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The Power Of Positive Thinking
Ever since the publication of "The Power Of Positive Thinking" by Norman Vincent Peale, the practise of positive thinking is one of the first things that many people think of when it comes to most questions related to how to change your life.
This makes sense as the nature and quality of your thoughts does have a significant bearing on your experience and interpretation of life.
The following video clip by motivational speaker Brian Tracy summarises the traditional view of the power of positive thinking.
Professor Richard Wiseman has undertaken a number of studies on "luck" over a 10 year period culminating in the publication of his findings in his book, "The Luck Factor". In summary, his findings show that "lucky" people are people who have consciously or unconsciously mastered the art of the power of positive thinking. Lucky people generate their own good fortune via four basic principles: [1] They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities. [2] They make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition. [3] They create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations. [4] They adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good. Read the summary in this short popular article.
This site is focused on two basic skills, learning how to think and learning how to not think.
Learning the art of positive thinking and developing the power of positive thinking falls very much into the category of learning how to think.
As we have discussed in other articles, the bulk of what we do think is repetitive and goes un-noticed and "under the radar" in our unconscious minds. Arguably one of the first things we can do to assist the quality of our recurrent thoughts is to pay very close attention to our "self talk" those repetitive thought patterns, the inner narrative, the "voices in our head". There are two ways of achieving this, firstly by paying close attention to those things that we resist and secondly by developing a daily mindfulness practise developing a daily mindfulness practise that enables us to gain conscious awareness and visibility of our thoughts and states as they arise and specifically to consciously observe our resistance as it arises.
The most important aspect of our conscious mind is the faculty of choice and the setting of an intention to change the habits of our thoughts. This is the start point for developing the power of positive thinking. 99.9% of our thoughts are habit-driven and in order to be able to benefit from the power of positive thinking we need to be able to change those thought-habits. We do have the conscious choice over what we choose to think about, we have the capacity to set an intention to seek help and employ proven tools, techniques and processes to change our thoughts and thus to benefit from the power of positive thinking.
A very important caveat It is a complete mistake to believe that the power of positive thinking - or the "law of attraction" for that matter - will give you complete control of your life and destiny and that you can have or become just about anything you want. As we have discussed in the article "powers of the mind": "The powers of the mind in the subconscious areas are considerable and can make a significant difference to how you interpret and respond to what happens to you, to the things that you attract, and to your overall quality of life experience. But, and this is a very big "but", these subconscious powers do NOT create everything that happens to you. In the bigger picture scheme of things these powers of the mind are actually very limited. The real powers of the mind lie elsewhere..." As with all the insights and practises we are discussing and sharing here on this site, balance in both perspective and practise is essential. So from a developmental perspective it is very important that we understand how our minds function and that we do all that we can to ensure that our minds are working for us and not against us. In this context I am a big advocate for all proven tools and processes(such as those featured on this site) that can further that end, and I encourage everyone to become acquainted with them and to gain a reasonable degree of mastery over their subconscious minds and thus to be able to benefit the power of positive thinking.
But let us also hold in mind the other side of the equation - the realm beyond our re-programmed subconscious minds - that we can only access by learning how to stop thinking.
So what are the basics of the power of positive thinking?
Well here is my list of some of the fundamentals that underpin the power of positive thinking and that form the basis of what is involved in consciously selecting what you choose to focus on:
The GESTATION PERIOD - understanding it, having faith in it, accepting it and persisting through it.
Given that it can take months and often years for your goals to come to fruition, persistence - coupled with consistence - is everything.
Then there are the hold ups, blockages and setbacks. There is much "trial and error", this is period of deep learning, development and putting down deep roots. It IS hard.
This attrition factor is what wears so many people down and causes them to doubt their purpose, or worse, to "throw in the towel".
So our whole attitude to the gestation period is the critical variable in developing our knowledge and skills, and putting down the roots that will enable us to attain our objective.
The bedrock foundation of the power of positive thinking is
our ability to stay persistent even when - especially when - we are unable to see any growth on the surface.
In a culture driven by instant gratification – this is our biggest challenge.
This insight is powerfully illustrated by the true story of the Chinese Bamboo Tree:
How to think - Main Themes
Self improvement and motivation
Supporting Articles
The following articles develop and support the main themes and should be read in conjunction with the main pages under the relevant theme. Please see:
Return from "The power of positive thinking" to "How to change your life?"
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Life works in cycles and that does involve waiting, in other words, a gestation period.
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