Positive Thinking

Positive Thinking... Can You Have Too Much of It?

It is a saying that anything in moderation is good, while the same in excess is not good.  That is almost certainly true of many things, but probably not in the areas of love or positive thinking. 

Positive thinking cannot hurt you.  It cannot hurt to think positively when things are not going so well. I see this in baseball all the time.  As an avid fan of the game, I can see how some players let bad plays or calls that go against them affect them negatively.  Now, instead of just striking out, they make a bad play in the field because they were still thinking about that strikeout.  Bringing negative thoughts onto the field, they 'carried their at-bat' to the field.  Baseball, like life, is a game in which you need to learn from your successes as well as failures and move on, without hanging on to either one.  This is not easy, but necessary.

I have also seen guys at the plate fail in one at-bat, make an adjustment, only to drive a run in they could not do before.  Baseball, like life, requires you to make adjustments and think positively as often as possible.  When you think positively, good things tend to happen.  On the other side, if you expect to fail or to have a bad experience, you probably will.  It is largely self-fulfilling prophecy.

It is especially hard to stay positive when 'negative' things continue to seemingly 'happen to you.'  I know all about that.  But we must perservere and know that with relentless positivity, things will come around, no matter how hard they may seem.  As I said, it cannot hurt to always learn and therefore take something positive out of every experience. 

Positive Thinking... Every Day

Positive thinking has to take place every day to be effective.  The better you want to feel, the more you must practice positive thinking.  It is a choice.  A choice to choose joy over pain.  It is not easy to do this every day.  Sometimes we do not overcome negativity.  But we always have a choice to do so if we want to.  It is there for the taking. 

Positive Thinking... It Takes Persistence

Positive thinking takes persistence.  We must be unrelenting.  We must do whatever it takes to keep our attitude upbeat and positive.  In a world that seems all too often to delight in bringing others down, we must be especially vigilant in keeping positive in a not-so-positive world. 

Clearly, this is not easy to do.  It is a challenge for me.  It can be a challenge for anyone.  It begins with awareness - awareness to our own negativity within, stopping for a moment, then replacing our negativity with something positive and uplifting.  It definitely takes practice and persistence, but in time, it will become easier.  The point is to never stop - to never give up.  We do contol our feeling about the world, about others, about ourselves...

Positive Thinking... Even When it's Hard

Being positive when things are going good is easy.  The positive thoughts seem to come directly from our positive experiences.  But the reverse can be true as well.  Positive thoughts can lead to positive expieriences.  Self-fulfilling prophecy can be a good or a bad thing depending on your point of view.  We can expect bad things to happen, and when we do, it seems bad situations and circumstances find us.  But... when we expect good things to happen, it seems good things find us.  That's just the way things tend to go.  It has been said we get what we expect, or what we wish for.  That is not always the case, but if it is even 1/2 true, it's good to know we can in a sense, "invite" more good into our lives than bad.    

Positive Thinking... You are What You Think You Are

I have noticed from the reactions of others that they must think more of me than I sometimes do of myself.  I am greeted with genuine good cheer when inside I feel insecure or very unattractive.  I have come to learn it is not necessarily about "being perfect."  That is not possible.  We are always a "work in progress" if you will.  That is the nature of things.  It is about how we feel about ourselves and how we present ourselves and that self-attitude to others. 

If I feel good about myself, I exude that to others, no matter whether I'm in shape, out of shape, or somewhere in  between.  The reverse is also true.  I tend to get a bit hung up on physical appearance because I don't think I look very good right now physically.  I can easily let that affect how I feel about myself, as if my body is "me" when it is just an aspect of my being.  That is important to remember when we get down on ourselves.  Positive thinking about what we have, instead of negative thoughts about what we have not... that is what must be practiced. 

