true for every building, car, road, or stick of furniture around you. All of them were once just a thought in the mind of someone, and only through action and pursuit of that dream were created in reality before you. Can it be that much of a stretch to think the same is true about your health? Your financial well being? Or any other aspect of your existence.

Look at your reality today, and then follow your thoughts about that area of your life. If you are not happy with your current financial situation or relationship situation, then it is time to examine and consider changing the way you think. Choosing the thoughts about the way you want things to be like is the first creation. The second will come as you pursue those things in your life. Of course, you have the choice to stay with the thoughts you have carried your whole life, but you can’t be surprised when those thoughts deposit you right back where you are now, in the same situations not making you happy. Choose to create the things that will make you happy with your thoughts.

It Can Change in an Instant

The great thing about refocusing your thoughts is it doesn’t require a long, drawn-out process to accomplish. You have to start to create a focus around the things you are thinking. What are the negative thoughts you believe about yourself? Money? Success? Love? Whatever? We predominantly think the thoughts are based on the programming we received when we were very young children, trying to figure out how to survive and thrive in this world. The things which were true for us then clearly, at the very least, are no longer applicable today. At the most, they are inaccurate and faulty programming we accept as true without question.

Look at the thoughts you believe in and challenge them. The worst thing that will happen is you will know some beliefs you want to hang on to. But the best thing will be that you will edit or remove faulty thinking from your reality. Success, money, love, or anything else are available for everyone, and our thoughts are the place we need to start to take control of our own reality. The alternative is to believe you are operating at the will of every other force in the world. You are not. Each of us has the ability to be a unique and powerful creator in this world.

“If you realized just how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think a negative thought.” Anonymous

“Change your thoughts, and you change your world.” Norman Vincent Peale

“Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll start having positive results.” Willie Nelson

“Every thought we think is creating our future.” Louise Hay

“Begin to believe in the power of your thoughts.” Anonymous

“Thoughts have energy. Make sure your thoughts are positive and powerful.” Anonymous

Word of the Day

100 Day Reflections of Consciousness

September 28, 2018 Jonathan Hilton Leave a comment

Raising My Consciousness One Word at a Time

Reflection– serious thought or consideration.

On Wednesday, November 22, 2017, I began a project with a simple goal. To give an encouraging word to others every day for 30 days. What quickly resulted was a change in my awareness and quickly I saw my consciousness become more of a focus. So then I hoped to raise the consciousness of at least one other person with each word. When I reached 30 days, like Forrest Gump, for no particular reason I kept going. Here I am. It has been 100 days since then and that is 100 words and 100 thought-provoking posts, that I have completed one way or another every day.

In that 100 days, I have managed to maintain my normal schedule and find time to create a post a day. I changed jobs, which led to an entire schedule change but still was able to persevere. People have entered and left my life. So this is a reflection of the project at the 100-day mark. What went well and what could have been better. It deserves serious thought and consideration. I will begin by looking at my thoughts, the corresponding emotions, words and actions that have arisen. Welcome to my journey of consciousness.

My Evolving Consciousness

To me, your consciousness is simply what you are aware of in life. Too many days go by without an acknowledgment of their significance. We move one day to the next, just trudging through life. Hoping to find some distraction from life. Life is the entertainment, not the distraction. Although, I didn’t always see it that way. This project forced me to take a moment every day and set my mind toward something positive. Each thought leads to a corresponding emotion. So if you think of frustrating things you are going to feel frustration, that will lead to words about frustration and of course, you will act on that. The same is true for positive things. They are there for you in every day. If you choose to look for them.

As I looked at the encouraging words for the day, I found them becoming a part of my life. In times where I might have been angry, I was patient and able to maintain a better mental attitude. The focus on the positive things in life became more of my daily outlook. This was a conscious choice each day and it has made a positive difference in my life.

