During the Miracles Group meeting, my friend Mario spoke how his $20,000 car was parked in the driveway while his garage was full of junk that he should have got rid of long ago. At that point, my focus shifted to what he said. Immediately, I pictured a recovery-related message. The garage is my mind. It can fill-up with useless thoughts. How will I pay the bills? Will my car break down, or where will I be stranded? Should I ask her to dinner? What if she says no? How am I going to handle that? Will that set off the craving?

When the mental junk clutters my thoughts there is no room for the good stuff. This I call, “Living in the problem.” It’s where my focus is. If I change my focus to, “Living in the solution,” the problems seem to fade away. I’m not sure where those thoughts go, but anytime I want them back they are there and ready for the asking.

One way to break the chain of bad thoughts is to focus on gratitude. I can’t, not think. There is always something going on in my mind. What I focus on is what grows. Thinking of life’s gifts is much more positive that thoughts of what bad things can come my way.

The bottom line, it’s a CHOICE. What I think about, I have control over. One other example is when I retire at night. It’s easy to get my mind going one hundred miles an hour on totally useless stuff. The way I shut it off is to imagine a light switch which turns off my mind. I picture putting my finger on the switch and turning it off. Then I focus on thanking God for a great day. Wouldn’t you know, I go right to sleep. It took me many nights of staying awake for hours before I saw the switch. We all have that ability.

Once I change my focus, the negative thoughts are replaced with positive ones. I know it takes effort with repetitive actions to feel better. Like any sport, the more I practice the better I get. Today my garage is, for the most part clean and ready for a new car to occupy it, if I could afford it of course, but that’s issue for another time.