We have become a society of counting and tracking everything. Previously our obsession with counting was limited to bank accounts and our years of existence on the planet. However, with the invention of activity trackers, smartphones, smartwatches, and the development of software applications, many of us are now tracking our daily activity in steps, exercise minutes, mindful moments or meditation time, calories, water intake, and more!

I cannot call it a day without having closed all three of my activity rings on my Apple Watch. It’s a healthy habit, and I feel accomplished and complete when that third and final ring is closed, and my watch displays its glorious animation of spinning rings that explodes into fireworks.

There’s even a way to monitor how your thoughts affect your body with emWave technology. Using an emWave device, you can learn to shift into an optimal state by changing your thoughts. You don’t need to own something like this to transform your thoughts. You can do a quick test to determine how you are feeling right now, trace the feeling back to the thoughts you are thinking to create the feeling, and then choose a different idea to focus on that will alter your feelings.

I’m not saying you don’t need to feel your feelings. Indeed, we are called to reveal, feel, and heal. However, sometimes the repetitive thoughts are old tapes from the past being played out of habit because there haven’t been any new thoughts introduced to replace them, so the old feelings perpetuate and bring you down.

Dr. Ernest Holmes observed: “Just as water purifies itself as it flows, the impure stream of our mental life becomes purified by applied constructive thinking.” So the question to ask yourself is, are the thoughts producing these feelings based on a vintage pattern and way of being that no longer serves me? If the answer is yes, it’s time for a shift. As with tracking calories, exercise minutes, meditation, and mindful moments, only you can make the necessary change to produce the desired outcome.

Try this on for size: I live, move, and have my being in a Universe that works for me. Nothing is against me. All of my needs are met. This life is a gift, and I celebrate it daily. I’m grateful, thankful, and much obliged. My heart overflows in appreciation for all that is. I am gifted, shifted, and lifted. I’m well blessed, highly favored, and my cup runneth over. So I lean into my good and say yes, bless, bless. I’m on the high side of awesome at the top of my game. I praise my life in the name of love. I give thanks for the abundant good all around me. I’m on fire for Spirit and unafraid to show it. My words uplift, inspire, and create. And oh yeah, I’ve lost a little weight.

As you start tracking your thoughts, you will transform your life.

And so it is.

Rev. Elizabeth Rowley Hogue is an independent columnist for the Atascadero News and Paso Robles Press; you can email her at revelizabeth@awakeningways.org.