Once we eliminate negative thinking and faulty imagery, we will find a resurgence of submerged creativity. All of our feelings, knowledge, etc. are based on our internal thoughts, both conscious (which we think) and subconscious (which is automatic). Both aspects (the way we think and automatic thoughts) got conditioned in us due to various reasons. Most of the negative thoughts are automatic or vice versa. However, we can control our minds/thoughts; actually we are in control, whether we know it or not.

We can be positive or negative, enthusiastic or dull, active or passive.

The biggest difference between people is their attitudes. For some, learning is enjoyable and exciting. For others, learning is a drudgery. For many, learning is just okay, something required on the road to a job. Some people see good in almost everything, whereas some people point out bad in most of the things. Ask yourself, "What am I?"

"Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." - Abraham Lincoln

If we observe and learn from people around us who are genuinely happy, we find a very definite trait that they possess, which contributes very directly to their happiness. It is their whole approach and attitude to life. They look at life as something that is precious, and go about enjoying every moment of it. Like everyone, they too have their share of worries and problems. They too face the pressures and the hardships of life. They too have their ups and downs, the good and the bad days. But through it all, what they also have is the resilience to life as a challenge, not an ordeal. They have the will to surmount the hurdles, the obstacles and the pressures of life without allowing themselves to be daunted by them.

But most of all, they are happy because they hold themselves responsible for their happiness, not others. Not other people, and not circumstances or situations. Only themselves. They know that the key to happiness does not lie with anyone or anything outside of themselves. It lies with them.

Let's take a closer look at this. We normally tend to place the blame for our tension, anger, fear and depression on the people or circumstances that "cause" it, according to us. We identify the cause as lying "outside" of us. We hold the other person responsible for our unhappiness. If there is no person involved, we place the blame on "something else," luck or even God. We hold an external factor as being responsible for our unhappiness, anxiety and stress.

What this boils down to is a harsh reality: It is not people or circumstances that cause or are responsible for our unhappiness or happiness. It is our perceptions and interpretations of situations and how we deal with them that cause or are responsible for our unhappiness and happiness.

In short: Happiness is a state of mind.

"The quality of our lives is determined not by what happens to us, but rather by what we do about what happens." - Anthony Robbins

In other words, the quality of our lives depends on how we talk to ourselves and take action.

Positive thinking can be technically called as cognitive restructuring.

Our present attitudes (the way we think and behave) are habits, built from the feedback of parents, teachers, friends, society and self, that form our self-image, our world-image and our life-image.

These attitudes are maintained by the inner conversations (self-talk) we constantly have with ourselves, both consciously and subconsciously.

The first step in changing our attitudes is to change our inner conversations. How? Here are some guidelines:-

1) Realize that your thoughts are real:

• You have a thought

• Your brain releases chemicals

• An electrical transmission goes across your brain

• You become aware of what you're thinking

• These thoughts have impact on how you feel and behave

2) Notice how negative thoughts affect your body.

3) Notice how positive thoughts affect your body.

4) Notice how your body reacts to every thought you have.

5) Think of bad/negative thoughts as pollution.

6) Understand that your automatic thoughts don't always (hardly) tell the truth.

7) Talk back to Automatic Negative Thoughts (ANTs) with Opposite or Positive Thoughts.

AUTOMATIC NEGATIVE THOUGHTS (ANTS) OR COGNITIVE DISTORTIONS

Below outlined are 14 different ways that your thoughts lie to you to make situations seem worse than they really are:

1 All-or-nothing thinking: You see things in black-and-white categories. If your performance falls short of perfect, you see yourself as a total failure.
2. Overgeneralization: You see a single negative event as a never-ending pattern of defeat.
3. Mental filter: You pick out a single negative detail and dwell on it exclusively so that your vision of all reality becomes darkened.
4. Always/never thinking: Thinking in words like always, never, no one, everyone, every time, everything, etc.
5. Focusing on the negative: Seeing only the bad in a situation.
6. Fortune telling: Predicting the worst possible outcome to a situation.
7 Mind reading: Believing that you know what others are thinking, even though they haven’t told you.
8.Thinking with your feelings: Believing negative feelings without ever questioning them.
9. Disqualifying the positive: You reject positive experiences by insisting they don’t count for some reason or other.
10.Magnification or minimization: You exaggerate the importance of negative aspects, or you inappropriately shrink positive aspects until they appear tiny.
11. Guilt beating: Thinking in words like should, must, ought to, or have to.
12. Labeling: Attaching a negative label to yourself or to someone else.
13. Personalizing: You see yourself as the cause of some negative external event, which in fact you were not primarily responsible for.
14. Blaming: Blaming someone else for your own problems/situations/conditions/circumstances.

