Positivity Training

Positivity Training

I think all of us need to be reminded on the power of positive thinking and negative thinking. All of us have probably thought negative thoughts before. Now, I'm not talking about realistic expectations here. Obviously if you have a project due by Monday at 9am and it's Sunday at 10 till midnight and you needed a whole weekend to finish it... well... positive minded or not it's either not going to be finished or not very good as it could have been. 

Think about the last time a situation arised where you may have felt you had no control. Maybe you were crunched on time due to something you couldn't control, it rained when your plans were going for a sunny day or people were trying to drag you into the middle of some drama you couldn't care less about or have any part of. 

Negative thoughts breed negativity- in action, motivation, thought and reaction. If you are overburdened, thinking you can't possibly manage is lowering your perception of self- a negative thought form. You become sluggish, unwilling to try harder, and motivation escapes quickly.  Putting yourself into a situation causing negative thoughts toward someone usually causes negativity to lash out on you (also known as karma, but that's a future blog). Negativity can also become a daily habit to everything. "Everything that can go wrong will go wrong." Very true, but not the way to anticipate life. 

Positive thoughts- motivate, inspire, are uplifting and it becomes easier to learn even if failure is the ultimate ending. I often help my fiancee on Saturday nights at the warehouse getting the Sunday newspaper together. I also own a 2003 Toyota Echo- which about 600 Sunday papers have to fit into. Besides the wear on the car we often have to contend with "where do we fit all those papers?". My other half is often less then positive in most circumstances unless I fall apart. I'm usually the beacon of hope in situations. Although sometimes he still manages to muster some sort of creative and useful way to get work delivered, I'm typically the brains when he has the case of the negatives. "We will make it work" or "we can try to do it this way" and even "we've done it this way before, we can do it again" seems to be my cheers in stressful times like this. 

Some theists and spiritualists often think of negative thoughts as real thought forms that become just as real as the spirits they have faith in. Real forms that follow and weigh on you, breeding more and more until you either are consumed by overwhelming depression about everything or you make the change to chase them away. Sounds about right when you think about how it feels to be in a slump, doesn't it?

How do you begin if you are caught always feeling this way? Many ways, and hopefully future blogs will help more- but let's begin by the simplest way. Training positive focuses. We can't change what is going to happen. What we can do is change the way we think and react to what life throws at us. My car will inevitably at some point get a flat tire out on the paper route as it has many times before. I shouldn't be thinking about how horrible this will be. Dwelling will only stress a person. But what I can do is be prepared for it and know I can replace it and get going again. It may make me run late- but by God- it will get done.

We had tip money from the route this Christmas season to get our new place. The week of Christmas a front  wheel bering exploded on the route leaving the car inoperable for three weeks. All the money my fiancee had gotten was now to go to the car to replace the whole hub assembly. All I could think of was my child's first Christmas and I couldn't get her anything, we couldn't get out of this blasted place I was so sick of, and I couldn't travel to see my family who was looking forward to seeing their first grandchild. My fiancee was my rock through this time. He wasn't happy about it either, but he made due. He fixed the car piece by piece, borrowed a vehicle from friends to get his job done and for us to travel, even one of the people he worked with played "secret Santa"- leaving us with a bunch of gifts while he was inside in the truck we borrowed so baby could have things for Christmas. My biggest positive thought that always got me through this and other times: It was great that we had the extra money or we probably wouldn't have the job or car anymore.

FIND the positive. There is ALWAYS something to be positive about- even if it's just changing your attitude toward the situation. 

Not "oh well" but more like "we will get it done", "everything will work out" and "it may happen, but we will meet it head on if and when it does". 

Your goal: incorporate more positive thinking when you feel a negative thought coming on- and most importantly- ACT positively toward the situation.