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.
The Power Of Positive Thinking & Luck
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.
The Power Of Positive Thinking Is About Learning How To Think
This site is focused on two basic skills, learning how to think and learning how to not think.
Learning the art of positive thinking falls into the category of learning how to think.
But in order to be able to think effectively we firstly need to become aware of the bulk of what we do think that 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".
We are able to do this by the practise of not thinking, or more specifically by 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.
We also need to pay close attention to those things that we resist as they will also identify negative and recurring resistant thoughts.
In parallel with these activities we need to improve our thinking skills and learn how to think rather than what to think.
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 benefit from the power of positive 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.
"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.
Situational communication is about taking account of 3 often ignored factors about the other person. You are a situational communicator when you recognise that effective communication is not an event…
The secret to how to influence without authority is that you get what you really want by giving other people what they really want. We live in an interconnected world and knowing how to influence with…
Asking The Right Questions Is Critical For A Successful Change. Every time we initiate a significant change - whether in our personal life or in an organisation - we will most likely over-estimate our…
Group culture is: "How we do things round here". We like to see ourselves as free agents making our own choices and living authentically but the reality is that The Matrix has many layers and we are u…
In circumstances of significant change, the progress from A to B will not be in a straight line. We run our lives largely on auto-pilot. In most circumstances your experience of getting from A to B is…
To be successful in the art of persuasion you must ensure that certain things happen. To be successful in the art of persuasion you must establish a framework of what has to happen to get you to that…
Create The Environment Where They Want To Buyin to Your Proposal In order to build the win-win you have to uncover what it is that the other person really wants or needs, and to do that you have to as…
The art of persuasion is based on the simple idea that you get what you want by enabling the other party to get what they want. Being a nice friendly person with good inter-personal skills may be a go…
It's not the strongest that survive, nor the most intelligent, but those who are most responsive to change, the most persuasive, and the best communicators. We are living in an age of unprecedented ch…
What Is Important Is Seldom Urgent And What Is Urgent Is Seldom Important. The Eisenhower Box is a time management and decision-making model devised by President Dwight Eisenhower to help him prioriti…
Lost In Our Delusions About Enlightenment. There is something in human nature - a desire to glamorise, sanctify, objectify and idolise – that elevates people who have offered deep insights to the huma…
The Wisdom Of A Person Who Masters In Any Art Is Reflected In Their Every Attitude. The state and quality of your mind has a very large bearing on the quality of your performance in any area of life t…
Toxicity Is The Price Tag Of Accessibility. In the early days of online dating, users were vetted and had to go through a registration process and agree to comply with a code of conduct designed to en…
How Not To Be Fooled By Randomness. Ergodicity is an ugly word from the world of mathematics. It is an umbrella term for two sets of conditions of probability and outcome. These two conditions form th…
How You Frame A Situation Has A Profound Impact On How You Respond To It Emotionally. Imposter syndrome is a psycho-emotional experience of a fear of being found out as incompetent despite ongoing evi…
Issues You'll Face When Playing The Long Game. The challenges of the road less traveled is loosely based around the phrase popularised by M.Scott Peck with his book "The Road Less Traveled". This arti…
These Unseen Margins Can Have A Very Dramatic Impact On Your Life. To understand how to benefit from the unseen margins we need to start by understanding what they are and where we find them. In this…
3 Key Tips The art of thinking clearly starts with the sobering realisation that our brains are designed to achieve two things: Survival and Reproduction! 98% of our thinking is unconscious, automatic…
5 Useful Heuristics From Algorithms To Live By The thesis of the book "Algorithms to Live By" is that algorithms developed for computers can be used by people in everyday life in a wide range of situa…
The Art Of Being Wise Is The Art Of Knowing What To Overlook. We are blessed and cursed to live in the digital age. We have access to more information than we can possibly handle yet we struggle to fi…
A Checklist Is A Safety Net That Encourages Better Results And Prevents Avoidable Mistakes. The volume and complexity of what we know has exceeded our individual ability to deliver its benefits correc…
How To Avoid The 7 Causes Of Everyday Stupidity. We are all capable of everyday stupidity as we undertake routine tasks in our business and working lives and also in our personal lives. This is not ab…
Only The Experts Survived Evolution."In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few." These are the famous words of Shunryu Suzuki in "Zen Mind, Beginner's Min…
Let's Make Today A Good Day. You may not have chosen the condition of being alone, and it may have been imposed upon you by circumstances beyond your control, but your response to the situation is wit…
How To Tell The Difference Between Intuition and Anxiety. How do you know whether the voice of your intuition is real or just the product of your inner anxiety? We all struggle with these inner voices…
It Isn't The Process Of Prayer That’s The Problem, It’s The Way It’s Framed. Regardless of what we feel about Madonna or her song the topic of prayer often arouses strong reactions. Usually, it is som…
We Follow The Herd - We Mimic Other People's Choices. Fear of missing out - or FOMO as it is popularly referred to - is the feeling that everyone else in your peer group is having much more fun than y…
Exercising Balance and Discernment. I have just updated these self improvement resources with a number of additional sources of material that are practical and can help you change your life. Check it…
This Is The You That Is Beyond Your Thinking Mind. This is the big you, the transcendent you, the you that is often referred to as your higher consciousness or higher self. This is the you that acts a…
Gratitude And Attitude Are Not Challenges, They Are Choices. The power of gratitude quite simply is that it is good for you! Many of us were raised by parents who instilled in us the social niceties o…