How to Make Positive Thining Work For You

"Positive Thinking" seems to be the panacea to the resolution of all problems. Establishing a positive mindset is the main theme of self improvement gurus from Norman Vincent Peale, Napoleon Hill and Dale Carnegie to modern day motivational and inspirational proponents. Webster reminds us that MINDSET is "a fixed way of thinking, a mental attitude that determines and influences events and circumstances".

While a positive mindset can produce positive results, any deviation into a negative mindset can cancel the positive intent and yield negative results.

Unfortunately, I have heard some well respected motivational speakers proclaim a position that, from my perspective, will perpetuate less than desirable results because they are devoid of any demonstrable operating, scientific principles.

Too seldom, they do not realize that positiveness is a precise, scientific natural law and principle and not a mood or emotion that can be turned on and off. Webster tells us that anything POSITIVE is "that which is real, not speculative, not fictitious and logically affirmative. It is that which has or expresses actual existence". Nothing wishy-washy here!

At one time or another, I think we have all witnessed a new devotee to this philosophy: they put on a silly grin, look like they just swallowed a goldfish, proclaim all is sweetness and light while throwing rose petals at the feet of the devil hoping that somehow he will be appeased.

Positiveness is not a game. It is a power that is unopposed, irrevocable and cannot be successfully challenged, debated, circumvented or modified. Positiveness is an infinite power that is a law of annihilation to anything that would opposes it. Positiveness cannot tolerate anything unlike itself; it is a self enforcing law that is totally impersonal. Its operation is not something you or I can influence no matter how fervently we want the outcome to "go our way".

I'm reminded of the story of a young school girl who tried to maintain a positive perspective following a geography test. Apparently she began to have some doubts about her answers. because in her prayers at bedtime, she was heard to say, "...and please, God, make Chicago the capitol of California".

Attempts to direct our positive attitude toward preconceived conclusions, however well-intentioned, can be frustrating, misleading and, too often, disappointing.

I know a person who was just informed that it would be a good idea to seek alternative employment. Being an advocate of positive thinking, he built a good positive attitude about employment and implemented a plan to get a job. What he failed to realize was that his attitude to "get" a job, implied that he did not have one. Our minds will produce its content so his intent to "get" a job carried a negative connotation.

Be alert! "I want" is another way of saying "I don't have" and is likely to produce a lack. He would have been better off had he proclaimed that in the infinity of his true identity he was ALREADY employed and structured his mindset to be responsive to the "events and circumstances" that must, by law, unfold. This is "positive expectancy"; knowing the answer BEFORE it happens.

Like any "law", positiveness has an implied opposite. "Opposites", according to Webster, are, "elements that are so far and diverse as to be totally irreconcilable one to the other". The opposite of "positive" is "negative" which Webster defines simply as "the opposite or negation of something". It is, therefore, without power, authority and is self-destructive.

So when invoking a positive mindset, keep "you" out of the way as you would when invoking the laws and principles of mathematics when you balance your checkbook. Keep your mind open to provide the right mental environment (mindset) that will permit the law to express itself as the "events and circumstances" that comprise your entire life experience. This action is mandated by law. And LAW is defined by Webster as "a principle that always works and is enforced by a governing authority". And what is that "governing authority"? It is included in Webster's definition of natural laws and principles: "the creative and controlling forces of the universe".