The Power Of Positive Thinking – A Rebuttal

Motivation:

I read an article yesterday on the internet that actually put me off a bit. That’s my motivation for this video, so I am actually grateful that I read it even thought it put me off because it motivated me to write this and to record another video.

Clarification:

I want to clarify a few things based on this article about “Positive Thinking”. Positive thinking does not mean I ignore my problems and pretend that everything is ok when it isn’t. It means I confront my problems head on and address them in a positive manner. It means that instead of talking about how “Fat” I am, I talk about how I am not happy with the shape I’m and then immediately place and keep my focus on what great shape I want to be in. These are the positive thoughts that will take me into the next right action.

Negative vs. Positive thinking:

Positive thinking means I don’t wallow in self pity and suck the life out of the people around me. It means I have people in my life that I can lean on for help. It means recognizing the difference between leaning on someone and seeking help and simply dumping my problems on someone. To clarify, simply talking about my problems doesn’t get me anywhere in the long run. It helps me for a few moments, but unless I am prepared to do something about it – unless I am prepared to take suggestions and take action I am wasting my time and the time of the person I am talking to. We all know at least one person in our lives who sits around complaining constantly about their problems but never actually getting off their butts and doing something about it.

Finding Fault:

In my experience and in all of the literature I’ve read, positive thinking doesn’t mean that I can simply think my way into being what and who I want. The thoughts must be followed up by actions. It starts with a thought though so I need to be practiced in positive thinking so that the action I take is a good one. So that the action I take will help me in the direction of making my life a little better. If I find a flaw like this I have a choice – I can take a negative tack and throw it all aside, or I can say the overall message is a good one and I will put things in their proper context so that I can benefit instead of excluding myself from it.

Take what you need and leave what you don’t:

I did read one section in the secret where a woman suggests that you can simply think about being thin and still eat whatever you want and be in good shape. Sorry but that just defies the laws of physics, so I am not going to hold with that theory. Sometimes I think people will stretch the truth to make a point. It is important when I am reading literature or listening to someone speak that I take it all in and then decide what works for me. Myself I am going to think this year in terms of how I want to be in good health and good shape and I am going to follow that up by eating a healthier diet and exercising more consistently.

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Building Relationships

One of the things I get excited about today is meeting new people. Mike Dooley (www.tut.com) says that you should always be doing “something”. If I am unemployed and I sit at home then it is likely nothing will happen. But if I get out there and do “something” then “something” will happen. What I think this translates to in terms of actual experience is that by getting out there and doing “something” I will very possibly meet other human beings. As I meet these strange beings, I will begin to develop relationships with them. We talk about the laws of attraction like they are some mystical phenomenon. Here’s an example I like to use where the laws of attraction are very obvious and practical in nature. If I get out there with a positive attitude then 2 things begin to happen. One, I am out there doing something and two I am out there with a positive attitude. Well by being out there and doing something with a positive attitude I am going to attract people to me. This isn’t mystical and it isn’t metaphysical. It’s literal. Aren’t you attracted to people with a positive attitude? Isn’t that why you are reading this? Don’t you like reading something positive? So if I am out there with a positive attitude, then I am going to attract people to me. More than likely these are going to be other people with a positive attitude or at the very least a desire to be around those with positive attitudes in order to learn how to have ones themselves.

Coming to the point, when I attract people to me in this manner they will come with all kinds of opportunities. In Leveraging the Universe and Engaging the magic, Mike Dooley talks about an example of a guy who takes a job at a restaurant waiting tables even though he really needs to earn more money than this job affords. I am very roughly paraphrasing this. The guy does the job with gratitude and a great attitude. This gets noticed and eventually attracts the attention of the right person and he is ultimately lead from this experience to a very successful career.

When we get out there we get an opportunity to meet people. We begin to build relationships with them. This is very important in business and it is even more important (and I think often overlooked) in our personal lives. We don’t think of “networking” in our personal lives, but I propose the following. That we should be networking in our personal lives very much like what we do in business, but with a different end in mind. In my personal life my ultimate goal is to grow as a person. To learn to be more loving, caring, courteous, kind. To be a better husband, friend, son and so on. So shouldn’t I be “networking” or for that matter looking to surround myself with people who serve as an example of these things? If I recognize that someone I know is really respectful of his wife and instead of talking about what a “this” she is or a “that” she is he is talking about what an amazing partner she is – that’s the person I want to be around to learn how to be a better husband. On the other hand when I encounter the person bad mouthing his wife, I want to encourage him if I can to focus on what he can do to improve his relationship with his wife and a good first step might be to stop bad-mouthing her to his friends.

So I start to think about the people I want to surround myself with in business and in my personal life. The simple generic answer is to surround myself with positive people. Summarizing and taking it one step further I want to look for people who serve as an example to me of what I want to become. Then I can start asking them for guidance – this of course take a very important key life ingredient to be able to ask someone for guidance or help..

Shhh – don’t tell anyone. It’s a secret..

humility