Posted on July 28, 2010
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Do you have any idea how detrimental negative thinking is not only to your mental and emotional world, but also your physical world?
Simply put, negative thinking is destructive and it’s essential to avoid negative thoughts as much as possible. These thoughts put a damper on the way we see life in general and the way we view ourselves and others, specifically. For many, it paves the way for a life of depression and anxiety and distances us from loved ones who’d just rather not be around us. I know I don’t like to be around negative energy…
Negative self-talk is the worst. It limits what you can do and forces you to pre-label yourself as a loser. You stop taking chances and constantly set yourself up for failure.
Positive thoughts, in contrast, promote happiness, good health, and result in positive outcomes, while negative thinking produces unhappiness, depression, frustration, and an overall defeatist attitude. Hence, when you avoid negative thoughts and replace them with positive ones, you’ll find yourself on the road to leading a happy and healthy life. But it’s not always so easy to avoid negative thoughts, especially for those who’ve always had a defeatist attitude.
The first step to avoiding these gloomy thoughts is identifying them. It’s necessary to begin by listening to yourself. Think about how you view your life and journal your feelings whenever possible. This will allow you to identify the triggers of negative thoughts – school, family conflict, relationship problems. As you become more and more aware of these bad thoughts and why they happen, you can be cognizant about replacing them with more appropriate self-talk or attitudes.
A simple example might be how you react when you’re not feeling well. If you have a pain in your knee, instead of saying, “My knee hurts again”, simply dwell on the fact that the rest of your body is in good condition and that you feel well otherwise. If you get a C on a particularly test, instead of chastising yourself for being “dumb”, dwell on your other good grades and think about all the things you do well.
All this doesn’t happen immediately. It takes practice to avoid negative thoughts and turn from being a negative thinker into a positive thinker. You might even consider helping yourself along by reading some of the world’s greatest positive thinking books, like Normal Vincent Peale’s The Power of Positive Thinking, a true classic, or 1001 Reasons to Think Positive by Ella Patterson.
At the end you that day, you have one life to live. You can decide what to focus on positive or negative. The choice is yours. One thing is for sure, positive thinking ALWAYS produces better results.
Posted on July 13, 2010
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Everyone has held a grudge at one time or another or has harbored bad thoughts about a friend or family member who “did us wrong.” For some, these grudges are short lived. Others deal with life-long feelings of resentment towards the person that insulted or offended them, making it uncomfortable to be near them or even hear their name.
We’ve also heard the other side of the story…the power of forgiveness. There’s the Amish community in Pennsylvania who promptly forgave the man who gunned down several of their innocent children, the families who’ve forgiven the drunk drivers that killed their loved ones, or even individuals who forgave criminals for the rape or murder of a family member. Those are true acts of compassion that some of us are hard-pressed to understand. Yet those who practice the power of forgiveness see these as normal and expected.
Experts point out, however, that forgiving doesn’t mean condoning the behavior. It merely provides the opportunity to unload a lot of pent up resentment and other ill feelings, generally resulting in a significant reduction in anxiety for the forgiver. Fred Luskin, PhD, director of Stanford University’s Forgiveness Project and author of Forgive for Good, performed a study in which he discovered that forgiving someone for their transgressions can reduce the forgiver’s stress level by as much as 50 percent.
Similar studies show that forgiving reduces chronic back pain and limits relapses in those who are battling substance abuse. In contrast, harboring resentment increases adrenaline and cortisol levels. Consistently increased levels of these chemicals can cause all sorts of health problems including cell atrophy, memory loss, high blood pressure, elevated blood sugar, hardening of the arteries, and depression. That’s a big price to pay for holding a grudge.
Instead, taking hostile feelings towards a person or persons and converting them to positive ones – aka practicing the power of forgiveness – promotes a feeling of calm and relaxation, Luskin points out. Hence, health improves over the long term and most forgivers even note an immediate feeling of peace once the forgiving words leave their mouth.
You can’t change what happened in the past, experts stress, but you can alter what’s going to happen in the future. Luskin and others that tout the power of forgiveness hold out hope that more people will take the route that allows them to let go of their bitter feelings and permits them to live a more stress-free life in the future.
Posted on June 30, 2010
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I thought that everyone knew what the law of attraction was. However, there are many folks that still don’t.
So I just want to briefly explain it at a very 101 level for those of you that have never heard of it.
While eons ago the Law of Attraction referred to romantic relationships, these days, it’s taken on a new meaning. In self-development circles, the Law of Attraction refers to the belief that “like attracts like” or “you get what you believe in.” Other proponents of the Law say: “That which is like unto itself is drawn.”
Made popular by an Australian movie called “The Secret”, which was later made into a book and audio-book and has sold more 16 million copies in 40 languages, the Law of Attraction lets individuals know that “every human being has the ability to transform any weakness or suffering into strength, power, perfect peace, health, and abundance.” Author Rhonda Byrne wanted her audience to know that “we create our lives, with every thought every minute of every day.” The more dominant the thought grows, the more powerful it will become.
In short, we attract those things in our life that we focus on, say Byrne and other promoters of the Law, and as teachers, these individuals strive to make followers understand that there are three required steps that are the essence of the Law of Attraction.
1. Ask – Know what you want and ask the universe for it.
2. Believe – Feel and behave as if the object of your desire is on its way.
3. Receive – Be open and fully ready to receive it.
The principals of the Law of Attraction also state that thinking of what one DOES NOT HAVE manifests itself in not having. However, if one follows the three steps listed above and avoids any and all negative thoughts, the universe will manifest a person’s desires.
Anyways, this is a very broad stroke and there are many teaching around the law of attraction. However, the overall concept is very basic.
Now, that you understand the concept begin putting it to work in your life. The best way to learn more would be to watch “The Secret,” which will really drill into the teaching of the law of attraction.
Start manifesting…
Posted on June 17, 2010
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Every day, God gives us, as well as the sun,
a moment when it is possible to change anything
that is causing us unhappiness.
The magic moment
in the moment when a “yes” or a “no”
can change our whole existence.
Every day, we try to pretend
that we do not see that moment,
that it does not exist,
that today is the same as yesterday
and that tomorrow will be the same too.
However, anyone who pays close attention
to his day will discover the magic moment.
It might be hidden in the instant
that we put the key in the door in the morning,
in the moment of silence after supper,
in the thousand and one things
that appear to us to be the same.
This moment exists,
a moment in which all the strength of the stars
flows through us
and allows us to perform miracles.
By Paulo Coelho
Posted on May 27, 2010
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This was floating around so I decided to post it as a reminder of how important perception is…
The Situation
In Washington, DC , at a Metro Station, on a cold January morning in 2007, this man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, approximately 2,000 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After about 3 minutes, a middle-aged man noticed that there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds, and then he hurried on to meet his schedule.
About 4 minutes later:
The violinist received his first dollar. A woman threw money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.
At 6 minutes:
A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.
At 10 minutes:
A 3-year old boy stopped, but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head the whole time. This action was repeated by several other children, but every parent – without exception – forced their children to move on quickly.
At 45 minutes:
The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.
After 1 hour:
He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed and no one applauded. There was no recognition at all.
No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before, Joshua Bell sold-out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $200 each to sit and listen to him play the same music.
This is a true story. Joshua Bell, playing incognito in the D.C. Metro Station, was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people’s priorities.
This experiment raised several questions:
* In a common-place environment, at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty?
* If so, do we stop to appreciate it?
* Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?
One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this:
If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made…
How many other things are we missing as we rush through life?
Think About It…
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