There’s a quote by Helen Keller “Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow”.
What I like about this quote is the positive tone to it. Looking towards the sun and away from darkness.
I’m sure like me you’ve all experienced those negative thoughts and worked hard at trying to replace them with positive ones. We are often told we should focus on the positive, but when we feel low, it’s the hardest thing to do.
It takes strength to blot out negative thoughts and focus on positive ones.
As Willie Nelson once said, “Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll start having positive results.”
We know that the only time we have to do anything productive is right now, the present, today, yesterday is gone and tomorrow is yet to come for us to plan a positive outcome.
As Lyndon B Johnson said, “Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose”.
We know that to create a positive and new outcome we need to change how we think, what we do and take action to make those changes.
As Dalai Lama said, “In order to carry a positive action we must develop here a positive vision”.
First, we need to have that positive vision, imagine ourselves achieving that vision and imagine the feeling of achievement – not the doubts or how we might fail.
We need to focus on being positive, develop ourselves as being an optimist rather than a pessimist. Being pessimistic is a weakness isn’t it? To be optimistic takes strength and determination – as William James said, “Pessimism leads to weakness, optimism to power”.
There are a plethora of books and reading materials on positive thinking, loads of strategies and steps on how we can change our way of thinking, but at the end of the day it begins with us, it starts with action, and the day to do this is now, today, at this moment.
As Zig Ziglar said, “Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will”.
Positive thinking isn’t just a couple of words, it’s an action, a way in which we can change the way we think and behave.
So, when you’re thinking yeah – nah – consider the options you have and the decisions you can choose to make. Find your way to make those positive changes to make you feel better and follow the yeah rather than the nah..
Subscribe to Success Factor Wednesday Wake-Up: www.successfactor.co.nz
#successfactor