The Power of a Word

It is strange how a word can create a mindset for a day. I started with the word kindness, then moved to encouragement, and through the 100 words. With each consecutive word I wrote about I almost always ran into a situation that day where I could apply the lesson. Each time, I would be consciously aware that the word was showing up in my life. Confidence, choice, forgive and choice all came and went and as each day passed I realized that the person really benefitting from this project was me. I am

Finally, I changed the beginning from “word of the day” to “Raising my Consciousness One Word at a time.” There are others who have read a word here or there and found some thought from it. Others who read every word and write to me to talk about their thoughts on that aspect. All I know for sure is that there is a power in words. They can lift you up and make the life of those around you better as well. It all starts with a thought and that leads to an emotion, the words you speak, and the actions that you take. All from the thought of a word. Awesome.

What can get Better?

Like all projects, there are always things you learn along the way. In this case, I would have kept better track of the words as I went along. At first, I thought the project would only be 30 days, so I didn’t pay close attention, but then as the list got longer, I needed to be careful or the same word would be used again. It is easier than you think. I used the same word twice and wrote totally different ideas about it. On the good side, there were things that I obviously needed to say.

I also would have found a way to share more of the beginning of the project with people and made a clearer agenda of what I was hoping to accomplish. However, if I had done this the project would have only lasted 30 days and would have been called the encouraging word of the day. Much of the good that I have gotten out of this so far, might not have happened. Overall I am happy with the result but there is always room for growth.

How will this grow?

There are a few natural paths for growth here I think. One is to do a weekly podcast on the words of that week. I will publish it on the blog so you can hear my thoughts on the points of interest during the week. Also could include guest appearances from people important to the blog.

Another way to grow the project would be to create a short video for each word that explains my thoughts on how focusing on the positive aspects of that word can help you become more positive in your life. Also, I think that this format could lend itself quite naturally to becoming a book. But that will all be in the future.

Finally, I am grateful to have made it this far, and it really doesn’t seem like a hundred days has gone by. Because when you take it one day at a time, they just start to fly by. I am also grateful for what the project has brought to me, what I have learned and how I have been able to express my thoughts. It has been a great experience to have other people provide their feedback to me and to gain something positive from my little creation themselves. So take a moment each day and really focus your thought on the words you are using in your life and look at the actions that result. Raise your consciousness to the level you want. Be aware of the life happening all around you. It is a pretty good thing. 100 thoughts, 100 words, 100 actions.

“Reflect upon your present blessings of which every man has many not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.” Charles Dickens

“Sometimes, you have to look back in order to understand the things that lie ahead.” ` Yvonne Woon

Life Lessons

49 Thoughts on Turning 49

June 13, 2018 Jonathan Hilton Leave a comment

49 thoughts for 49 years — 49 thoughts on 49 years

It is time to mark another year of existing on this planet and a trip around the sun. (Song at the bottom) I am excited to have made it this far and am encouraged and looking forward to the adventures that the next year is going to bring. Each year in retrospect, I am always kind of stunned by the number of people that have entered my life and affected me in a positive, compelling way. Some who don’t even realize it. Here are my top 49 thoughts on my 49th year.

