The Power of Positive Thinking and Attitude

Introduction
Positive Thinking — Are you guilty of misusing and abusing the single most important asset you will ever have? Are you investing enough time, effort and money into developing this powerful asset? Or are you, like most people, letting it decay and atrophy due to disuse until it totally becomes useless not only to you but to the rest of humanity?

It is the most important asset you will ever possess. Like most things in life, it is something everyone has, yet few utilize it well. While we all look to the outside to find the secrets to success, wealth and happiness, we neglect and disregard the power within ourselves: Our own minds.

Mind Abuse
The mind can be referred to as “the human consciousness that originates in the brain and is manifested especially in thought, perception, emotion, will, memory and imagination.”

If you need a simpler and more practical meaning, it is “the faculty of thinking, reasoning, and applying knowledge.” Why, then, is it the most abused and misused asset man possesses?

One of the most enlightening and inspiring books I have ever read is “As a man thinketh” by James Allen. In this book he compares the mind to a garden. He says: “A man’s mind may be likened to a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild; but whether cultivated or neglected, it must and will bring forth. If no useful seeds are put into it, then an abundance of useless weed-seeds will fall therein, and will continue to produce their kind.”

Whatever is planted in that garden is what will be reaped. Just as you cannot plant corn and reap oranges, so you cannot plant destructive thoughts and reap a happy and successful life.

If you plant positive thoughts you will reap positive results. Plant negative thoughts and you will reap negative results. Neglect to plant anything at all and the weeds will inevitably take over.

The law of attraction is a powerful principle that you need to understand and utilise to improve your health and wealth.

It’s All in Your Control
There’s a reason why a lot of people don’t believe in positive thinking and that kind of thing. It is simply that they do not want to face the fact that their lives are totally in their own hands and they are afraid of the immense potential/results if they do so. Believing in positive thinking would mean that they cannot blame their lack of education, their parents, teacher or spouse for their failures.

It is much easier to think there is some force out there called “destiny” that is just against you and takes pleasure in seeing you suffer. If only this didn’t happen or that had happened, you would be so much better off.

Choose Your Response
I am not saying that bad things don’t happen in life. Sometimes they do happen. However, your
response to what happens to you, whether good or bad, is your choice. To quote James Allen once more: “Man is the master of thought, the moulder of character, and the maker and shaper of condition, environment and destiny.”

Also Read »»»» Education is a Scam!

Feed Your Mind Right
Your mind will work just as hard to make you fail as it will to make you succeed. It does not discriminate between good seed and bad seed. That should be great news. The amount of effort it takes to fail is the same amount of effort it takes to succeed as far as the mind is concerned. It is your responsibility to provide it with the right seeds of thought.

How do you change your negative thoughts into positive thoughts? It has taken years, if not decades for you to develop the negative thought patterns you may have. So it would be absolutely impractical to expect to change these thought patterns overnight.

Like the gardener who takes tender care of his garden, slowly weeding out the unwanted plants and giving care and nurturing to the desired plants, you must get rid of the negative thoughts and replace them with positive ones.

You cannot simply decide that you will stop thinking negatively. The mind cannot be a vacuum. Something has to be there. It should be a process of replacement of the negative with the positive.

Recognize Negative Thoughts
The first step, then, is to be able to recognize the negative thoughts. Any thinking that emphasizes lack, failure, sickness and so on is negative. If you do not want it, don’t think it.

To give a practical example, have you ever seen someone driving a very expensive car and thought to yourself that you would never be able to own such a car? Replace it with the thought that it is totally possible for you to own that car.

Go out to the car dealer and check it out. Touch it. Feel it. If you can, get inside it. Do everything you can to bring it within reach of your mind. You will be amazed at the power such simple exercises can have.

The Power of Association
By far the best way to change your mind set is to associate with other great minds. The saying “Show me your friends and I will show you your future” is right on the spot! The company you keep says a lot about who you are and how you think.

If you do not have company worth keeping, do not lose heart. This is, after all, the information age. Through books, music, movies and the internet you can have access to the greatest minds that ever lived. Reading in particular has great potential to break the chains on your mind and expand it to greater dimensions.

Take every opportunity you have to read inspiring, uplifting and motivational books that will slowly but surely help you to create a beautiful garden in your mind and weed out the suffocating thoughts that so easily control our lives.

Guard your mind jealously. Would you leave your now newly acquired car unlocked and without any form of protection in Lagos-Ibadan Road? Then why would you leave the greatest asset you possess – your mind, without defense?

Stay away from any form of negativity. This includes “good” friends that are a danger to your thinking. You don’t have to read everything in the paper about murder, death and suffering! Don’t join the pity party about how “the economy is tough and you are just barely managing.” Stay positive in all circumstances.

Conclusion
Mahatma Gandhi is a man that is greatly admired and who left an indelible footprint on this earth. Could it be because he realized the power that he possessed in his mind when he said: “You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.”

You are all you can be. Go on and be it!

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