Change your thinking and…

You can promote your healing by your thinking. James E. Sweeney

The one problem that plagues us often is our own lack of self belief. Our reaction to most new tasks for example is one of self doubt, suspicion and caution. While it may be a prudent way of approaching a new task, our imaginary fears might dissuade us from taking any chances and consequentially we may end up missing a wonderful opportunity. Most times we lack self belief simply because we are afraid to fail. Other times we undervalue ourselves and therefore do not scale up our ambitions and aspire for something much bigger. Ask yourself if you take the initiative to organize a picnic or a party? Do you offer to host the games or take charge of the catering or any allied activity? When requested to take charge of something how often have you declined it saying you do not how to go about it?

Creative thinking holds the key to all progress made by human beings. It is imperative that we appreciate the wonders brought about by out of the box thinkers and not be boxed in by our own paranoia. Our ability to think differently will definitely give us a plethora of radical and new ideas what limits us is our constant logical thinking that immediately rules out the idea as impractical and useless. To be creative all one needs to do is let our imagination run riot. Feel free to explore the wildest possibilities, make improbable associations , stretch the limits of your imagination and never let any form of self limiting statement enter your thought process. Are you game enough to take a pen and list out 10 or more uses of a pen other than using it to write?

Logical thinking has a vital role to play in ensuring understanding and problem solving. While on one hand it structures our thought process, it also reinforces and confirms our hypothesis at every stage thereby ensuring that we proceed ahead by validating the results at every stage. The entire gamut of the three R’s of reading, writing and arithmetic are founded on logical thinking. Yet many of us tend to see deeper meaning into things and tend to distort facts based on our personal prejudices, inferences and limitations. As a simple exercise read the reviews of different film critics about a movie and then go see the movie and write a review yourself. Reverse the process by seeing the movie first and then reading the critics review.

It is also important to recognize the fact that our attitude has a major bearing on our style of thinking. If we are positive and see the bright side of every event, it brings out hope and contentment within us. On the other hand people with a negative view will always search for the dark, sinister and malicious interpretation for any event. While our past experiences and gut feeling have a major influence in shaping our attitude, many a clue is hidden in the scripting done to us in childhood by parents, teachers and other authorities who have had a major influence on us. To be positive one needs to have tremendous self belief. To see problems as opportunities requires us to be strong mentally and emotionally and astute enough to channelize our energies into finding positive and acceptable meaning even in unfortunate and unpleasant events. How many of us can be like Thomas Alva Edison who on seeing his house go up in smoke when a fire burnt it down along with years of his experimental works, cheerful remarked that he could now restart with a clean slate all over again?

Remember: “You can have anything you want if you will give up the belief that you can’t have it.” Dr. Robert Anthony

Try this:

Work out an action plan to increase your savings by 25% this year without seriously impacting your current life style.
Attempt to write a poem or a limerick or write a film review or a letter to the editor of the local newspaper on a topic of local importance. The challenge is to get it published .

This post is courtesy www.actspot.com