One of the only things we have control over in our lives are our thoughts. Two thousand years ago Marcus Aurelius wrote “Our soul becomes dyed with the color of our thoughts,” and he was right. Cognitive Behavioral Therapists help their patients use their thoughts to manage depression and other mental illnesses. It’s incredible that with effort and focus our thoughts are literally strong enough to help manage serious mental illness. Research has shown that people are more likely to achieve their goals simply by having higher self-efficacy, or a belief that they can succeed. Our thoughts have an impact on many other aspects of our lives as well.

We spend so much time training our muscles but how much time do we actually spend training our minds? We know we “have to believe in ourselves” but when we hear that we say “yeah yeah of course.” We don’t stop to think about what that means. Start by noticing where your thoughts go throughout the day. If you notice they take a negative turn try to talk back to them. It’s not crazy to talk to yourself. It would be crazy to let thought patterns that have been ingrained in us without your consent since birth dictate how we think, feel, and behave. Do you ever notice your thoughts counseling you in a way you’d never dare mentor a friend? Why is that?

I had one major success in this area once. After my DVT and pulmonary embolism I was lying on the floor after a training session with my leg elevated. It was blue and swollen. My watts were down. I started to think there was no way I would be able to get back to my former racing shape. It brought me to tears. But in that moment I decided that the blood clots, not the thought, were going to have to prove that to me. I wasn’t going to not try or give up because a thought told me to. I never tried to convince myself that I would get there. Who could’ve known the outcome? All I had to do was believe there was nothing that could stop me from taking the next step. I always knew I would take the next step. Those steps added up and eventually I got back into my former race shape. Just the other day a thought came into my mind during an interval. It told me I wasn’t going to be able to finish. “That’s going to have to be proven,” I said back. I kept going and finished the interval. I still have negative thoughts but they are not as numerous. When they do come I am able to talk back to them and they are less effective. I’m still working on self-efficacy but I’m getting closer all the time.

Below are some posts about how impactful our thoughts can be.