When you got out of bed this morning, what did you expect would happen today?  Did you expect to accomplish anything?  Did you expect to be productive, or achieve one of your goals?  Or did you even give it a second thought, just accepting that this day will be like all the previous days in your life - no better and no worse.   Are you happy with that state of mind?  Wouldn’t you prefer to experience a day of happiness instead?

In his book The Power of Positive Thinking, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale says ‘many of us manufacture our own unhappiness.  By our thoughts and attitudes we distill out of the ingredients of life either happiness or unhappiness for ourselves’.  Are you manufacturing your own unhappiness by not expecting more of yourself and your life?

You have heard the old saying, ‘keep on doing what you have always done and you will keep on getting what you have always got’.  If this is true, then maybe you are manufacturing your own unhappiness by setting yourself up for this continual string of day after day existence!  If you don’t expect better things in life, how will your life ever be any better?

So how can you expect better things in your life?  How can you raise your level of expectations for what can happen today?  Dr. Peale goes on to say ‘If you paint in your mind a picture of bright and happy expectations, you put yourself into a condition conducive to your goal’.  I believe the ‘condition’ he is referring to is your subconscious.  If you believe in yourself and tell yourself that you can accomplish certain goals, your subconscious will assist you in creating ideas and plans of action that will help you to meet your goal.

The mind is a powerful tool.  Put yours to work for you – not against you.

 - Joe Freeman