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Making a Habit of Thinking Happily
By Todd | December 21, 2007
I have written several articles on positive thinking and the law of attraction, and am always surprised by how many readers privately contact me with strong skepticism. “Do you really practice these techniques” and “do you really find that it works” I am asked.
And although the answer is generally “yes” to these questions, I have made an even firmer commitment over the last several months to integrate positive self-talk in my life. The results: I am now an even firmer believer in the practice of positive thinking…and I am going to explain why.
More than ever I have come to understand that positive thinking is a technique that actually becomes a way of life, and a way of being. After a while, thinking positively becomes a habit and your mind naturally shifts to a more positive outlook concerning your situations and the world around you.
However unreal this may sound to you, I can assure you it can be a very powerful and life-changing exercise to start yourself down the path of becoming a positive thinker. How do you do it? Well, for starters I recommend browsing through the following articles on the subject:
7 Effective Ways To Implement Positive Thinking
How to Break Out of Bad habits Using Affirmations
Why The Law of Attraction Does Not work For You
These pieces will get you going in the right direction. However, since I have been on such a positive quest of my own, and am constantly learning new things, I would like to add a few critical insights:
1. Realize That Flexing the Muscle of Positive Thought is Equivalent to a Workout Routine
You must understand this if you are to EVER going to habituate positive thinking. When you physically work out your body you are only doing so for about an hour a day, and maybe 4 or 5 times a week. When you are contemplating “working out” your thoughts, you are talking about a project that ensues 24/7.
And make no mistake, this is hard, HARD work. But the reward is worth it—living a life in an optimistic manner, being proactive, and knowing you can attract any situation you desire.
2. Create Several “Catch Phrases” As You Shift Your Thoughts
In order to really become a positive thinker, you must make a firm commitment to begin listening to the little chatterbox in your head. As soon as you notice thoughts of fear, anger, jealousy, or anything else that you consider negative popping up, you purposefully shift your internal dialogue to more productive thoughts.
I highly recommend creating several catch-phrase statements that you can use when negativity surfaces. Here are some examples:
I am attracting all the right people and situations
I have great abundance in every area of my life
I am creating a successful day
Have these statements readily available to you. As soon as you notice negativity going on in your head (and you will be SHOCKED at first by how much it goes on), repeat the words over and over again, either out loud or internally.
You may feel a little ridiculous in the beginning, but stick with it. Soon your chatterbox will naturally flow in the direction of the language you are entraining it. I recommend creating at least five catch phrases that are specific to the negativity which constantly swirls inside you.
Work out that mind of yours!!
3. Generate Feelings As You Speak (or think) Positively
This is the part I did not fully understand at first, but as soon as I began generating appropriate feelings with the words I was feeding myself, the pull of positivity in my life began to unfold at a much faster rate.
Let me give you an example: I was sitting on the subway one day and I began to notice that my mind was worrying and stressing about money. As soon as I noticed this, I pulled one of my catch phrases out: “I have great abundance in every area of my life” and started saying it over and over again in my mind.
To make this activity even more powerful I intentionally generated the feelings associated with having great abundance. As I was saying the words, I began imagining abundance in health, creativity, friends, money, and wherever my mind took me. After 5 minutes of doing this, I felt more receptive to the world around me, as if opportunity could strike at any and every moment of my life.
The skeptics will ask “well, did it”? And the answer is this: when you start living in this manner, you understand that the external benefits are not always immediate, or even noticeable. So did gold strike me at the moment of shifted perception on the subway? Probably not. But I can tell you that I have seen a direct proportion of opportunities presenting themselves in my life to the amount of time I have spent thinking positively.
Additionally, when you start purposefully creating feelings with positive self talk, you put yourself in a better mood. Quite simply, you just start feeling better in the present moment, and isn’t that something worthwhile on its own? The bottom line is that the habit works, but it takes time and dedication!
Lastly, I received a very nice note from a WTC reader about positive thinking, and her results from the articles. Here is what my friend Passioneer had to say:
“I’ve been thinking positive lately and it’s working! Not only am I having better days, I seem to be attracting the things I want. Those little things that i cant seem to get before - like a parking slot - seem to be readily available for me now. Anyway, i hope i could attract a million euros. That would take the cake”!
SO, make it your #1 New Years resolution to become a positive thinker in 2008. To me, there is no personal development activity more powerful than this…
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Topics: Perspective, Other Personal Growth |
Thank you again for enlightening me, As I read your blog positivity entails me along the way, It is what I have in store for me this 2008, This is really my year!
Posted by: Migo on December 23rd, 2007 at 4:41 amThanks Migo! And if you think 2008 is your year….than it will be!
Posted by: Todd on December 23rd, 2007 at 11:45 amTodd
Thank you for reminding me of God’s promise! We are to live abundantly! And I will! This will be the begining of somethng very powerful!
Thanks again!
Posted by: Tamara on December 26th, 2007 at 3:36 amThank you Tamara. Anytime
Posted by: Todd on December 26th, 2007 at 10:39 amTodd
Good post! I started practicing these techniques and similar less than year ago. The result is incredible. I forgot what stress is. I breath with full chest. I stopped being workaholic. I spend way much more time with my kids. I smile more.
Posted by: Alik on December 26th, 2007 at 4:37 pmWhile the techniques list is incredibly long, in fact endless, I think one is worth mentioning. It is being motivated by failure. Instead spending the energy on feeling sorry as a result of a failure I try concentrating it on improvement - “Ok, what I learned? How can I improve it?”. I do not say “fail more” – not at all. I say use your energy o turn failure into motivation for success. Sort of positive thinking, no?
Candace Pert’s books, Molecules of Emotion and Everything you need to Feel Go(o)d, explain how every cell in our body has receptors for hormones. The ones we use the most, populate the cell while the others (unused), drop off.
What this means is that we lose the ability to receive those hormones. That’s why our body falls into habits of thinking–it’s a physical manifestation of repetitive thoughts.
The good news is: we can train our brains by practicing positive thoughts that will release hormones that make us feel good–and eventually, those receptors will populate and win the day!
Posted by: SootheSayer on January 20th, 2008 at 9:14 amTodd, you got it right! I love the the title of this blog post. Habit + Thinking + Happy! They are the 3 most important key words for understanding happiness. Another independent article titled “the psychology of happiness and unhappiness” explores the logic, mindset and thinking pattern of happy and unhappy personalities. The article confirms that it all in our mind and our thinking habits. According to Med Yones, the author, “What’s important is that with the knowledge of how your thinking is impacting your life, you now have a new alternative. By simply choosing to lead a happier lifestyle and continuously training your mind to think in positive patterns, you can improve your emotional well-being as well as the quality of your life immensely.”
The articles says that only through mind programming can we become happier. Programming according to the study is simply practice and repetition to develop positive thinking and emotional habits. The study differentiates between positive thinking and programming (which seems more about actions) as follows “Positive thinking is the effect not the cause. Positive thinking or affirmations may or may not lead to change and if they do, they are limited to temporary mood improvement. The full text of the study can be found at:
Posted by: Life Happiness on February 6th, 2008 at 3:35 pmhttp://www.lifehappiness.org/psychologyofhappiness/
Thanks for all the wonderful and thoughful comments to this article….much appreciated!
Posted by: Todd on February 6th, 2008 at 5:29 pm-Todd