Power of Positive Thought

Yeah, it's a cliche-- if you think good thoughts, good things will happen to you. Well, you see, it's a bit more complex than that. Positive thinking is a great idea. A good thought. Positive. But sometimes bad things still happen-- and sometimes we are doing our best to be positive in a really negative situation, and just run out of energy. What then?

Well, positive thinking is a strategy, and there's more to it than just saying "it will be okay" to yourself over and over while the world falls apart around you. First, you have to decide what your goal is. Be a cheerful person? Enjoy your life? Get something good out of every adventure/accident in your life? Find a job with higher pay and a better work environment? Get through school or through training with an A? Or something else completely? Decide on one thing for now.

Next, phrase it in a positive way. "Stop Being So NEGATIVE" is pretty difficult to feel good about-- it's your old negative self adding on another criticism to the situation. So start being positive, or find some other way to make your goal something you are moving TOWARD and not moving away from. Also, make sure it's a goal that doesn't require a magic wand. Make it something for your every day experience.

Now, think of one person-- or two or three, if you have them-- that you have access to who can help you with your goal. They can be a role model of someone who already achieved it, or a person who gives good advice and might know some tips to help you on your way. Maybe this is a friend who will check in with you to see if you've done anything to reach your goal this week, if you ask them. The important part of this step is to acknowledge that you you don't have to do it by yourself-- you can look for help, even ask for help. As long as you remember it is YOUR GOAL, not theirs. This makes you the one who has to do the most hard work to get it. Have someone in mind? Put their name(s) aside for now, but know you have a back up plan if it gets hard as you go along.

Okay, good. Now, close your eyes and picture yourself in that situation. In your mind, have this image of you feel the things you will feel when you reach your goal. Look around and see evidence of having attained this goal. Do you see new faces, smiling and industrious, all around you in a strange office? Do you see a new and better watch on your wrist because with your new job, you can afford it? Do you feel more powerful, more positive, more excited about getting up to face the day? Stay with this image of having reached your goal until you recognize yourself in it.

Makes you want that even more, doesn't it. This is the power of positive thought. Going back to this image, smell, taste, feeling in your head when you get up in the morning, and before you lie down for bed at night--- and as often as you want in between. This is what starts your subconscious self on the path to achieve it. Suddenly, you'll start to notice that job ad in the paper or on the web that might be what you are looking for. Maybe you'll find yourself sitting down to re-write that resume so that it highlights your achievements-- and the things that will make you a good hire for a good job when it comes along.

Maybe you'll notice that the sun makes the trees look especially cheerful today, or the rain is making it easier to breathe. You might comment on how you like a coworker's silk scarf or a comic on his cubicle wall-- whatever it is, if you keep envisioning this goal WITH YOU IN IT, as something you focus on exclusively for a few minutes each day-- you'll start to see the opportunities that exist in your life (yes, they've been there all along, you just weren't mentally prepared to notice them)-- and realize that you do have the choice to follow up on them.

Choosing to make the best of each chance we are offered to be better people is what makes us better people. Making the best of a bad situation that isn't going to change-- that's when we start envisioning a new situation for ourselves, and get out of the bad one that isn't going anywhere. That's when WE have to get going. And making those choices-- now that you see the opportunities to do so-- is what gives Positive Thought it's power.

So-- to give you an idea of how looking for the good brings good things into your awareness, here are a couple of websites to get you in the mood:

Simple Things

Three Beautiful Things

Mo's Inspiring Moments

Really, I'm as Old as I Feel?