Dear Soul Arcanum:
I know you write a lot about the power of positive thinking and how we manifest our own experiences via our habitual thoughts. My question is how do you remain focused on positive thoughts, and stay away from negative ones? When I can stay positive, the Universe does generally provide me with positive experiences, but when the old negative pattern starts, the Universe also obliges, and I experience not so positive things. I find it hard to remain positive. How do you do it? I really hope you can help me.
Linda
Dear Linda:
This is a very deep spiritual question related to how we interpret our experiences and how we take life’s challenges and transform them into blessings. I believe this is the true meaning of alchemy; instead of turning lead into gold, however, we’re turning so-called negatives into positives.
You already know that you’re creating your reality with your thoughts, and how important it is to think positively, so you have a lot going for you already. Now all you need to do is to begin to develop constructive mental habits. In the words of the great metaphysician William James:
“Refuse to express a passion, and it dies. Count ten before venting your anger, and its occasion seems ridiculous. Whistling to keep up courage is no mere figure of speech. On the other hand, sit all day in a moping posture, sigh, and reply to everything with a dismal voice, and your melancholy lingers. There is no more valuable precept in moral education than this, as all who have experience know: if we wish to conquer emotional tendencies in ourselves, we must assiduously, and in the first instance, cold-bloodedly, go through the outward movements of those contrary dispositions we prefer to cultivate. Smooth the brow, brighten the eye, contract the dorsal rather than the ventral aspect of the frame, and speak in a major key, pass the genial compliment, and your heart must be frigid indeed if it does not gradually thaw.”
If you pretend to be a “positive person” whether you feel positive or not, eventually, you will become a positive person. The more you can express gratitude for life, God and the people you meet, the more gratitude will become a part of your nature, and gratitude is the emotion of the highest vibration. It is synonymous with “pure, positive energy.”
I therefore encourage you to incorporate gratitude exercises in your daily experience. You might try keeping a gratitude journal, making gratitude lists or writing about all the people who have ever inspired or supported or touched you. You could write about aspects of your body, home, life or job that you do like. You could list the good qualities you can find about that coworker who is driving you crazy. There are endless ways to weave gratitude into your routine. Every morning and every night, spend ten minutes on a gratitude exercise. There is a GREAT one available in the Spiritual Toolbox at Soul Arcanum. It’s called Instant Good Mood, is only seven minutes long, and is geared toward helping you find all sorts of things to feel grateful for.
You can also simply stop whenever you notice a negative emotion and ask yourself what is good right at that moment. When I ask myself this question on this chilly autumn morning, I realize that I’m grateful that I have a warm home. (My heat works every time I turn it on – isn’t that wonderful?) I have a nice hot cup of tea sitting on my desk. My computer is working wonderfully, as it always does. (I haven’t always been so blessed!) I have a laundry room piled high with laundry, but lucky for me, my washing machine and dryer are working great. They’re washing and drying the clothes for me while I work at the computer. While my schedule is packed from 5:30 a.m. until 9:00 p.m. tonight, I’m fortunate that I’m healthy enough to keep up with it.
As you can imagine, I could go on and on. Now, this paragraph could have been as negative as it is positive. Thinking positively is simply a matter of looking for blessings and finding them, even when they’re in disguise.
If you’re feeling very low and can’t find the bright side, it’s best to take a break from whatever is getting you down and just play hooky. Do something pleasurable or fun like getting a massage, making love, taking a nap or going to the movies. Cleaning the house is very “clearing” for many people. If you’re feeling heavy, start “feng shuing” all the clutter and scrubbing the surfaces in your environment, and you’ll be feeling better before you know it. After you’ve gotten away from that heavy negative energy, you’ll find it much easier to consciously pivot your way to a more positive frame of mind.
It also helps to study people who are masters at finding opportunities disguised as problems or setbacks. Our public libraries are full of biographies about people who overcame challenges much bigger than any we will ever face. In every recession or depression or messed up state of affairs, while the majority is struggling and floundering, there are some who prosper. These are the positively focused individuals who are always on a hunt for blessings in disguise. It applies not only to business and economics, but to every aspect of our lives: where there is a problem, there is an opportunity. Instead of being a “problem-solver” (which is exhausting), study those people, and become an opportunity finder/creator.
Above all, Linda, do NOT beat yourself up for having negative thoughts. This will only lead you on a downward spiral. We all struggle to remain positive. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t be incarnated as humans here on earth; we’d be teaching personal development seminars in heaven or something. You can’t get rid of negative thoughts, worries and fears by pushing against them; the best way to free yourself is to simply embrace their opposite. Think of a negative thought as being like a shadow: you can attack it, beat at it, push against it, etc., and you won’t have done a thing to it in the end, except perhaps added your own shadow to it. Instead of trying to fight it, simply “turn on the light,” and it will vanish. Shadows can’t exist in the presence of light.
So to become “less negative,” visualize yourself “more positive.” Paste a smile on your face, talk in a cheerful voice, speak positive words. Tell yourself and others that you’re a positive person every chance you get. Your subconscious will believe you and make it true.
Similarly, when you catch yourself worrying about something, pivot away from what you fear will happen, and ask yourself what it is you truly desire. If you’re worried about your husband making it home safe in a snowstorm, instead of visualizing him in a car wreck, visualize what you truly desire: him walking in the door, safe and sound. It’s the same desire; the first thought is negative, the second is positive. If your brain must work on something, give it something “healthy” to chew on.
Emotions will grow stronger and deeper with repetition. The more we practice being positive, the more positive we will become by nature, and the easier it will become to remain so. (Isn’t that lovely?) This is why it’s so important to nip negative thinking in the bud, and to be vigilantly working on mastering our thoughts.
There are countless programs designed to help you manifest your dreams through positive thinking available on the Internet. All of the recordings in Soul Arcanum’s Spiritual Toolbox are designed to take you into a powerful state of consciousness and align you with positive thinking and positive energy so you can create whatever you want in your life. Whenever you find yourself struggling, all you have to do is set aside a few minutes to advantage of these great tools.
May you take great pleasure in your power as a boundless creator of whatever you desire!
– Soul Arcanum
« Is Marijuana Harmful to Your Astral Body? Why Doesn’t Doc have Paranormal Experiences Too? »