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by Gordon McAlpine
If you have found your way to read this article, something within
you
has been triggered consciously or otherwise to seek a path which
you can take to change your life in a positive way forever. What you
are about to discover shortly is not something new, but in fact a
frame of mind and a process that is as old as mankind itself. You
will learn that by taking a simple course of action and by following
time tested instructions, your life, your mental attitude, your
health and an abundance of other things will change and the physical
things you desire will actually manifest themselves to you. Before we start, it is important that you read and re-read the
following, because this is the fundamental foundation.
The Power of Positive Thinking is a theory that contends if you
believe good things will happen to you, there will be some sort of
cataclysmic shift in the energies surrounding you which will
actually cause good things to happen to you. For as many people who
believe in the power of positive thinking, there are many more who
believe it’s all a bunch of New Age pop psychology drivel or
sugar-coated Peter Pan platitudes.
Here’s the thing: they’re all right.
You see, positive thinking is a system of beliefs. So if you
believe it doesn’t work- then, of course, it won’t work. And if
you believe it does work...well, you get the idea. For
non-believers, using positive thinking is like trying to get a job
after high school. You need experience to get a job, but you need a
job to get the experience. It can be difficult to know where you’re
supposed to start. But just like any other process, the key to
making positive thinking work for you is to start small. Plant
seeds, if you will, and then learn how to tend and cultivate those
seeds until you have a mental garden that bears a phenomenal crop,
year after year. Anything is possible with positive thinking...even
if you do believe it’s all a bunch of crap.
Norman Vincent Peale, the father of positive thinking, once said:
"If you have zest and enthusiasm you attract zest and
enthusiasm. Life does give back in kind." This is the essence
of positive thinking. It’s not so much a theory as it is a
contagious disease. Just as anger and negativity spread quickly from
person to person, so do humor and happiness- only good feelings
spread far faster. Think about it: have you ever noticed that the
quickest way to ease a tense situation is to make a joke? The
instant someone laughs or smiles, a sense of relief spreads through
everyone in the vicinity. Even if the angered parties don’t feel
better, they are at least able to discuss the problem in a detached
and objective way, and get on with their lives instead of dwelling
on negativity. For that same reason, solo drivers who get cut off in
traffic tend to remain angry for at least the rest of the drive-
because there is no one else near them to send out good vibrations
and break the tension. Makes sense, doesn’t it?
Let us get started as the seeds of belief are already there. Your
next step is to clear your mind’s garden of doubt and get ready to
plant. You’ll learn how to take all that negativity and mulch it
down into fertilizer that will let your possibilities grow.
Banish negativity from your mind
To tune in to the power of positive thinking, you should probably
start small- particularly if you don’t believe it will work. It’s
one thing to tell yourself, "Tomorrow, when I wake up in the
morning I won’t hit snooze a dozen times and feel drowsy for the
rest of the day," and quite another to tell yourself,
"Tomorrow, when I wake up in the morning I’ll be living
independently wealthy and living in a mansion." (Unless, of
course, you are in fact independently wealthy and living in a
mansion at the moment; in which case you might try to think your way
into ownership of a small country.)
The process of making positive thinking work for you begins with
destruction, or at least a mild shift in your thought structure. In
order to make room for new methods and ideas, you must first tear
out all the old negativity patterns you’ve been building
throughout your life. For some, this can be a gradual process: as
you witness positive thinking work for you, one small step at a
time, you will slowly clear out those
good-things-only-happen-to-other-people thoughts, and be able to
cultivate the seeds of change. What’s holding you back? Even those
who fully embrace the theory of positive thinking may feel some
qualms over entrusting their lives to mere thought. There are many
possibilities that could be producing weeds in your mental garden,
and the best way to get rid of a weed is to yank it out, roots and
all. In this section we’ll discuss some of the most common
stumbling blocks people encounter on the road to positive thinking,
as well as how to overcome them and lay the foundation for a healthy
life outlook.
Self-Esteem: Catching the "I-Love-Me" Disease
For most of human existence, self-esteem was an unheard-of notion
akin to the theories of those heretics who believed the world was
round. The term "self-esteem" - defined by Webster’s
Dictionary as "pride in oneself; self-respect" - made its
way into the common public awareness during the ‘60s and ‘70s as
a catch-all term to describe the essence of parenting problems. The
"old ways" of parenting were pronounced barbaric and
damaging to the budding self-esteem of our youth, and many parents
fearful of raising unhappy, ill-adjusted children took advice that
led to a generation of children with high self-esteem...so high it
eclipsed personal responsibility and created a "me-first"
mentality.
On the other hand, most of us are taught that thinking highly of
ourselves is a vain, selfish and undesirable trait. Advice telling
us to feel better about ourselves and occasionally put us first
seems counterintuitive at best. After all, isn’t self-love the
first step on the road to Ego Central? Many people want to feel good
about themselves, but guilt too often rears its ugly head and stops
healthy self-esteem from developing.
Because of these conflicting viewpoints, self-esteem is a tricky
little emotion to manipulate. It’s important to strike a balance
between modesty and greed. It takes practice to convince yourself
that you are a worthwhile and deserving person, while at the same
time keeping in mind that you’re not the center of the universe.
Though it may sound impossible, it’s actually simple to
accomplish.
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