You’ll see a mass of autobiographies of the rich & famous if you look at any best seller list today. There’s a common thread in every story, even though their lives might be very different – they dealt with the negatives by zoning-in on the positives. Only when we encourage a ‘can do’ mental attitude will we rise above the crowd.
So if you’re dieting, develop a positive approach to losing the pounds. Tell yourself how good you are at healthy eating. Thinking positively opens up a wealth of solutions to any problem. A pessimistic approach though does the opposite.
It’s all down to our mental apparatus – something called the reticular activation system that automatically prompts our thoughts. Think of how many things that were key issues in the past have now become distance memories – that’s because thoughts that are no longer pressing are moved to our sub conscious mind.
When we consciously attempt to do anything, our Reticular Activation System (RAS) will search the sub-conscious mind for any relevant information it holds, and bring it to our attention. If we’re walking down a street, we’re only made aware of things that have meaning to us – the rest is just background noise.
Therefore, if our conscious mind has generally been transferring positive, upbeat messages to our sub-conscious mind, that’s what it will send back. But if our sub-conscious has been given loads of downbeat messages, then that’s equally what will be sent back.
It appears that we can influence the messages going through to our sub-conscious minds by deliberately programming our RAS, and selecting the exact messages the conscious mind transfers. So as the sub-conscious doesn’t know what’s actually real, the RAS can be a great tool for realising ambitions.
Accordingly, we must consciously focus on a positive representation of our ideal target. This will then pass on to our subconscious via the RAS – and help us to achieve our goal. It works because at the right time, the relevant information for say weight reduction has been positively affirmed.
The writer Napoleon Hill said that we can achieve any realistic goal if stop dwelling on negative thoughts about it. We must keep a positive focus. Naturally, if we’ve bombarded our thinking with negative and defeat, we can expect exactly that.