Ive never had someone come up to me and say, Im always negative and its working out great for me. I cant wait to get up in the morning! And yet, positive thinking still has its skeptics. Some people tell me that positive thinking doesnt work or that its unrealistic, especially in todays turbulent world. Look around you, they say. How can you be so positive? Well, let me ask you this: can the world be lifted out of negativity by adding MORE negativity? The truth is, there are certain things that negative thinking will do for you. It will make you sick. It will make you very unpleasant to be around. And, it will significantly limit what you can achieve. Lets take a closer look at why negative thinking doesnt serve us. For starters, we all operate under the Law of Dominant Thought. Simply stated, were always moving in the direction of our dominant thoughts. Most of us have heard about the self-fulfilling prophecy--that we get what we expect in life. Expect negative results and, sure enough, youll produce negative results. As Im sure youve found, negative thinking also causes you to feel more stress and to have less energy. Scientific studies have demonstrated that negativity weakens your immune system. How many times have you gotten sick during a stressful period in your life? If youre still not convinced about the effects of being negative, take out a sheet of paper and write down your list of all the benefits youre getting from negative thinking. I think your list is going to be very short, if you come up with anything at all. Let me make an important distinction here. Its quite natural for a person to feel sad in response to a tragedy or the death of a loved one. Theres a period of loss and grieving that differs for each individual, and we dont expect a grief stricken person to be positive in the short run. However, even a person in that situation will not be served by holding onto their negative thoughts indefinitely. (By the way, if youve suffered some trauma or have had a difficult time releasing negative thinking, by all means get counseling. Thats not a sign of weakness. Its a constructive step to help you move forward in your life.) Doing What Comes Naturally From everything Ive observed, babies are naturally positive. Theyre usually smiling and seem to be enjoying life. I havent met any negative, frowning babies. Thats why I dont buy the argument that negative thinking is just natural. Those who think negatively do so out of habit. They have conditioned themselves to think that way. In Western societies in particular, weve developed the tendency to focus on minor irritations, even though these annoyances are only a tiny part of our overall lives. We tend to focus on the 5% of our lives that are going wrong... instead of the 95% going well. Well sigh and tell everyone about the traffic jam or flat tire on the way to work. Yet, well never comment about the miracle of our existence--the billions of cells in our body that somehow allow our brain to function, our heart to pump blood or our eyes to see. We dont appreciate that we have enough food to eat or that we have a roof over our heads, while there are millions of people who dont have these gifts. Its no wonder that so many people think negatively. The newspaper is filled with negative news. Television and radio reports dwell on tragedies and crimes. How often do you read or hear about people helping each other or doing something positive? Hardly ever. If you do nothing to counteract this bombardment of negativity, youre going to think negatively. At any time, however, you could take control of this situation. You could stop watching and listening to all of the negative news and read something positive instead. You could limit your contact with toxic people and make sure your life is filled with positive inputs. If you did that, your natural inclination would switch and youd begin to think positively.
Posted on: Mon, 28 Jul 2014 11:37:24 +0000
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