So Now I’m Responsible for What?

19 Marbles 
The law of attraction attracts to you everything you need, according to the nature of your thought life. Your environment and financial condition are the perfect reflection of your habitual thinking. Thought rules the world.
Joseph Edward Murphy

    I remember being in catechism class where a Catholic nun said, “Thinking about a sin is the same thing as following through on the thought.” What? This seemed completely unfair to me. How could thinking about something be the same thing as actually doing it? Thankfully, at that point, I was still fairly innocent and I hadn’t developed a fantasy life that involved compromising situations but even then I couldn’t figure how it was fair that thinking about stealing a chocolate bar was the same as pilfering one. 
    These days, I’m not around many Catholic nuns, but I am around the belief system that what you think affects your reality in a very physical way. It is reminiscent of the nun’s notion that thought and deed are enmeshed and indistinguishable. As Susan L. Taylor says, “Thoughts are energy, and you can make your world or break your world by your thinking.” So now I’m responsible for what? My every single thought? This is more demanding than my upbringing in Catholicism.
    James Allen (1964-1912), pioneer of the self-help movement wrote, “You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you.” So maybe this idea isn’t as newfangled as I originally thought. But it’s going to take a little bit more than discipline, or the threat of fire and brimstone, to get me consciously aware of what my thought patterns are every waking hour (and I suppose now I’m responsible for my subconscious dreams in my non-waking hours).
    You see, I’m a proponent of the (more than) occasional worst case scenario thinking. I like to think of these thoughts as my insurance policy.  As I’m moving toward Plan A, I like to keep a vivid Plan B close at hand in my handkerchief pocket. Perhaps this habit doesn’t serve me and is a split of my energy. In addition, I often picture myself dealing with doom and gloom scenarios rather than picturing myself dealing with sunshine, lollipop, and rainbow scenarios. Because of this tendency, a friend recently gave me a t-shirt with a graphic of a girl pulling aside a sombre grey curtain to reveal the blue sky (Check it out http://beta.threadless.com/product/1274/Hey_Mr_Blue_Sky/tab,guys/style,shirt). I love this t-shirt because it’s a reminder that blue skies are always there if I pull back the grey curtain of my thinking.    
    I can change this pattern of thinking with some awareness and discipline. Goethe once wrote that, “Thinking is easy, acting is difficult, and to put one's thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world.” I’m hoping changing one’s thinking isn’t even more difficult, but then again, that has been what I’ve been engaged in doing, marble by marble, day by day. 

    Are you responsible for your thought life? Do you believe that what you think leads to your reality? What thought patterns need to be cleaned out of your basement, attic, and cupboards, and closets?