Create Your Masterpiece

Photo Credit: Unsplash/Svetlana Pochatun

By Rev. Marla Sanderson

Positive thoughts create possibility; negative thoughts create impossibility.

We are all masters. And the life we live is our greatest masterpiece. Who paints your masterpiece?

For the first 30 years of my life, I felt as if an invisible force held me back and kept me in check. I always needed someone else’s permission, and I still had to do as I was told. There had never been any documentation or master key that emphatically conferred responsibility to me for my life.

Those days, I didn’t know the limiting force was simply my self-concept, created by my belief system—beliefs handed down from well-meaning parents, teachers, and society, all designed to keep me safe and “in line.” But it didn’t give me confidence. It didn’t engender a single thought that I could ever exceed or excel at anything.

Fear, limiting beliefs, reluctance to change, needing to be right, etc., had kept me in a sort of robot-like existence, waiting for approval or permission from some invisible authority long after I was old enough to know better.

But these are mental things—emotional things—and the good news is that they are just concepts. They aren’t set in stone. They can be changed, and I know now I am the only one who can change them.

Only my own mental concepts kept me back. The realization that I can give MYSELF permission to do anything I want changed my life forever, and set loose a new curiosity that still asks: “What now? What next?”

You are responsible for your life!

That thinking device in your head is much more than it seems, and the way you use it determines everything that happens to you. In the simplest sense, positive thoughts create possibility. Negative thoughts create impossibility. This simple but powerful Truth has been left out of our basic training.

A life full of strife that seems to happen by accident is created by a habit of careless thinking. It is important to pay attention to your thoughts, because you are master of your universe—and masters are never victims of conditions.

You don’t need to feel unfulfilled, live in struggle, or keep yourself from doing the things you always wanted to do. Far more than you may realize, you have plenty of freedom to do life in your own unique way. Take little Betsy for example:

The kindergarten teacher handed out a coloring sheet and gave what she considered to be simple instructions: Color the duck yellow and the duck’s umbrella green.

But when little Betsy turned in her paper, the teacher asked, “Didn’t you understand the directions, Betsy? You colored the duck red and her umbrella blue. How often have you seen a red duck?”

Betsy didn’t miss a beat. “About as often as I’ve seen a duck carrying an umbrella,” she replied.

Are you as wise as Betsy?

The masterpiece of your life has no lines, no prescribed colors, and no numbers. You don’t have to stay inside lines that others have drawn for you. You can make new lines or paint an entirely different picture. If you want, you can scribble all over the page.

Best of all, there is an Omnipotent Power to support you—an Infinite Intelligence that has a limitless idea of who you are and what you might become. It powers your mind, and gives you Life. It is the Source of all that has ever been or ever will be. And it deals out life through you according to your thoughts, beliefs, and concepts.

What would happen if you paid more attention to what you think about? At first you might discover you have more limiting thoughts than you realized. After a while, though, you will discover you can turn these thoughts around.

Only you can choose your thoughts consciously. How simple is that? Could it be any easier? All it takes is learning to direct your thoughts in the way you want your life to go. Turn your thoughts around and your outlook on life improves. An improved outlook changes everything.

When you take charge of your thinking you take charge of your life.

Rev. Marla Sanderson is a skilled spiritual counselor, speaker, teacher, and workshop leader. She has studied and practiced the Science of Happiness and Science of Mind for over 40 years. Her website, The New Thought Global Network, showcases ideas from many New Thought disciplines. She is ordained in the Centers for Spiritual Living. (Religious Science). Contact her at 727-475-8991, or revmarla@newthoughtglobal.org or visit www.newthoughtglobal.org.

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