25 Positive thinking 2
by Una Hearne
I said in a previous blog that you can choose to become a more positive thinker if you want to. For those of you who would like this in theory and are asking ‘YES, BUT HOW?’ I would like to share a simple technique I use . It has helped me to develop habitually positive thoughts. It appears too simple to work and so is easy to dismiss, however, I find it to be incredibly powerful. Don’t take my word for it, try it out yourself.
The concept is simple, the practice can take a long time or a short time, it really doesn’t matter as long as it works and the rewards are incalculable. Essentially, it is a choice and practice. Here’s how it goes:
1 Decide you are going to be a more positive thinker and you are going to practice this technique on one negative thought at a time as often as you can remember to. Choose not to beat yourself up when you forget!
2 Catch a negative thought you say to yourself. The more negative and more often you repeat it the more dramatic the difference you can make to your life by changing it.
3 Choose a more positive and useful thought. Use YOUR words. Someone else’s words, however well meaning will not resonate in your subconscious in the way that YOUR words will. Write the positive thought down.
4 Every time you catch yourself thinking the negative thought, repeat the positive one to yourself at least 3 times. You are replacing the negative thought, crowding it out of your brain and giving yourself something different to focus on. You cannot repeat it too often. Over time this will re-programme your automatic thinking.
I made a little sing song mantra out of one of these and repeated it over and over like a meditation every time I found myself in a negative cycle of thinking. Magic. It is also useful to say it out loud to yourself, even into a mirror. Although I would tend not to recommend this be done in public places…
You don’t have to believe the positive thought, you just need to be able to hold it as a possibility for you. You don’t have to strain to believe it, repeat it often enough and, so long as it isn’t damaging for you, you will gradually change the positivity level of your thinking.
It is not your fault if you habitually think negatively, we are programmed and influenced from the day we are born, you are not responsible for the messages you picked up as a child or within your society and culture. As an adult you are capable of taking more control of your thinking and once you are aware of that it is your responsibility to pay attention and to give yourself the most positive experience of life you can.
