Positive Thoughts
A lot has been written about the effects of our thinking on our life. By now many people know that in some way or another, their thinking affects their life.
We hear things like: “Think positive. As you think, so shall you be. You can choose to see the glass half empty or half full”. Does this sound familiar? And yet, how many people, maybe including yourself, have you encountered who you would truly classify as “positive thinkers”? Probably not too many, right?
As soon as we get up in the morning we usually get busy doing things and let our thoughts flow freely as the day unfolds. The amount of information our brain processes in a day is unbelievable. Therefore, it is not easy to constantly monitor our thoughts and make sure they are always positive. Unfortunately, reality is such that not everything we see and hear is positive, even if we’d like it to be.
Where we can make a true difference, however, is in the way we process both positive as well as negative information. Try and be more conscious on the effects information has on you. For example, if you see a beautiful tree, flower, car or whatever it is that strikes you as being beautiful, acknowledge it and make a conscious positive comment to yourself. Something like: “Wow, what a beautiful tree”. Every time you see something you like, make a positive comment about it. Try and do this for a week. This will create positive energy and make you feel good.
But what do we do with negative information? Let’s acknowledge that this or that happened and make a conscious decision on how much energy we want to invest in processing the information. For example, the less energy we put into thinking that Mr. Rude insulted us, the weaker the effect of the thought on our life. Every time you notice that you’re about to process negative information, make a conscious decision on how much energy you want to put into it and stop the thought process from affecting you. Try and do this for a week too. It will minimize the amount of negative energy in your life and leave more energy for positive thoughts.
The kind of information we’ll encounter during the course of a day is hard to predict. The way we process information, however, is under our full control.
The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts. Marcus Aurelius Antoninus