Positive thinking is a mental attitude that admits into the mind - thoughts, words and images/pictures that are conductive to growth, expansion and success. It is a mental attitude that expects good and favorable results. A positive mind anticipates happiness, joy, health and a successful outcome of every situation and action. Whatever the mind expects, it finds.

Not everyone accepts or believes in positive thinking. Some consider the subject as just nonsense, and others scoff at people who believe and accept it. Among the people who accept it, not many know how to use it effectively to get results. Yet, it seems that many are becoming attracted to this subject, as evidenced by the many books, lectures and courses about it. This is a subject that is gaining popularity.

It is quite common to hear people say: "Think positive!", to someone who feels down and worried. Most people do not take these words seriously, as they do not know what it really means, or do not know how to really do it, or do not consider it as useful and effective. How many people do you know that ever stop to think what the power of positive thinking means?

How Positive Thinking Works?

1. When we think positive, healing chemicals such as endorphin, etc. are released; these healing chemicals make us feel peaceful and happy, which leads to better health. Similarly when we think negative, stress hormones like cortisol, etc. are released.

2. By thinking positive consciously and regularly, we develop a positive thinking habit by reprogramming/reconditioning our subconscious minds. Thus more healing chemicals, and more feeling of peace and happiness, which leads to better health.

3. By thinking positively and continuously about something/anything or situation, we (can) create that thing or situation over a period of time, and sometimes even quite fast.

It goes without saying that the aforesaid 3 points hold good for negative thinking as well.

PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS

In order to turn the mind towards the positive, inner work and training are required. Attitude and thoughts do not change overnight.

Read about this subject, think about its benefits and persuade yourself to try it. The power of thoughts is a mighty power that is always shaping our life. This shaping is usually done subconsciously, but it is possible to make the process a conscious one.

Always visualize only favorable and beneficial situations. Use positive words in your inner dialogues or when talking with others. Smile a little more, as this helps to think positively. Disregard any feelings of laziness or a desire to quit. If you persevere, you will transform the way your mind thinks.

Once a negative thought enters your mind, you have to be aware of it and endeavor to replace it with a constructive/positive one. The negative thought will try again to enter your mind, and then you have to replace it again with a positive one. It is as if there are two pictures in front of you, and you choose to look at one of them and disregard the other. Persistence will eventually teach your mind to think positively and ignore negative thoughts.

In case you feel any inner resistance when replacing negative thoughts with positive ones, do not give up, but keep looking only at the beneficial, good and happy thoughts in your mind.

It does not matter what your circumstances are at the present moment. Think positively, expect only favorable results and situations, and circumstances will change accordingly. It may take some time for the changes to take place, but eventually they do.

Another method to employ is the repetition of affirmations. It is a method which resembles creative visualization, and which can be used in conjunction with it. Affirmation (autosuggestion) and visualization (imagination) are the subjects of another article on this website.

In a Nutshell

Positive thinking means -

1. Thinking of what we want and not of what we don't want.
   
   

2. Thinking good about ourselves and our lives by enhancing our self-esteem/self-worth.
   
   

3. Thinking good or neutral about others, despite knowing that there are negative people around.

4. Expecting or visualizing only favorable and beneficial results and situations.
   
   

5. Being aware of Automatic Negative Thoughts (ANTs), and talking back to them with opposite or positive thoughts.
   
   

6. Accepting people, situations, circumstances, and events as they occur. That doesn't mean accepting anything and everything without trying to modify it at all. We need to take some constructive action. But when things cannot be modified, either we accept it knowing that whatever happens, happens for good, there is a reason for it. This acceptance changes our state of mind.
   
   

7. Taking responsibility for our situation and for all those events we see as problems (after accepting things as they are). Taking responsibility means not blaming anyone or anything for our situation or condition, not even ourselves. We need to be aware that every problem is an opportunity in  disguise, and this alertness to opportunities allows us to take this moment and transform it into a greater benefit.

READ THIS TOPIC AGAIN AND AGAIN TO GET IT INGRAINED IN YOU!