Mahatma Gandhi once said, “A man is but the product of his thoughts, what he thinks, he becomes.” Taking that idea into consideration, when we think thoughts of failure, don’t we end up demoralized, helpless and, in effect, fail by doing so? And when we aspire for more, believe that we cannot be bound; do we not turn out to be ordinary individuals doing extraordinary things?

Why Bother?

What we feel, believe and know rest in what we think. Though sometimes you feel helpless, you’re very much in control of yourself. It is our choice of which state we’d like to fall into. A lot of times, it’s just about the attitude. In life, intelligence or talent can only get you so far. If you’re pessimistic, sooner or later, the negativity would get the better of you and whatever gift you have would be put to waste. However, with positive thinking or the right attitude, you’ll find yourself tackling whatever life throws at you regardless of your smarts or abilities. In school, it’s about the grades but you won’t get the grades without the right attitude. In the real world, you get the job with what you’ve done with school but what keeps you there is the E.Q. and where do we attribute that? It’s thanks to positive thinking as well.

The Tactic

To get along well with positive thinking you have to take certain steps. First of which is to commit. Give yourself to it. Bring the optimism in everything you do. Don’t split yourself and put fifty percent into family and fifty percent into everything else, because what is fifty percent? It is mediocrity. Go beyond. Excel with optimism by practicing it.

Next, you have to know you’re in control. Structure your life. Don’t believe that life is a result of everything just changing as you wait for it all to affect you. Take life and make it yours. Don’t let chaos reign within you.

Finally, challenge yourself. Winston Churchill once said that “the pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” Be realistic. Know you won’t have the best mindset overnight but believe and take steps to embrace positive thinking. Take opportunities to better yourself and instead of criticizing yourself, take the chance to better yourself instead.

How you want your life to be is in your hands. We have no control over everything, but we do have control over ourselves. Nothing can limit us but ourselves. Think positive, commit to thinking positive and challenge yourself to improve yourself. Upon achieving the right mindset, everything else would follow.

Negative thinking disorders are disorders that branch from extreme anxiety and are most commonly termed as anxiety disorders. Under this particular kind of disorder are disorders like obsessive compulsive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress, panic disorder and social phobia. It’s the negative thinking in these negative thinking disorders or anxiety disorders that feeds the anxiety causing it to grow. This disorder is rooted in our thoughts. To cure it, we must change our negative thoughts into positive ones with ways like cognitive therapy.

It’s All the Same and Holding On

People who suffer from such negative thinking disorders believe that everything will stay the same and it would always be bad – nothing changes. By taking such a belief into their system of thinking, they’re closing doors or ways to get help. Treatment for such disorders is a slow process exacerbated by holding onto their disorder.

Speaking of holding on, with these types of disorders, people suffering from it hold on to traumatizing or horrible experiences. By doing so, they make it harder for themselves to escape the vicious cycle of negativity and anxiety. These negative thoughts are the main power source of these disorders as they are perpetually being thought of. It’s one thing to hold onto a memory but another situation completely when you obsess over it and fall trapped to a destructive thought cycle. Not only does it interrupt your daily life, it also tampers with your logic and may cause you to steer clear of certain situations and in effect limit you.

Absolutes

Those suffering from negative thinking disorders think in absolutes or extremes. They see that there can only be a completely bad or a completely good situation. This can be particularly difficult to deal with as they usually see the negative part of things more and magnify them, overshadowing whatever positive there is. To adjust to average thought, they must understand that worrying is completely normal to an extent and that there would always be pros and cons or good and bad in situations. They must know that whatever con or bad there is should not control or limit them. They must find what it is that’s causing them the panic attacks and obsessive thinking and avoid feeling helpless or powerless. We should all know that we are in control.

Negative thinking disorders may take different forms and magnitudes but one element stays the same – the negative thinking. Medication may help but at the end of the day, whatever happens, it’s something we have to sort out in our minds. Early intervention is best and being open to treatment would certainly make sure that progress would move along as it should. Life is good, it may not be easy but it is good. Discover it.

“There is little difference in people, but that little difference makes a big difference. The little difference is attitude. The big difference is whether it is positive or negative.”
~W. Clement Stone

When you master the art of harnessing the power of positive thinking, you can achieve wonders in your life. Believe that when you begin thinking positively, positive results also await you. Like bees to honey, people will be drawn to you and the unmistakable aura of happiness and goodness that surrounds you. Career opportunities will begin to reveal themselves to you and lead you to the path to success.

“The positive thinker sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible.”
~Anonymous

Harnessing the power of positive thinking requires you to practice positive thinking as much as you can and apply it in everything that you do.  Start by making a list of all your goals in life. Make the list as visual and concrete as possible by adding photos and whatever else that can help you make those goals to be as realistic as possible.

For example, you can add a picture of where you want to get married, add the fabric you want for your dress, pictures of flowers and even a picture of your dream guy.  Have fun with it and be as creative as possible. You can even add more stuff whenever you feel like it. You should own these thoughts and goals so you can make them your reality.

Create a mantra for these goals and repeat them to yourself everyday in front of your mirror. Make sure that you honestly believe in these words or else, they would be just a bunch of words without meaning. You have to choose which words will motivate you more. Assure yourself daily that you have what it takes to achieve your dreams.

Having a positive mental attitude involves having a healthy body and a healthy mind. Exercise, chill and relax. You should have fun even when you’re having a stressful week at work or whatever. Look and appreciate all the wonderful things that life has to offer. There are so many things out there that often go overlooked but they are just so beautiful and they can bring so much happiness if only they were noticed. Harnessing the power of positive thinking can show you these things and you will notice that you will feel lighter and happier with every day.

What we think about and subsequent events that occur in our lives are sometimes too close to be regarded as coincidence. You think to yourself, “I knew that was going to happen”. What you think about dictates your behaviour and attitudes, and consequently our actions and the lives of the people around us. As are our thoughts, so are our lives so it is important to be careful about what we think about, especially repeated thoughts.

Our thoughts are accompanied by a visual image and what we see with our “inner eye” on a repeated basis shapes our lives. It is like watching the same DVD repeatedly. But if we want to change what we see on our mental DVD we have to change the DVD. New mental images if played over time will foster new behaviours, attitudes and actions and attract these new thoughts will attract the corresponding  people, events and situations into our lives.

This mental process of repeated playing of your new DVD is known as “visualization”. New ways of thinking cannot occur overnight with just one thought but need to be repeated often to gain strength and a strong root in the subconscious. This might sound like hard work requiring deep concentration but it is actually quite easy. All that is required is to choose the right thought and KEEP repeating it.

It is a little like daydreaming, where you are (often randomly) imagining a certain scenario you are involved in. Except that this is more like a practical form or daydreaming where you actively choose what to daydream about. Not only that but you can pick the details of your perfect scenario, right down to the colours, sounds, even smells of the scene in your mind.

If this created scene is played often enough in your mind, your subconcious will accept it unquestioningly, and naturally work on making the changes to your life to move it closer to this imagined reality.

In this way you can bring about changes such as developing new habits, gain new skills and pretty much anything you truly desire. This really can happen but you need to give it enough time and be sincere in your efforts, giving over the necessary time for your new way of thinking to gain power.

Visualization techniques do require mental work but they are not difficult. You may not realise it but you have probably used this power many times in the past without being consciously aware of what is happening internally. Now that you have an understanding of how it works, decide what it is that you want to achieve and start “daydreaming” about it during the day or a specific times, and with a little time these thoughts will get stronger and bring about inner and outer changes.

Thoughts are real things and can cause real change. Now you know how to use them in conjunction with affirmations, you have the ability to effect real improvements and transformations in your life.