Think PositiveThere have been reams of literature written that encourage positive thinking and for good reason – it's excellent advice! It all goes back to the old adage, "A man's mind can make a Heaven of Hell, or a Hell of Heaven!" So, think positive - it can do you a world of good! A similar observation was brought forth poignantly in Dr. Viktor Frankl's book, "Man's Search for Meaning". This is an extraordinary book and if you ever get the chance to read it, do yourself a favor and do so. Dr. Frankl survived the horrors of being incarcerated at Auschwitz Concentration Camp during World War Two. He lost his entire family and saw horrors that would make even the hardiest soul cringe with shame for its relationship to humanity! He did, however, make a telling observation about humanity and wrote about it years later in his book, "Man's Search for Meaning". His observation was that we can suffer almost anything . . . if we can attach some sort of meaning or purpose to our suffering. In other words - try to find something positive even in difficulty. This is not only the premise of Dr. Frankl's book, but is also a clue to the most powerful weapon we have to face life with – our minds! Give this serious consideration. We really do have the power to set ourselves free from the past and set a more rewarding course in life if we can learn to condition our thinking to work for us instead of against us. We can aid this process if we learn to - think positive! Consider this for a moment and I think you will see my point. If we take into consideration that most of us have minds that are continually churning we realize that hundreds and perhaps thousands of thoughts flit through our minds daily. It would be practically impossible to monitor each and every one of these thoughts, but we do have an aid in doing so. This is almost like an alarm bell that let's us know when our "self-talk" gets off track. This alarm is our feelings! Our feelings can warn us when our thoughts begin to work against us and remind us to get back on track and think positive. Try this exercise. Imagine something from your past that you felt was quite hurtful. We all have had painful experiences in our lives, so this should be easy for anyone to do. Notice how your mood drops as you recall the feelings you felt so long ago; even years later these memories can still evoke feelings of pain, sadness, shame and guilt. This is a perfect example of how our thoughts create our reality! It doesn't have to be this way.This is a perfect example of what happens if we don't think positively. We can learn to monitor our thoughts by using our feelings as a guide. The next time you find yourself angry or feeling depressed, stop yourself. Trace back your thoughts and try to pinpoint what you were thinking that caused the cycle of thoughts that led to your anger or angst. If you look closely enough and do this often enough, you can find the triggers that flit through your mind that set these feelings off. Become aware of these triggers and let them become a warning to you so that you can remember to think positive! This may not seem so easy at first, but with practice you can achieve mastery of this technique and you're sure to see an improvement in your moods. Obviously, this doesn't mean you will never be angry or upset. It does mean, though, that you can acquire greater mastery of your moods and emotions by learning that you may be responding more to your thoughts of a particular situation than to the reality of it. We all have troublesome memories in our lives. If we have a habit of continually picking at them like a scab on a festering wound that's trying to heal, we will continually mire ourselves in these bad feelings. This, again, is another way we turn our most precious commodity – a day of our life – into more misery. We can do this even years after an event has occurred to us. We need to free ourselves from the shackles of the past by taking greater control of our thoughts in order to be able to have more ability to control our moods, our feelings and our reality. For some people forgiveness can help. We need to keep in mind that life can be a struggle for others just as it can be for us. When I was a boy I hated my Mother! I felt she was psychotic and literally wondered how long it would be before she actually killed me! I refer to my childhood as, "How I Spent My Summer Vacation at Auschwitz!" This, of course, is not to make light of the plight of the Jewish people and the Holocaust, but because I lived in a state of constant terror, literally wondering when I too might be murdered. I grew up around criminals, alcoholics, drug addicts, prostitutes, wife-beaters, child abusers, and so forth. From the time I was a child I kept asking myself, "Who in the world left the door open on the lunatic asylum!" Again, I’m not disparaging those that are mentally or emotionally challenged, but as a child I really did believe the world seemed to be filled with insanity. I’m sure that anyone that watches the evening news would agree with me! My Mother's life came to a tragic end one morning when she decided to blow out the brains of her second husband and then turned the gun on herself. She was 39. Today, rather than hating my Mother, I actually pity her. Some may find forgiving your tormentors difficult to do, but keep in mind that even these people that may have taken delight in making us miserable have demons of their own. I found out years after my Mother's suicide that as a teenager she had been repeatedly sexually assaulted by her own father! Her younger sister tells me this seemed to snap her mind. Small wonder that she was left with a hatred for men that she took out on me, her son. This is how violence can get handed down from one generation to the next and becomes hereditary. So give forgiveness consideration, not just for the sake of your tormentor but, more importantly, for your own sake. Tying yourself to past hurts can do nothing for you but make you a slave to the past and rob you of a brighter future. I could still hate my Mother, but she's been dead for years. That hatred would work the same on me as it did on her – it would destroy me. Someone once said that the ultimate revenge is success! Think about it – it's true! Don't make yourself a slave to the past. Free yourself and you can make a better life for yourself. This all begins with learning to emphasize the positive in our lives and trying to keep the negative in perspective. This isn't magic and does require a bit of practice and effort, but it is far from impossible. It is imperative to do this if you have had a dismal past. If someone robbed you of your happiness in the past, don't allow this to continue in the present. Fill your life with the joy and beauty that abounds in our world. The world is filled with the wonders of nature, beautiful music that's uplifting, poetry and other books, paintings, sculpture and many other sources of beauty. When you're feeling troubled, open yourself to the beauty that surrounds you. Your friends, good food, even helping those less fortunate than yourself is another form of beauty that you can bring into our troubled world. This world can be a painful place, but it is also a place of wondrous beauty and joy. We must allow ourselves to look past the doom and gloom and embrace the fellowship in the wonder of Creation. We can do this if we begin by focusing on the positive in life and directing our thoughts accordingly. Do you understand now why so many people advocate positive thinking? When we think positively we may see more clearly the opportunities that life affords us to make a better life for ourselves! We need to remember to be positive with
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