Updated February 8, 2018
In Part 1 of this series, we talked a little about the importance of our thoughts. We looked at the impact both positive and negative thinking can have on us and those around us. In this post, I want to focus a little more on the power of positive thinking.
Mind Over Matter
Let’s start with a little secret….You can do and accomplish anything that you think you can. Let that sink in for a minute. Read it again. I call it a little secret, but once you start to recognize the truth in this statement and start to live your life by it, it can have a huge impact.
You have actually seen this mantra it in action lots of times. You see it in the preschooler who’s told by her mom that she can ride a bike without training wheels. You see it in athletes who run faster, jump higher, and accomplish more now than ever because they visualize themselves doing it before they approach the start line. You see it in your friend who sets out to build a side business and creates something valuable out of nothing.
When you train yourself to think positively, you increase the opportunities that open up to you. It makes you more confident and causes you to say “Yes” more often when those opportunities knock on your door. In short, positive thinking can make you more successful.
A Simple Example
Two high school girls, Jill and Jan, had a science project that required them to each build a robot. Neither have done anything like this before.
|
Jill’s Response |
Jan’s Response |
|
I’ve never done this before.
|
It’s an opportunity to
learn something new. |
| It’s too complicated. | I’ll tackle it from a different angle. |
| There’s no way it will work. | I’ll make it work. |
| I’m not going to get better at this. | I’ll give it another try. |
|
I don’t have the tools to do this. |
Necessity is the mother of invention. |
Jill doesn’t put a lot of energy into her performance as she’s convinced herself that building a robot was impossible. Jan, on the other hand, has a willingness to learn and be challenged. That’s positive thinking in action!
“If you don’t like something, change it.
If you can’t change it, change your attitude.”
~Maya Angelou
Managing the Darkness
What do you think my husband and I thought when we were told our daughter needed to be delivered urgently at 26 weeks, weighing less than 1.5 pounds? We were presented with the sobering statistics of her poor prognosis, and we could have slid down the slippery slope of despair. However, we chose to focus on the fact that she had already beaten the odds of being conceived in the first place (my husband and I struggled with infertility for many, many years. Our first daughter was adopted and we needed help from OB/Gyn to get pregnant with our son). We celebrated every gram of weight gain and saw all of the tubes and wires she was attached to as tools to get her well. When she was diagnosed with a bowel perforation, we were scared, but we knew she was under the care of the best pediatric surgeon in the area. Thinking positively helped us to discover the everyday miracles that can be easily taken for granted.
In summary, attracting positive energy from the universe is not all hocus pocus. It’s about creating a positive attitude, promoting self-esteem, and believing enough in yourself and your circumstances to persevere. I’m not naïve to think that positive thinking will heal your broken leg, fix the leak in your bathroom, or make an extra $500 per month fall into your lap—it’s just not going to happen! Instead, I believe it helps you get through recovery and physical therapy with a better attitude. It makes you call the plumber or get out the tools to fix the bathroom leak. And, it encourages you to ask your boss for a raise or promotion and actually get one!
Call to Action: Consider Jill & Jan’s example. Who do you identify with more?
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