Positive Thinking...Positive Living

Our thoughts are our lives.  I have been as guilty as anyone of saying the grass is greener on someone else's side.  But I don't know their situation.  I don't know their everyday struggles.  Yet if I'm not happy with my life or think I'm in a difficult spot, I find it easy to look at someone else's life who appears to "have it better" than I do and envy them.  This is not necessary.

First of all, there is nothing you can do about someone else's life.  It doesn't help your life to think about someone else's.  If you want to take positive inspiration from someone else who is successful, that is great.  But remember, you will find your own way to be happy, to find your true bliss.  We all have to find our own way.  That is the beauty and sometimes, the horror of living.  But positive thinking can help when we want to envy others or feel sorry for ourselves. 

If you always think positively while still looking at situations realistically, you can strike a nice balance between being positive yet also realistic enough to know what needs to be done to improve your life.  I have always found I am the least happy when I'm sitting around worrying about my problems, and not doing anything about them.  We are not helpless.  We do have the ability to overcome our hardships.  The positive thought can be that we are in control and can do something, can choose something every day to see the abundance, the goodness in all our lives...

Positive Thinking... A Great 'Friend'

Positive thinking can be a kind of 'angel on your shoulder,' or a good friend when in times of trouble.  We all need support and encouragement because life can be hard - at times very hard.  It is easy to listen to the news, the drama of our family and friends and get down on things.  It happens to me.  It can very easily happen to anyone. 

Fortunately we have a good friend who can help us - ourselves.  If we counter all negativity with something positive - to "look on the bright side" as it were, we can help keep our vitality and happiness.  Negativity brings us down and exhausts us - physically, mentally, and spiritually.  It literally "sucks the life" out of us.  We need to remember ourselves and what we really want - a life of happiness and self-fulfillment.  Positive thinking can help us on that road. 

Positive Thinking... It Must be Practiced

To do anything well in this life, we need to practice - or at least, to excel at anything in life.  Practice involves a conscious commitment to doing something on a regular basis - doing something because we care to do it.  If any of us care to be happy and overcome the negativity that surrounds us day after day, we need to practice positive thinking.  This is not always easy.

Somehow if we can get into a routine of replacing our excuse-making and self-destructive thoughts to affirmations and positive thoughts, to "drown out" as it were the negativity, we will go a long way to being much happier on the inside.  It is also a good idea to begin the day with positive thoughts such as "It's going to be a great day."  Learning to recognize the "little gifts" we get each day for free from life... a beautiful morning, a gentle rain, a cool breeze.  Just the simple acknowledgement of these gifts is positive thinking...

Positive Thinking... It Really Works

I used to not buy into the notion of "positive thinking."  I used to think I was not in control of my thoughts.  But I am in control of my thoughts... how I feel about someone or something.  While I may not be able to choose all the things that happen in my life, I can control what I do about these things and how I look at them.  In an oftentimes "me-first" society we are often taught either blatantly or subconsciously to blame others for our problems, but ultimately, the only person who can control our lives is ourselves. 

This is a great truth.  And when you think about it, why would you ever want to chain your life to what other's do?  That's an impossible proposition.  We can never control the actions of others, and not surprisingly, it is precisely when we try to control others... that we fail to be happy in our lives.  We may pout and fret about having the responsibility for our lives placed squarely at our feet, but we simply have no other choice.  It is a universal truth.  It is natural law.  As natural and inevitable as gravity.  Nobody has responsibility for our lives but we ourselves. 

Positive Thinking... It All Begins in the Mind

Positive thinking can be shaken off as a bunch of hogwash by some, and many cannot or do not realize the amazing impact thoughts have on our lives.  Others however, do realize the impact of our thoughts.  Why else would some government leaders and those in control fret as much as they do about controlling the thoughts of the people? 

The reason is because everything we do... everything begins with a thought.  Our thoughts proceed all we do - the actions, the motivation... everything... everything save involuntary movement such as your heart beating and such.  We must look at a situation, try to take a step back, look at it as objectively as possible, and do what we feel is best after looking at the situation.