However, change just one word in this quote and it takes on a different meaning. Dr Wayne Dyer said:

"I think that I am."

This is a fundamental truth that philosophers, teachers and leaders throughout the ages have been in unison about. It is another way of expressing:

"You become what you think about."

If only more people understood this, they would recognise how powerful they truly are. However, to accept this means that you have to accept full responsibility for everything in your life - both the positive and the negative.

For many this is a great challenge. How can they be responsible for the negative things going on in their life? They blame society, other people, the government - anyone and anything but themselves. Unfortunately, they don't recognise that, in so doing, they are behaving as though they are victims - hapless pawns in the chess game of life. They relinquish control of their lives.

"Don't blame others for your failure to be fully accountable for your own life. If others are to blame then you have given them control."

Bob Perks

The moment you accept full responsibility for your life everything changes. You start to see your world in a new light, as a world of possibilities and opportunities rather than problems and obstacles.

"Your living is determined not so much by what life brings you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens."

Lewis L. Dunnington

Some people pride themselves on being a closed book, i.e. they think that people can't determine what's going on in their mind. However, you don't have to be able to literally read someone's mind to know what they are thinking. Simply look at their results.

"Mind is the Master-power that molds and makes, and Man is Mind, and evermore he takes the Tool of Thought, and shaping what he wills, brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills. He thinks in secret and it comes to pass; environment is but his looking-glass."

James Allen, As a Man Thinketh

Your thoughts have energy. We rely so much upon what we can see but it is our invisible world that is shaping our visible world. We repeatedly ignore the significance of this fact, yet every day, every moment we are alive we are given evidence of this. We cannot see the air we breathe but we do not question that it is there even though we cannot live without it.

So while we cannot see our thoughts we know of their substance by what they manifest.

"Every thought has a frequency. That magnetic signal is drawing the parallel back to you." Joe Vitale

Look around you. Do you like what you see? Are you satisfied with the life you have created for yourself thus far? Are you using your thoughts to grow rich or grow poor? The answer to the last question must be one or the other for in the Universe there is no standing still. Everything is in a constant state of flux.

If you don't like your environment change your thoughts. Naturally the physical changes will not become apparent immediately but as long as you think positively then your actions and your results will change as a consequence.

If you have been harbouring negative thoughts for a long time then there will be a lot to clear away before you start actually seeing the tangible evidence of positive results. However, you will feel more optimistic, happier, calmer and more relaxed. These positive emotions will help to accelerate the positive changes in your life and help you to grow rich rather than poor. They will help you to build an abundant life so that you can express yourself fully, sharing your wealth with others while enriching your own life.

It's your choice. You can positively change your life today simply by changing your thoughts. All it takes is a decision.