"Change your thoughts, and you change your world." This is a quote by Norman Vincent Peale. If you have nothing to do, you should read about him sometime. He was an interesting character. Mr. Peale was best known as the author of "The Power of Positive Thinking", although he was also the pastor of Marble Collegiate Church in New York City for over sixty years.
His book was panned by Psychiatrists as being incorrect on many fronts and in some circumstances, downright harmful. I have read the book and found it simplistic, yet helpful in its own way. I do not think that he wrote the book for people who need psychiatric care, but for people who are in a rut and just need a bit of encouragement to get back on the right track. I found it worth the time it took me to read it. To get back to his quote, I find it one of the key underpinnings of his book. Peale believes that how you think will be how you act. If you think that you are a failure at something, you will find it harder to make progress in any endeavor that involves that thing that you feel you are a failure at. Regardless of the science of the matter, I think there is some truth to his way of thinking. I know when I tell myself that I can't do something (for whatever reason), I often find that I am right. Meanwhile, I find that once my thinking changes to something like, "that shouldn't be too tough" or "I should be able to accomplish that" then I find that I nearly always can accomplish it... even if it is the same thing that I had already failed at! Our minds are very powerful, and the way we think can and does influence how we act. Sometimes, we may not even realize that we are thinking ourselves out of happiness or good fortune. Looking back on my life, I see a number of things that I talked myself out of just because of little things that I was telling myself in my head. In fact, I have found that some of the most important things that have ever happened to me (on a positive basis), have happened after I had a sudden change in my thinking. And yet, I am sad to say that I constantly have to stay vigilant about what I am thinking, lest I fall back to pessimism as a way of life. I can tell you, negative thoughts have never helped me to accomplish anything in my life. Yet I needlessly worry nonetheless. Here is a little test for you to try. For one week, block out all negative thoughts in your life. Do not watch the news, read face book or read the newspaper. Do not worry about your diet, or looming bill payments, or any number of little annoyances that you put up with on a daily basis. Instead, focus on the positive things that are happening around you. Look for ways to compliment the people who you meet throughout the day at least three times a day. Don't force it! Look for little ways that you appreciate people. It might be by saying "thanks for bagging" to the bag boy at the super market, or "Hey, nice earrings" to the girl who serves you coffee at Mc Donalds. Whatever it is that you say, just make sure its genuine. Secondly, instead of focusing on your problems, focus on ways you can make them less troublesome. Will waking up five minutes earlier help ypu get some of your chores done before work rather than afterwork? Will avoiding a particularly grumpy family member keep you in a better state of mind? I don't know what you need to feel happier, but find little ways to make it so. In the end, our lives are our own. Only we can make ourselves happier. We all have responsibilities that need to be taken care of. Even so, we can be happier. Changing the way you think about your life IS the first step in actually changing your life. Change the way you think, and you will change your life!
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