I see a beautiful world, with two sorts of humans. Some people look at everything in life as something that happens to them. They think that their problems are created by someone or something else, from a parent who didn’t raise them well to the government that is collecting high taxes. They assume that success depends on luck, or an unfair advantage through someone or something (like having a rich dad, or committing tax fraud). These people feel irresponsible for their life, complain a lot, and criticize anything and anyone but themselves. They see mostly negative things.
Successful people look at everything in life as something that they made happen. They realize that their challenges are created by them, e.g. they gave their parents a hard time, or didn’t ask financial experts for advice. They (therefore) know that success depends on them, maybe with help from someone or something (like a dad who, despite his shortcomings, taught them money management, or a government that, despite having disadvantages, does support rookie entrepreneurs). These people feel responsible for their life, cheer a lot, and criticize nothing and no one but themselves. They see mostly positive things.
How do you see the world? Are you a natural pessimist or optimist? Do you mostly see problems or opportunities? The answers indicate whether you currently have a more negative versus more positive mental attitude – NMA versus PMA, as Napoleon Hill and W. Clement Stone call it in their self-help classic Success Through A Positive Mental Attitude. Maybe you’re like most people; in the middle? You might try to focus on good things around you, but catch yourself of complaining about someone or something once in a while. And even if you’re in the ‘constantly complaining’ group now, I am here to tell you that there is hope. Sounds good?
Only you control your mind, so only you control your life
A couple of years back in time, I was both happy about some things, and complaining about some stuff – when Napoleon Hill’s Think And Grow Rich (a condensed and popularized version of The Law Of Success In Sixteen Lessons) found me. My previously ‘unconscious incompetence’ became ‘conscious incompetence’, and I began to implement techniques to move from NMA to PMA. By practicing this on a ‘conscious competence’ base for quite some time, I’m now thinking more positive than I ever did before, and I’m doing it more and more automatically – as I’m getting closer to the ‘unconscious competence’ level.
Once you develop (and stick to) the habit of thinking more positive than negative, the magic in your life starts to happen! That’s because:
- Your thoughts are influencing your emotions
- Your emotions are indicating your vibrations
- Your vibrations are leading to manifestations
- Your manifestations are leading to observations
- Your observations are leading to new thoughts! (and so forth)
It means that every positive or negative outcome started as a (conscious or subconscious) positive or negative thought. It further implies that you have to change your thinking to change your life. If you want a better life, first and foremost (re)direct your mind and (re)master your thoughts. I invite you to start looking at this world as a great, evolving existence, and to accept that everything happening here is because we create it collectively through what we are predominantly thinking together. And regardless of what happens in the world, you are always in control of your own life and your personal destiny – no matter what happens outside, only you control your mind, so only you control your life.
Help yourself (and the world) by thinking good thoughts
We’ll dive into quantum mechanics and the Law of Attraction later, but for now, let me say that like radio waves, thoughts seem to have a frequency that can be received by both humans and what we could name Collective Intelligence or Divine Power. The idea is that when you think positive on a consistent basis, you’ll meet like-minded people and experience positive situations. To reach this positive state and stay in it, feel good now (and keep feeling good) before anything else. As long as you’re feeling happy, you’re thinking good thoughts! And there’s a growing amount of evidence that you become what you think about most. It has been documented in countless books and stories, ever since the beginning of New Thought.
In order to feel good, acknowledge all positive things in your life by expressing your gratitude on a daily basis. My mantra for the Creator of the Universe is: ‘Thank you for all the good things in my life; thank you for all the people I’ve met; thank you for all the lessons I’ve learned’. I like to count my blessings in the morning on my way to work, which I usually do on my bike (for 10 minutes) or during my walk (for half an hour) by looking around and thinking anything from ‘Thank you for the happy clients waiting for me’ to ‘Thank you for the warm sun on my face’. By the time I get to work, I’m all happy and motivated, charged for a whole day! These affirmations quickly become a success habit.
Whether you believe in an Infinite Intelligence or not, doesn’t matter. You could be an atheist and still have this technique work for you, because it will make you feel good. You will then ‘radiate’ that emotional state and ‘infect’ others. Your thoughts (like ‘I am grateful; I feel blessed’) will shine through in your friendly and cooperative attitude, and make people respond to you in a way that makes you feel even better. But you don’t even have to say or do anything! Have you ever thought of a friend, wondering how he or she would be – and then hearing the phone ring, picking up, and being surprised that this same person was on the other end? There is something like telepathy. Others can receive your thoughts. So help yourself (and the world) by thinking good thoughts!
Positive thoughts and expectations lead to positive feelings and results
If you’re ever pessimistic about anything – and who isn’t it? – then I invite you to try this technique, and see if it works for you as it still does for me. Immediately after I had let go of self-limiting beliefs like ‘I will never meet a woman’ and gave up (my negative thinking), opening my mind for positive opportunities, I attracted a woman into my life! Using positive affirmations also makes me aware of negative thoughts that come up from time to time, maybe from ‘subconscious programming’ in the past (like ‘You’re not good enough’, based on being bullied at school). I neutralize such a thought by a positive statement, such as: ‘I am a great person; loved and appreciated by my parents, my girlfriend, my friends, my colleagues, and my audience’.
How you see the world is how the world sees you, as your perception is (becoming) your reality. Positive thoughts and expectations (e.g. ‘all is good’, and ‘everything always works out for me in the end’) lead to positive feelings and results. Napoleon Hill once said that ‘anything the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve’, and I feel that he was right. Start by feeling good now, and thinking the right thoughts. Be grateful for all the positive things that you already have today. I suggest that you make a list of all you appreciate in your life now. When you are private or feel comfortable, read over your gratitude list (and add new things to appreciate) – and feel good doing so. Do this at least once a day, think about it several times a day, and watch what happens.
Image: Planet Earth seen from International Space Station ISS (credit: NASA / Ron Garan)
