How to Make Positive Thinking Work For You
“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”
― William Shakespeare, Hamlet
You may have heard of positive thinking, or using positive affirmations.
“I am abundant.”
“My body is healthy.”
“Everything always works out for me.”
You may even have tried to use this in your life, only to find out that it does not really work for you. The reason that it may not work is that if you try to think positive, but you do not really believe these thoughts, the feeling underneath will match your believe instead of this positive thought. Trying to put positive thinking on top of negative thinking does not really work.
So here is a slightly different approach to positive thinking. One that actually works. In this approach you do not put positive thoughts on top of the negative thoughts, but you focus on something positive alongside the negative thought. The first step is to acknowledge whatever thought or feeling is there. You just acknowledge what is there, do not try to change it or make it go away, just allow it to be there and being ok with it. The next step is taking your attention to something that is also true for you, but something you can appreciate at the moment.
For example, you may have pain in your knee. So you are thinking “My knee is hurting so much that I cannot even go for a walk today, which makes me feel bad.” Now you just allow that thought to be there as it is. And then you think another thought “ My arms are not hurting today and I am able to do my work behind the computer normally, which I appreciate.” Or “I just had a very nice cup of coffee together with my friend, which I enjoyed.”
For every negative statement in your mind, you choose to bring in an equally valid positive statement into your experience. In this approach the positive is not replacing the negative. You do not say I am feeling vibrant and healthy, if you believe you are not that vibrant and healthy. You say things that are true for you.
You allow the negative to be there, in whatever way or form it is there, but you do not stay there. You gently direct your attention to something positive next. You do not think a positive thought that would be nice but that you do not really believe. You give the mind an assignment to look for something positive, to look for something to appreciate, to look for something that goes well, to look for something you like, to look for a place where the problem is not.
So you may start asking yourself: What can I appreciate in this moment? It does not matter what it is. It may be something big or something small, something related to the situation you did not like, or something completely different. It does not matter, as long as it is true for you, as long as you truly can appreciate that.
Instead of replacing your negative thoughts with positive thoughts, you let the negative thought be there, without giving it much power, and then place a positive thought next to it. It is kind of establishing a new habit of redirecting your mind towards things that go well, things that you enjoy, that you can appreciate. The moment you realize you have a negative thought, you choose your next thought about something positive, about something you can and do appreciate.
When you practice this way of positive thinking you may find that your mind will automatically start to search for something positive, something you can appreciate. You will not stay stuck in the negative thought or situation, you move on to the next thought. Once you start focusing on things that go well, you may actually be surprised to find out how much is going well most of the time!
If you would like to implement this approach of positive thinking into your life and make it work, only reading about it is not enough. You actually need to practice it so you can see the results for yourself. Are you willing to give it a try?
