Cheri decided that she wanted to grow an apple tree in her back yard. She had never planted an apple tree before. In fact, she had never planted anything before. This was her first time trying her hand at gardening. But last year, she had this idea that it would be nice to grow an apple tree right in her back yard.

Now that the weather was growing nicer, the idea came back to her and it seemed that she became obsessed with growing an apple tree. Being urged to get started, she found herself going to the library and the book store and on the Internet to research all that she could about growing an apple tree. She had to learn about apple variety and rootstock; about site selection, proper planting, training and pruning, adequate fertility, and pest control all of types of things that contributed to creating a healthy and productive tree.

Every time she went out in her yard, she would picture exactly where she would grow the tree. She would see, in her minds eye, the tree already grown with rich and wonderful apples all over it.

The time came for her to plant her tree. She used all the skills she had learned to make sure that it would grow to its fullest potential.

And guess what?

The tree grew and the most wonderfully, red apples sprouted all over the place. Cheri was so proud of her masterpiece.

Planting flowers and trees can really be amazing. You take a little seed and it put it in the dirt and you nurture it and before you know it, it starts to sprout, and then it grows into a full, blown flower, plant or tree.

It's really incredible to experience.

Have you ever planted a tree or a plant? Have you ever seen it sprout and grow all over the place-sometimes growing out of control? Have you ever witnessed that?

I'm sure you have.

In fact, I'm willing to bet on it.

Well, you might not have actually planted a flower or a tree, but each day, you plant thoughts and ideas into your subconscious mind that start to grow. Some of these thoughts and ideas grow out of control and before we know it, they start to take over our lives.

Some of these "seeds" are planted without us ever being aware of it. They are things that we've heard others say about ourselves and we allowed them to get planted, deep into our subconscious mind and then they start to grow so wildly and out of control that we don't even realize it but before long, they have taken over our life.

Let me give you an example. Ever heard your parents say to you, "Money doesn't grow on trees." Or "money is hard to come by." Or "You can't get everything that you want."

Well, these are seeds that are planted into our subconscious mind and over the years, they are nurtured and allowed to grow so much that they begin to grow out of control. We wonder how come we are always struggling to make ends meet or why we can't experience financial freedom like we see so many other people experience.

It's because of those seeds that are planted into our subconscious mind, have been planted so deeply that, without us even given any thought to it, we always find ourselves struggling to make ends meet because money doesn't grow on trees and it's hard to come by and we simply can't get everything that we want.

We have just accepted it as a truth, a reality, without ever questioning or researching to see if it holds any merit. It becomes second nature for us to quickly say to our own children, "Money don't grow on trees, you know." Because its something that we've heard for most of our life.

And because we have this believe, money will always elude us because our "seed" that has been planted inside of us, has grown so big that it makes sure that we hold on to this belief.

If you plant a seed for an apple tree, an apple tree will grow.

If you plant a seed that money is hard to come by, then money will always be hard to come by.

You can't plant apple seeds and expect oranges to grow.

You can't hold on to beliefs that are planted into your subconscious mind and expect your life to be different from your beliefs.

Sorry, it just doesn't work that way.

If you want to grow oranges, you have to plant seeds that produce oranges.

If you want to live a happy and successful life, you have to plant seeds that will bring about a happy and successful life.

Well, how do you go about doing that when the seeds that have been planted for so long are negative and do not allow you to have the things that you desire?

You do it the same way a Gardener does. When a Gardener plants grass and notices that weeds have sprouted amongst the good grass, s/he goes to work to kill the weeds. They have to destroy the weeds or else it will destroy the good grass.

You must do the same. Destroy the weeds (negative thoughts) that are growing inside of you before they kill off the good grass (positive thoughts).

Always be mindful of what you are thinking and the affect that it will have on your life. When you notice a negative thought-kill it, before it kills you.

ACTION POINT: Let's do some spring cleaning this week. Let's become aware of thoughts that we have that are like weeds and can destroy our efforts to change our life. Let's pull out the weed wacker and the weed killer and destroy them whenever they rear their ugly heads. This week, we will only have positive, life empowering thoughts that move us closer to our goals. And we will destroy negative thoughts that hold us back. Can you do that for yourself this week? I know you can. Don't try to do it-do it.

Dawn Fields is a motivational speaker, author and life coach. Visit the web site at http://www.dawnfields.com and be sure to check out Your Life's Purpose newsletter by sending a blank email to