Thinking for Yourself: Understanding how the mind works, so it can start working for you

By Michelle Smic

Thinking for yourself is the process of trusting yourself. This book will help discover where thoughts are coming from to assist in trusting the feelings. Knowing where thoughts are coming from, can make it easier to trust them, trust us, and be confident in thinking for yourself.
Designed to meet us where we are at, we can start to discover the ni

• Language: English
• Publisher: Smic Life
• Release date: Jun 17, 2021
• ISBN: 9780645187519

Michelle Smic

Michelle Smic has been many things in her life, from high-rise, beach living to remote sheep stations; from losing children to mothering; from married to divorced; from anxious to peaceful; from depressed to joyous; and from abused to loved. Through all this, she learnt what matters and what doesn't. She now has a passion for life and loves people. She has dedicated her life to spreading joy and helping people find freedom. She has discovered, researched, and applied the three mindsets thinking to her own life and loves to see her clients experience huge life shifts using this knowledge. Michelle runs SMIC LIFE from the Darling Downs, Australia, where she lives with her two children.

Book preview

Thinking for Yourself

Thinking for Yourself

Thinking for Yourself

Understanding how the mind works, so it can start working for you

Michelle Smic

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Smic Life smiclife.com

Copyright © 2021 by Team Smic Pty Ltd

Hatton Vale, Qld AUSTRALIA

smiclife.com contact via [e-mail]

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means – for example by any electronic, recording, photocopying, unauthorised printing or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without the prior written permission of Team Smic Pty Ltd.

This publication is intended to provide helpful and informative material in regard to the subject matter. It is sold with the understanding that the Author and Team Smic Pty Ltd expressly disclaim responsibility for any adverse effects arising from the application or use of any advice or information contained in this publication.

This book is not intended as a substitute for medical advice from a qualified physician. The intent of this book is to provide general information in regard to the subject matter covered. Readers should consult their personal health professional before adopting any of the suggestions or be influenced by anything in this book. If medical advice or other expert help is needed, the services of an appropriate medical professional should be sought.

Cover & interior design by Michelle Smic

ISBN TP: 9780645187502

ISBN eBook: 9780645187519

THIRD EDITION

This book is dedicated to my children.

Your insight astounds me,

your laughter brings me joy

and I appreciate all that you are.

May this book help you to know your own thoughts, establish your beliefs, and make the best choices to live a life better than you can conceive or imagine.

Contents

Dedication

About The Author

Introduction

1

Choices

1 Choose

2 Shame

3 Judgment

4 Habits

5 Understanding Choices

2

Thoughts

6 Thinking

7 Emotions

8 Slave

9 Feelings

10 Understanding Thoughts

3

Trustworthy

11 Trust

12 Beliefs

13 Give it up

14 Forgive

15 Understanding Trust

References

About The Author

My sincere hope is that as you read, you will discover things about yourself and the people around you, to help you live a more fulfilled life. Through the journey you may process things from the past, and create a vision for the future, so that you can live, enjoy, and appreciate every moment of your life. I advise that you seek to connect with your community in this time. We are designed for community. We are designed to communicate with others and are designed to work together. The process of learning is a life-long event. It’s taken me decades to learn what I have learnt, and I still have so far to go.

From the age of about twelve, I discovered the power that fear can have on people, and it was at that point I made the decision not to live a life controlled by fear. I soon started asking myself, would I want everyone to know what I was doing or saying. Is this something I will be ashamed of? I didn’t always listen or succeed at it, (actually far from it), it has been a long journey. A journey of ups and downs, of living and learning through low points and isolation, long before it became trendy in 2020. It all brought me here, to writing this book.

I grew up as one of five children, on the subdivided property that my dad moved to when he was fourteen. I grew up surrounded by extended family. Growing up we attended church every Sunday and always received great teacher's comments on our report cards. Getting along with everyone was always the most important thing.

Moving out at age seventeen, I was ready to start my life. I learnt the hard way how depending on others to think for you can cause a life of uncertainty and fear. After moving out of home, I stepped away from church. After spending time living the fast life on the Gold Coast, I realised I’m still a country girl at heart. I moved eight hundred kms away from anyone I knew to work as a nanny in central Queensland. That is when I met him. The man who saw me and swept me off my feet. One month after we met, he asked me to marry him. I really liked what I knew about this man, so I saw no option but to say ‘yes’.

It wasn’t long before we hit the road. After losing two pregnancies and a tumour scare, we were ready to live life. Our first baby was born a few years after we met. We were traveling and working on remote properties. A couple of years later, while living in makeshift accommodation, I fell pregnant with our second child. After a wild dog scare, snakes in camp and now eight months pregnant, it became clear to me that a house was the best place for me and my children.

The next few years were spent finding my feet, and my voice.

I have felt powerless, hopeless, and striving for love. Now I want to empower people to be able to understand why their lives are the way they are, and how we can start living a better life. All the knowledge I share with you has come out of a lifetime of experiences. Some were traumatic experiences that I will share, so people can learn from them. These experiences caused me great heartache but helped me understand what my real intention for my life is. It’s been an arduous journey of searching, looking in places where I found ideas and adopted traits that were both unhealthy, egotistical and created more bondage than before. However, finally I freed myself from these ideas by learning from the experiences and situations life has given me. I remain willing to learn.

After a long journey of searching, I gave my life to the God of all in 2017. He has blessed me with amazing friends, a home and opportunities I would have never dreamt of. After studying life coaching in 2020, I was ready to do what every other successful life coach was doing. My life changed one morning after my morning prayer time. I was given a vision. The vision of 27 balls coming into a shape of a cube and sitting inside the brain space of a human head. This book is the first of three books, to share what those balls represent.

I have found it hard sometimes to follow through and keep progressing, one step at a time. Each day I’m discovering more and more that this is not a sprint but a marathon. Life is not a snapshot but a process. The only thing we can really take or leave is joy, everything else is fleeting and will perish with time. I don’t profess to have a five-step program to complete and make you perfect. This is a new way of thinking, one that has helped me find love, discover purpose, but more than anything to enjoy life’s journey. If this book helps you, I am grateful for the opportunity to share joy.

For more information about the Smic Life community, please reach out at smiclife.com

Introduction

I advise you to read this book with a friend and build a support network around you.

This book has been designed to build on knowledge as it progresses. Therefore to get the most out of this book, and the others in this series, please read in order of chapters.

This is the first book of the series the 'Minds Work', designed to help you understand the nine attributes we all need to live a balanced and fulfilled life.

Smic life's 'Minds’ Work' includes

Book one: Thinking for Yourself

Book two: The Pursuit of Patience

Book three: An Appetite of Appreciation

To understand all nine attributes, please read the whole series 'Minds’ Work'. Keep an eye out for 'The Pursuit of Patience', and 'An Appetite of Appreciation'.

No one can really tell you how to think.

No one has lived the life that you have lived, and therefore everyone else will have different experiences and will have been exposed to different situations than you have. No two lives are the same.

No one person can ever know you better than yourself. Our life experiences make us unique, they form our views and opinions, help us to make