Re: Positive Thinking: What's It All About?

[Guest guest]

I'm having difficulty agreeing with this person's perception of positive and

negative thinking. Here is my view...

Having negative thoughts doesn'tt necessarily mean that you aren't a positive

thinker and being a positive thinker doesn't mean that you ignore fear and take

crazy risks.  In the context of this article, I would substitute the word

realistic for negative.

A realistic recognition of limitations and listening to intuitive feelings is

not negative thinking. Negative thinking involves listening to repetitive

thoughts in our mind, thoughts that are based on unhealthy fears or ideas put in

our mind by others. For example, when contemplating a new or challenging

activity, if you tell yourself, I won't be able to do this, because I always

failed or I'm not smart enough to figure it out, then that is negative

thinking.  It is not based on fact. It's based on untrue beliefs about yourself.

In that case, it is very helpful to learn to block the unhealthy tapes from

playing in your head and replace them with positive thoughts, realistic

thoughts, about yourself and your abilities. For example, if you hear yourself

say I can't ask yourself, why not? If there is no good answer, then maybe you

should give it a try. Many times the glass ceiling holding us back isn't there

at all, we just think its there due to our negative thinking. 

In addition, having fear isn't Fear is an intuitive emotion that can spare us

from harm, if it's heeded.  For example, a person may be walking along on a path

and have a wave of fear pass over her. She could ignore these intuitive feelings

as negative or she could wisely listen to her instincts, which are likely

signals that her conscious mind is missing, and get herself out of harms way.

In other words, to guard against negative thinking, recognize your true

limitations and focus on the things you can do, take care not to impose

unfounded limits on yourself, block fictional negative tapes from playing in

your head, and be willing to try new things that aren't likely to do you harm.

Give yourself a chance!