Q: I work in the mental health field and have an understanding of how a person's biochemistry may affect his or her mind. I know that those who suffer with depression tend to focus on negative things almost uncontrollably. If this is the case, then such an individual may have difficulty focusing on the things that he or she may want to attract due to negative thoughts habitually creeping back in. In this sense, does a person REALLY have control over his destiny? Are we not subject to our biology which has a great impact on the thoughts we think, thus the things that happen to us? And what if the mind of a person is truly broken (by schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, etc)?
A: In my opinion, with the possible exceptions of schizophrenia and other extreme psychological illnesses, losing control over the things we choose to focus on due to great fear or worry, can be offset by deliberately changing one’s focus, simply to the best of their ability, just for a tiny portion of their day, to thoughts that serve – joyful, happy thoughts, and those related to dream attainment. There have been episodes in my life where I truly did feel that I could not stop worrying, yet in spite of not being able to stop those thoughts, I was always able to sit down and visualize once a day. And as I’ve said in my audio programs, during those most challenging times in my life, where fear and worry were rampant, even when I stopped what I was doing and visualized, fearful, worrisome thoughts would intrude!!! Still, my visualizing, AND MY DAILY, PHYSICAL ACTS OF FAITH (that things were getting better and that I was on my way) were always enough to eventually turn things around.
So while you may not stop a runaway train, you can start another train running. And because our nature and inclinations are fantastically more positive than negative (this is true for all), it’s as if our positive thoughts are 1,000 times more powerful than our negative thoughts, and however seemingly feeble, so long as they exist, they will be enough to catch and harness the winds of positive change.
