The value of Positive Thinking

Who said it is easy to think positively with all the negative people, events and situations around the World? It is not easy to be positive-minded but it is worth making an effort to join the club of a few who control their minds and decide to delete destructive thoughts. Negative thinking is prevalent all around. It makes people give up on life. Before you give up, get some facts right and you will be surprised at how life can get easier with the right choices. If someone asked you, “Is Life easy or hard?” what would you say? The choice is yours; you can decide on whether to make your life easier or difficult. We all have the power to choose. I vividly remember a story I was told at the age of 10, of a shabby beggar who sat on the streets and begged day in and day out. Some passersby felt sorry for him and gave him coins while others despised him. What the daily commuters did not know is that every night the beggar dreamt that he was a happy rich man. His dream came true and one day, the beggar became a rich man. Ironically, the now rich man had nightmares that he was a poor miserable beggar again. This went on for so long until the man could not take it any more and returned to the streets to beg so that he could dream of happier times. The moral of this story is; four Worlds exist in each individual: the Internal World, External World, Positive World and Negative World. What does your mind focus on? Someone said that life is 10 percent and 90 percent of how you respond. That is why people respond differently to same situations. Some come out victorious while others fail. Another example is of two identical twins with a similar background and upbringing whose lives turned out differently. One twin was called Phillip, a successful Lawyer in America and the other Peter, who lived behind bars for 20 years for committing murder. Behavior Researchers from Yale University, US, wanted to know what influenced Phillip and Peter—identical twins with the same background—to turn out differently. The first team visited Peter in prison and asked him why he was locked up. His answer was, “Because my father was a drug addict.” When Phillip his brother was asked why he turned out successful, he said, “Because he did not want to end up a drug addict like his father.” There are several examples throughout history that affirm that, circumstances do not define one’s destiny, but they merely expose true nature. The decisions we make define us and not our circumstances whether they are good, bad and tragic. No human being is exempted from problems, challenges or obstacles. What really matters is how you see problems. Most people see problems as the end of the World, permanent or as curses while a handful who are mega successful, view problems as opportunities in disguise and temporary. In fact, not having problems is a problem in itself because, the only people who are problem less are in the Cemetery.Epictetus a Stotic Philosopher said, “We ought to remove wrong thoughts from our minds more than diseases on our bodies.” Our biggest problem is how to deal with negative thoughts that have taken root in our minds for years.Look out for next week’s discussion on ‘Wrong Thoughts versus Right Thoughts. The author is an Attitude Change Trainer. alec_muhoho@yahoo.co.uk

Insight

The value of Positive Thinking