How To Think Yourself Thin

How many times have you wished in your young life that there would be a magic wand you could wave over yourself and turn yourself thin, or some powerful pill you could swallow that would make you lose all the weight, or maybe that you could go to bed one night and wake up thin with a big puddle of melted fat on your sheets? I know. I know that wishing so doesn’t make it so. I also know that thinking so does make it so.

How do I know this? I’ve been a large woman for many years. In fact, from the time of my birth, there was never a time that I didn’t think I was fat because my parents nicknamed me Patty Fatty. I wasn’t fat then, but I always thought I was. I carried this mistake forward through my grade school and high school days adding to the shame and discomfort of thinking I was fat, until my mind just couldn’t hold all that input and had to burst forth as a fat body.

If you’ve never looked at the idea that thinking is causative, I’d recommend you do a little bit of research and see who’s tried to tell you this. Shakespeare tried when he had Hamlet tell us:"For there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." St. John recognized it when he told us "let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus" – in other words, think as he did. I think the Moody Blues nailed it on their album cover which said "I think, therefore I am, I think." And Ayn Rand said "I am, therefore I think." I’m confident you know lots more examples.

I know that thinking so makes it so because from the first time that concept was taught to me, I was also taught to apply what I had learned. Now how should I do that? I think before I tell you that, it would be very helpful for you to understand one of life’s laws and that is the law of Cause and Effect. It’s very important to get them in the right order so that when you begin to do your thinking to make yourself thin, you understand what’s at work in this process.

Cause causes. That is it’s function. Effect is a no-life manifestation that is the result of the activity of cause, causing. What happens is that cause has a desire for something. It begins to think about that thing. It conjures up as many details and as much meaning as it can about that thing. When it arrives at a convinced state that those details are true, it’s own conviction creates the thing it was thinking and that created thing looks just like the thinking that preceded it.

Let me show you that as a formula:

I want + I think = I have.

I’m confident that each of us has had the experience of wanting something and having it show up rapidly on the scene. It astonishes us. We say "Why, that’s amazing. I was just thinking about that!" We classify it as a coincidence. It’s not a coincidence. It’s the Law of Cause and Effect at work.

Moving from this "well, maybe she could be right" perspective, to the next stage "hey, I’ve got this and I know how to use it," is a quantum leap that requires a lot of practicing. Here is the way you practice it.

Create a picture of what you truly want to look like. I call this a Mind Model. I try to have at least 30 separate details that composes the whole picture called "my perfect body." Next, sit down and think these thoughts for at least 15 minutes three times a day. It might help to light a candle to help you focus your attention. While you are doing this thinking, shut out all interference.Turn the radio, TV, and telephone off. You’ll want to keep your mind focused on the task at hand.

Gradually, as you begin to focus your thinking, you will be able to extend the time you simply sit there and do your thinking work. As you do your thinking work, try to imbue into it a sense of expectancy and an sense of absolute conviction that your thinking so makes it so for you.

Repetition is mandatory. You didn’t learn your times tables in one study period. You didn’t learn to play the piano in one lesson. It takes practice. It might even be helpful to re-read this article and be sure you’re comfortable with the way you think you understand this process. I wish you the best results!

Pat Matson loves life and its lessons. She’s made learning those lessons her edge. Pat has crafted an understanding about life through using the obesity she bore as a catalyst to search for meaning. Her generosity compels sharing this understanding. Her insights, humor, warmth and honesty will both entertain you and aggrandize your life. Pat invites you to embrace your own World of Within. She can help you do that at www.theworldofwithin.com.