The Power of Positive Thinking In Your Personal and Business Life

Much of the stress and unhappiness in people's lives is caused by negative thinking. There is a constant battle going on between negative and positive thoughts, and when there is some type of setback in your life, those negative thoughts can become rampant. Sometimes, though, even day to day living can be overwhelmed by negative thoughts for those who are unable to control their spread.

I think common sense alone tells us that positive thinking is likely to have a beneficial effect on each of us. In fact, it has a great deal of power in improving our lives, in the same way that negative thinking has a power to destro our lives. I try to practise positive thinking as a matter of course, but even so, there are times when negative thoughts can be very slippery to catch hold of. Personally, I find repeated positive affirmations just before sleeping at night can be very effective. It is a good time to communicate positively with your subconscious, as once you are asleep there will be no distractions and you may well wake up with those positive affirmations immediately in your thoughts.

There are a number of ways in which positive thinking can be manifested. One tool in the positive thinking armoury can be visualisation.

The article below is for those of you who have a home business, but it can equally be applied in other spheres.

Visualisation and Your Home Business

My first experience of using visualisation successfully was when I was employed. It was not something I had read much about, nor consciously practised. It happened quite by chance, and it was only many years later that I realised what had happened.

I was on a week long management training course, surrounded by some very bright, mostly younger, sparks. On about the third day, we were given an exercise to do. It was an individual exercise; each one of us had to think about, and then write down, what would be our perfect day in 5 years’ time.

What all this had to do with management training I was not sure. In fact, I’m still not sure to this day. But, it was something I was quite happy to do. I have a strong imagination, and this was an “easy” exercise to do. We had an hour, so no rush; I just let my mind flow. It was quiet, as everyone else was doing the same.

I sketched out honestly my perfect day. I was living near the sea, and had control over my own life. I was not employed, I was self employed. Goodbye career; that was not given one second of the perfect day. It was quite a relaxing sort of day, but I was working at home. I stopped when I wanted and strolled around for some exercise and air. My beloved sea was always in sight.

What shocked me about that exercise was when I read back what I had written, it bore no resemblance to my life at the time I did the exercise. My life 5 years ahead, on my perfect day, was transformed.

It was only some time after what I wrote down became a reality, some 5 years later, that I realized the possible significance of that exercise. In that short time of concentration, had I given enough instruction to my subconscious to ensure that I would go on and achieve that perfect day? I cannot know for sure, but I have no need to. It is enough that it happened.

By all means, try that exercise for yourself. Give your mind the freedom, and do not allow anyone else to read what you have written.

If you believe that what happened to me then was not pure chance, and you have a home business you want to succeed in, why not apply similar visualization techniques to your business? There is no need to follow a specific formula, you can adapt to your own needs. Try the following:

1. Find a quiet place and time to think in broad terms about how you would want your business to turn out. Once you have a clear vision, write it down. Visualise it as you write it down. See yourself as you would hope to be when the business is a big success.

2. Think of the major barriers to your success, and write them down. Then, for each of those barriers, visualize how you would ideally break down those barriers.

3. Think of the new skills you need to acquire to aid your success. Write them down, and visualise yourself as being in command of those skills.

Once you have completed your list, hopefully you will have 6 – 8 items. Now read through again, and rewrite them until they are worded as positive statements. Uncertainties, like “I may”, should be avoided. For example, instead of “I may be good at using a word processor” write “I am good at using a word processor.” There is a certainty about that, which you want your mind to get used to.

When you are happy with your list, get into a routine of going through it very day. Early morning, lunch time, and evening before bed, are good times. Read the list to yourself, visualise for each item one at a time, and repeat up to ten times, more if you have the time. Concentrate as hard as you can with the visualization, it is like you are drilling deeper into your subconscious.

Since I moved to Palawan in the Philippines, I have come to think of visualisation like going for a walk in the jungle. If it is unfamiliar territory to you, somebody will usually walk ahead, hacking down any obstructive plants and tree branches. They are clearing the way to make it easy for you. If you do that every day, the path becomes well trodden, and you can just stroll through with ease without anyone clearing the path ahead for you.

Visualisation can be used to clear the path to the future you desire, and any detailed aspects of that future. Each time you practice the visualisation as I have described above, you are making it that much easier for yourself to walk that path in the future.

Please see also:

Positive Thinking - Exploring Your Past

Practical Positive Thinking

Practical Positive Thinking Part 2 - Coping With Pain and Disability

Practical Positive Thinking 3 - Passing Professional Examinations

Practical Positive Thinking 4 - Overcoming The Jobless Chasm

Positive Affirmations