I have read at least a dozen books to help me try and change my daily thought pattern.
When I boiled down the pages they all said the same thing. “Think positively". Two words, how hard can that be? It is very easy to say those 2 words but it is something totally different to practice them. When I asked myself why, I came up with the following list of reasons why.
- Life’s lesson is “Anything worthwhile is never easy to come by."
- My parents taught me that “You must work for what you want."
- The lessons learned in school are summed up to say “There is no such thing as a free lunch."
With those lessons surrounding me, how do I simply apply positive thinking into my daily routine? It breaks all of the life lessons I have learned because to think positively I don’t have to work hard to have good thoughts. I don’t have to earn anything to keep the thoughts and I don’t have to give anything to get good those thoughts. Again, sounds simple right? Then why do I feel guilty?
Guilt is one of those life lessons that creeps in like the fog. Sometimes you can see through it, and other times it is so thick that it totally blocks your vision. Again, I think “simple" and then “not so simple". Now, I feel guilty due to the simplicity. There has to be something really wrong with me. Right? Wrong!
Taking a deep breath I realized, my life’s happiness is in my hands. Maybe those books taught me more and I realized. And I need to make a choice, do I want to continue to let other peoples negative lessons rule my life or do I want to live my life more simply, more happily? Thinking it through completely I realized there is only one choice. I choose happy.
Like anything we do that we want to do right we start with a plan. Here is my 4 step plan.
Step 1. Take the Positive Thinking Pulse: Understand what your hopes and fears are before you begin so that when you feel one or the other you can either embrace the satisfaction or recognize the fear and not let it wreck the progress made.
Am I ready to starting thinking positive? Yes.
Am I strong enough to control the urge to think negatively and change it to positive? Yes, well maybe but I have to try right?
Step 2. Make a list – of thoughts that will help remind you what your goals are if they are like mine they read. “Smile", it tells your face to be happy. Your face tells your brain and your brain tells your conscience. Next my list says “Live – you only get one chance." Then it says “Enjoy today. Look forward to tomorrow."
Step 3. Practice Positive Thinking – Make this apart of your daily routine. Like any successful athlete to be really good they have to practice every day. To be really good at Positive thinking we must also practice everyday.
Step 4. Reevaluate – Are you really practicing thinking positively? Are you making progress?
This is the simple plan, to a simply happier life. Write to me and share with me your progress. phelps.steph@comcast.net
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