The POSITIVE OPTIMIST and Positive Thinking

By Raymond Caldwell

Are you an OPTIMIST or a PESSIMIST?

Many good books have been written on the power and benefits of positive thinking. We can have a tendency to think either positively or negatively. It is similar to the magnetic field of Planet Earth with north and south poles, or the negative and positive forces of a magnet.

How are you polarised? Which pole are you attracted to? Positive or negative? (There is also attraction and repulsion, but that is another subject.)

Of course, we should choose to think positively. Positive thinking opens up possibilities we hadn't thought of before, whereas negative thinking closes down possibilities and opportunities. Positive thinking opens the mind to solutions to puzzles and insights to resolve difficult problems.

A really winning cocktail

Optimism is the belief that life will work out well, pessimism is defeatist thinking and the tendency to give up all hope of success before starting an undertaking.

Therefore it makes good sense to be a POSITIVE-THINKING OPTIMIST! (Mix positive thinking and optimism with faith and hope for a really winning cocktail!)

How are the thoughts running through your mind polarised? As we tend to act upon what we think someone with insight wrote:

'Sow a thought and reap an action;

sow an action and reap a habit;

sow a habit and reap a character;

sow a character and reap a destiny'.*

This is so very true. The cause of what we do and what we become (the effect) is in our thoughts. So, think happy, hopeful and cheerful thoughts!

Reprogramming our minds

There are scientifically established methods for reprogramming our minds to think positively. Focus on words that create positive mental energy and paint pictures in your mind of who you want to become, where you want to live and what you want to do. Make them positive, optimistic, colourful and sunny! Have faith that things will improve, work out well and that life will get better!

Some word examples might be:

wholesome; winning; successful; healthy; hydrate; kindness; respect; obedient; go-getter, proactive; faith; etc.

Make your own list. The secret is to refer to these words regularly in order to burn them into your mind and memory.

This can be done by writing the words on little cards or into a little pocket notebook which you carry with you, open and read regularly.

You roll the words around your mind and at the same time you can create your own positive mantras such as:

'I have faith in God and myself';

'The world is waiting for my good ideas and talent';

'I eat only the best quality food';

I am deeply grateful for the least and every good thing in my life right now'.

Tailor-make your own positive mantras to suit yourself. The idea is that, by bringing all these positive words and pictures into your conscious mind, you will DISPLACE the old worn-out negative ones that got you nowhere except to "Frustration".

James Lee Valentine has embraced this idea and created books on words alone. It is worth noting here that Charles Capps also has written many tracts on the inherent transforming power of words. Here are just a few words from the start of James Lee Valentine's little book called 101 Power Qualities:

Honesty - I have honesty

Determined - I am determined

Enthusiasm - I have enthusiasm

Resourceful - I am resourceful

Focused - I am focused

Committed - I am committed

Effective - I am effective

Do you get the idea?

Norman Vincent Peale has written books on positive thinking and character-building through faith in God, yourself and your country. (He is, like Charles Capps, a Christian writer).

Louise Hay, a New Age writer, created audios of positive affirmations. The idea with all this positive stuff, is to speak these faith-building and lovingly affirming words to your inner self. These positive words displace the negative feelings and beliefs you have been holding against yourself, just the same as how light displaces darkness, or a ship displaces the dark forces of the ocean raging around it.

The biblical dimension

In the Bible, the Apostle Paul demanded the "renewal of the mind", that is the adjusting of our thoughts and thinking to the new reality of Jesus Christ: the hope of heaven and salvation of our souls; setting our hopes on heavenly assurances.

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Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will (Romans 12:2).

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So, positive thinking is something quite similar to, (but falls short of) Paul's "renewal of the mind". However, positive thinking is, in effect, a mental cleansing or a mental house-cleaning and a "renewal of the mind" if you are new to it.

Another aspect of positive or "correct" thinking is its "higher-frequency" - as it is thinking charged with hope, joy, exultation and happiness.

Negative thoughts or 'stinking thinking'

The opposite is what James Lee Valentine calls STINKING-THINKING (although I'm not sure if he actually coined that phrase).

Stinking-thinking is self-defeating, delusional thinking. Stinking-thinking is holding low opinions about yourself and having little or no faith in God and the world in which we live (and God created) to support our hopes and desires.

These are "low-frequency" heavy thoughts, such as: "I am a piece of crap". NO!!! Rather: "I have an incredibly and wonderfully created body and I am privileged because I am human and have a human spirit to choose wisely and shape my own destiny!"

Or as James Lee Valentine might say:

'I am amazing!'

And as the Desiderata says:

'With all its shams, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.'
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* Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)