You really can change your future by changing your thinking. It’s always been that way, and always will.

One of the foundational principles I teach is: Thoughts become Things. Everything that exists, was first a thought. You are here because of a thought that one or both of your parents had toward one another. Look at whatever sits around you right now and ponder how it was invented or developed. The process began when a thought was conceived.

Thinking is the most important resource we have. That’s why it is so important that we think well; what I call “Right Thinking.”

The major foundational character in Judaism, Islam and Christianity is a person named Abraham. He had a son name Isaac who had a wife named Rebekah and sons name Esau and Jacob. The story is told (in Genesis 27) of how Rebekah and Jacob conspired to get a physically and visually diminished Isaac to “bless” Jacob (the second son) in the place of Esau (the firstborn). They hatched a plan and carried it out. For proof that it worked, consider this: today you hear about “the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” You never hear about Esau. The vast majority of the world traces its religious lineage back through Jacob. Esau is all but forgotten. (By his own doing, but that’s a story we’ll hold for another day.)

As this story unfolds, when Esau discovers that Isaac has been fooled into conferring his blessing on Jacob, instead of him, Esau is furious. The scripture says he wept. He begged. And he held a grudge against his brother. Then he hatched a plan that when his father died, he’d kill his brother Jacob to reclaim his place as rightful heir to the father’s blessing and to the family’s power (sounds kinda like an Italian Mafia plot, doesn’t it?).

It’s in the hatching of this plan to murder his brother that the power of thought is revealed. When Rebekah learned of Esau’s plan to kill Jacob she called to Jacob and said “Your brother is consoling himself with the thought of killing you.” And she urged Jacob to leave town and go stay with his Uncle until Esau had time to cool-down and think different thoughts.

“Consoling himself with the thought” is a powerful phrase. Your thoughts either comfort you, or create pain for you. What have you been feeling lately? Comfort or discomfort? What is the root thought that you have been thinking recently? I’ll bet you a dollar to a doughnut that there is a connection between that root thought and the feelings you’ve been having.

Whatever we think about is never far from the front of our mind. I personally believe the power of our thoughts is greater in our subconscious than in our consciousness. Like marinating meat absorbs flavor from whatever we soak it in, our life absorbs the flavors of whatever we think about, even when we aren’t focused on that thought at that moment; it’s still close to the front of our mind. That’s why it is so important that we arrest our thoughts and focus them, instead of just allowing them to wander wherever they want to go. Healthy thinking is trained and focused on “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, whatever is excellent, whatever is praiseworthy—think on these things.” (Philippians 4:7) Success. Health. Blessing. Prosperity. Abundance. Achievement. Those are all positive things to think about. And if you use your success, prosperity, and abundance to serve, bless and advance others, well, I’d say that qualifies as “noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable and worthy of praise!”

Remember the pain or comfort, and the success or failure of your future is born on the wings of your thoughts.

You can’t afford not to think rightly!