Positive Thinking 4 Steps

[Booz]

Positive Thinking 4 Steps

Without getting too ?Norman Vincent Peale? about the relative merits and power of a positive attitude, we would at least like to stress its role in your life. Whether you are thinking positively or negatively, it is the internal machinery whose sum is expressed in your external attitude. In short: We think it, therefore, we act it.

Now, positive, uplifting or eternally sunny thinking won?t solve all your problems, and it won?t make you an unqualified smash success at whatever you do. No one thing will. Negative or defeatist thinking, however, does have that kind of power; it alone can torpedo you and run your hopes into the ground. Negativity has this power chiefly because it disables your resolve and it disarms your mental acuity. In other words, negative thinking has more power to cause you greater destruction than its contrary has the strength and stamina to do right by you. In this instance, attitude has no place for a luxurious middle ground: You either think positively or you mope negatively. It is your choice.

To that end, the following four steps are geared toward shifting your perspective to positive thinking -- turning the proverbial half-empty glass into one that?s half-full -- in times of need.

step 1
Withdraw emotionally
Pull back from the situation at hand and grant yourself some perspective; you need to assess your mental reaction, which may act more like a reflex, and start kicking out negative thoughts before they transform into an irrational, emotional outburst. You can very quickly bury yourself under thoughts of inadequacy and failure before you are even aware of it, before you?ve even given yourself a chance to consider your situation.

When you get a phone call asking for you to come in for an interview, don?t let the panic of the past knock you down. Whatever your past interview failures might have been, they don?t have to contribute negatively to this situation -- unless you let them in. Pull away from your negative reflexes and give this new opportunity a chance -- that?s all that?s asked of you at this stage of positive thinking.

step 2
Recognize it as an isolated incident
It?s natural for us to weigh the balance of our experiences with everything we do, and more often than not it?s the right thing to do since it calls for some self-awareness. And it?s the right thing to do at this learning stage of positive thinking. However, to harbor negative past experiences as symptomatic of something larger -- some horrible and unstoppable trend in your life -- is to have surrendered to the experience in front of you before giving yourself another chance.

A negative mentality thrives on a brand of groupthink -- a collective conclusion arrived at by adding the sum of incongruent parts without the benefit of nonconformist input. One moment you?re recalling past failures specific to the task at hand -- such as the interview -- and before long, you?re adding in other anxieties, such as family, girlfriend and terrorist attacks. This is not the way to go about positive thinking.

step 3
Resolve how to deal with it in the future
This step in positive thinking may be easier said than done, but only someone in deep denial is unable to acknowledge their primary mistakes. Few people relish confrontation with another person, and arguably even fewer enjoy it or can stomach it when that other ?person? is an embodiment of their past actions and mistakes. Yet, unless you look straight into your past mistakes and stare them down, you will continue to be haunted by the negative thoughts they inspire.

We generally react incredulously to people who have the self-fulfilling prophecy act down pat. In their head their train of thought is a train wreck, and it sounds like this: ?I?m gonna go to the interview all confident, and the moment the person sits down and asks me why I want the job, I?ll clam up, say something cliche and stupid, his face will sink a little, then his tone of voice will get all condescending and mechanical as he goes through the motions of getting me out of there.? The aspect that's difficult to believe comes from the mere fact that life is so well-planned out. These types of thoughts only exist in the mind of the negative thinker, the person who doesn?t want the things he seems to pursue.

At the very least, you have to bend the unknown future in your favor by insisting that no matter what the past was, it does not demand to be repeated. This is a big step in learning positive thinking.

step 4
Shift your mind to something different
Once you?ve established a positive line of thinking, move ahead. In short, don?t dwell on this any longer. You risk thinking something to death, and even if you?re using positive thinking to ?think it to death,? you?re still killing it. Self-confidence and the ability to trust one?s self are invaluable qualities, but when they?re overdone, they amount to deadly self-delusion.

Consider the competent athlete. He doesn?t consider every single move and play he intends to make before executing them; he simply trusts his hands and his feet. He allows his experience and subconscious to carry his play, and if he has kinks or thorns in his game, he works them out in practice.
By Ross Bonander

[Narkissos]

BUMP!

Solid thread.

[StrawberrySun]

Great post, Boozy :)

[Dedic8ed1]

Very Impressive,informative and necessary for a lot of people to be educated on.

[Booz]

We all need to give ourselves a well needed kick up the arse now and again.....

[StrawberrySun]

^^ Some people need more than a kick

Just sayin....


I think that one of the hardest things for people though is that whole recognising it as an isolated incident thing.

[NightTrain]

i need a kick every once and again

[cognitive_dissonance]

*is a football* will take as many kicks as I can get

[NightTrain]

ahh CD, you never amaze me...



***** BOOT TO THE HEAD****

glad i could be of assistance...

[t-gunz]

bump