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Willie Nelson apparently once said “Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you'll start having positive results.” It’s somewhat bubble-gum psychology and hardly advice that will light the world on fire.
But it’s Willie Nelson, what’s not to love about Willie!
Although we know this, it’s so hard to actively practice thinking positively.
The negative thoughts are so addictive “I will never lose weight,” “I’m too tired to go to the gym,” “I don’t have enough time to meditate,” “I will never get this company off the ground.” In the book The Untethered Soul, author Michael Singer refers to this as ‘the voice of the mind’ and for most of us it is a constant source of negative commentary. Singer, and my all time favorite Eckhart Tolle, both counsel caution when it comes to our inner dialogue. Our inner dialogue is usually negative and better considered as our inner critic – it usually doesn’t have anything good to say.
As Willie tells us, and all the self-help blogs seem to agree, there is tremendous power in thinking positively. And the inverse is also true: there is also tremendous power in the negative. I am sure the producers have a heavy-hand in this but, how many times do you watch a reality show and see a contestant in a negative downward spiral only to then go home that episode. The greatest reality show of all, your life, is no different.
We create these stories about who we are and how our lives are: “my boss is a jerk,” “I hate my job,” “my husband is lazy,” “my kids are out of control.” We are really good at making our stories come true, we feed them and fuel them with our negative thoughts.
What story or stories are you telling yourself?
If five average girls from the UK can all make careers as pop stars, I think you can probably also achieve your ambitions. Spice Up Your Life: tell yourself a new story and look for the evidence of that story being true.