Chapter One

When my daughter Kenna was a little girl, she would occasionally wake up in the morning and say to me, "Daddy, this is so great, I get another one of these!" Have you heard the expression "Out of the mouths of babes"? The excitement in my daughter's voice suggested that she was thrilled to have been given yet another day to do with what she would. Even at a tender, young age, she somehow knew that she had the choice to make each day special.

Our thoughts are the most powerful tools we have been given during this lifetime. We can use them, as Kenna did, to create joy, anticipation, excitement, fun, happiness, and peace.

Of course, we can just as easily allow our thoughts to be self-destructive weapons. We can wake up in the morning with a list of complaints as long as the front page of the newspaper. And whichever road we take—positive or negative—our choice is likely to have little if anything to do with how "good" our life really is on the "outside."

Be that as it may, our well-being depends on how we process our lives on the inside—on our thinking. What do we think? When do we think? How much significance do we give to our thinking? And most important, do we remember that we are the ones who are doing the thinking to begin with?

If you can keep in mind the reality that you control your own thoughts and nothing else, you will be in pretty good shape. Whenever negativity creeps into your mind (which it will do on a regular basis), remember two things: You are the one who is creating the negativity with your own thinking. But more important, you have the power to stop it.

Our thoughts have the p