Food

With new potato in hand, I strolled back to my table to
finally fulfill my long-standing craving for this soft,
warm, succulent baked potato.

“Oh no! This one is hard too. How can I ever take this one
back. They’ll definitely think I’m one of those problem
customers who’s never satisfied. It’s a potato. It’s only
99 cents. Just shut up, and eat the darn thing.”

“Take what you get, and be happy with it!”

But I persevered. Inner battle notwithstanding, I returned
the hard potato, and accepted a juicy, mouth-watering
cheeseburger in it’s place. It seems the entire batch of
potatoes was hard.

Victory. Yes victory. Over a baked potato? No. It was a
victory over my own deeply ingrained, inherited belief that
said I should take what I get and be happy with it.

Not only was it a victory in that moment, but it was also a
creative act. The act of refusing to accept less than I
really wanted, no matter how petty that wanting seemed,
was itself creating the new belief that it’s okay to get
what I want. It’s okay to ask for what I want and not
settle for less.

In that moment of victory, I became very conscious of how
every thought we think, every word we utter and every
action we take – no matter how small or insignificant they
may seem – is a declaration of who we are and what we
believe, as well as an act of creation.

We’re either re-creating and reinforcing our old beliefs or
we’re creating and reinforcing new beliefs.

We can do all the affirmations and positive thinking in
the world, but if we don’t change our behavior – our
actions – nothing really changes, neither within our own
minds or in our physical reality.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote: “Thinking is easy,
acting is difficult, and to put one’s thoughts into action
is the most difficult thing in the world.”

Based on that statement, here’s a few questions.

1. What thoughts are you putting into action?

2. Are your actions, no matter how small they seem, in
alignment with what you think and say you want?

3. What actions could take to begin creating and
reinforcing some new beliefs in your life?

Your actions don’t have to be big, dramatic actions. Start
out small. Hey, just send back the potato that’s not cooked
quite right. It may be a challenge, but you can do it. It
does get easier each time you do it (I hope).