It is great to be here still!
Conversations with people are some of the most critical moments in life.
I wonder why the world hates the New England Patriots, whom I love so dearly.
People are kind and giving for the most part, and it is beautiful to watch.
You can’t hurry love. It just has to wait.
Old friends are the best ones because there is no bullshitting each other.
People criticize others only about weaknesses or fears that they possess themselves.
Love is my religion
The world, through nature, is all connected. If you look at the sky from anywhere on the planet and breathe deeply, you can find peace within.
Gratitude for all that you have brings peace and happiness to your life.
Gossip is the lowest form of communication.
My experience this year has been sponsored by Panera Bread and Planet Fitness
I learn something new every day
I can like you and not like your opinions
I want to know who put the old guy in the mirror
Working out and taking care of ourselves is vital to happiness.
Kindness counts and is a choice
Attitude is everything. Create or destroy, how you approach life will determine your influence.
The right question can change your life
People will astound you and confound you.
Everybody has a unique value
I am not 21 years old anymore, or 31, or 41. But I feel the same on the inside.
Even when you do things right, pain can be the result.
Consciousness is not something you achieve, and it is a constant evolution of expanding unique possibilities.
People can only criticize those weaknesses they see in themselves; otherwise, they don’t notice them
Enjoy all the people in your life. If they are not enjoyable, get them out of your life
Life is too short to waste time, not being who you are.
Our thoughts lead to words. Our words lead to feelings. Our feelings lead to actions. It all starts with thoughts.
Curiosity is a good thing.
Forgiveness is vital to being happy. You can never be satisfied if you carry a grudge against someone else or yourself.
Worry is wasting today’s energy on something that may never happen. Fear has no power to stop it.
What would life look like if people weren’t afraid?
Pain or pleasure- all decisions in life are made based on this ratio. Does the joy of doing something outweigh the pain of not doing it?
Whatever you focus on in life increases.
There is a difference between being interested in something and being committed to it.
The obstacles in life generally teach you how to hurdle well.
The subconscious mind runs the show of life. Make sure it is running a good one.
All people have energy, and the frequency of that energy reflects the beliefs of that person.
Actions will destroy fear, always. Take significant, bold, forceful action.
Magic does happen when you believe in the results.
Our past is prolog to the story of our lives we write right now.
Nothing in life should be taken personally.
We all have a personal legend, and we write that every day.

– Be honest, transparent, and impeccable with your words, misunderstandings, and false expectations disappear.

You can’t assume anything about someone else, their actions, or thoughts. Ask questions, and be sure.

Thinking about something and doing it are two very different things! Take Action!

If you don’t like the situation you are in, then change it, accept it, or leave it.

Being yourself ultimately should be the focus of life, if you never let anyone see who you are, how can you attract people you need, and who need you?

There it is for this year, 49 thoughts on turning 49. I remember when I thought 25 was ancient, now I don’t think I am all that old. Life is a short journey whose ending is already known. It is the actions we take and the experiences we affect positively along the way that matter.

I look forward to the next trip around the sun.

Gratitude

Found My Voice

April 10, 2018 Jonathan Hilton Leave a comment

my computer for expression — My computer allowed my voice to be heard. In much of my adult life, there was a voice inside of me that had no expression. There were thoughts that were forced to lay dormant and unexpressed, feeling no life except for the minuscule moments that thought sparked a light on them, only to see them cast back into the darkness from which they so hopefully emerged.

My voice, for whatever reason, could not speak these thoughts or express the feelings I felt, for many years this was the way it was, until one day, I found that I had a voice. This voice was not an uttered word, but a written one.

What an amazing liberation that was, to free these observations inside of me, about people, places, life, religion, hope, fear and everything else in between.

I have been grateful to relay my observations about other people and in doing so, observations about myself that needed to be expressed, needed to be shared, even if nobody ever read them, by offering them to the world on their own merit, at least they took a form outside of myself.

Many times I have wondered what this sharing would lead to? Anything? Are there others who think like me? This voice of expression is honest and from the heart and it is truly me. It feels sometimes when I write something about gratitude or feelings I feel free, totally free from all of the expectations and restraints of life and of others.

It should be easy to leave these behind, the negative voices in your head, to follow the true voice inside your heart. Writing has allowed me to see this voice, hopefully someday soon

find your voice, gratitude — Have you found your voice?

it will help me to trust it. As each day comes, I feel so much hope in my heart that this will be the day that magic happens for me. Yet that is determined by me.

I am grateful for the ability to write and express what I feel inside myself. Each small step to understanding life, or other people or the Universe and how we all work together is amazing and my vehicle for this exploration is my voice and that voice is to write what is inside my heart.

Being yourself is the scariest thing you can be because there is no facade to hide behind, the world can see you and judge you and that can be difficult. Yet it is only in being ourselves that our true talents can show, I am grateful to at least be on the path to this truth.

Jonathan Hilton Mind Connections