By Phil Rosenbaum
Do you see yourself as having a positive attitude, or do you tend to have a lot of negative thoughts throughout the day? One of the problems with having a lot of negative thoughts is that we often think we can’t improve our situation. On the other hand, there is an advantage to having a positive outlook on life: we would think differently about ourselves and believe we could make positive changes.
Positive thinking can make the difference between winning and losing. Years ago, some sports psychologists recorded some of the top professional tennis players as they played a match to determine what they were thinking. The players would say whatever they were thinking into the recorder. The psychologists found that these players were incredibly positive. If they made a good shot, they would say things like alright, or good job to themselves. If they messed up the shot, they would say let it go and prepare for the next shot. When the players rested between games, they would visualize making great shots or think about strategies they could use to improve their game. They rarely had negative thoughts.
This same principle can apply to your work or career. If you want to be successful, you need to think positively. With a positive attitude, you can think about your goals and go after them with the confidence that you will succeed. It would be very difficult to achieve your goals if you had a negative attitude. After just a few setbacks, you would likely give up on your pursuits.
Your thoughts, whether positive or negative, also affect your self-esteem. Negative thoughts lower your self-esteem and cause you to feel bad about yourself. Low self-esteem prevents you from enjoying your life and doing the things you want to do.
Where, though, do these negative thoughts come from? Most of these messages were learned when we were young. They may have come from parents, teachers, other children, caregivers, siblings, the media, or from prejudice. The problem is that after hearing them a few times or repeating them, we start to believe them. Some typical messages we may be telling ourselves include: “I am a loser,” or “I never do anything right,” or “No one would ever like me,” or “I’m a klutz,” etc. Unfortunately, we believe messages that are totally untrue, which significantly affect our lives in a negative way. Often we are not even aware that we believe these negative messages because they are buried in our subconscious mind and thus very difficult to change. This is where hypnotherapy can be so helpful. With hypnosis, we can identify where these negative messages are coming from and then eliminate them and replace them with more positive ones.
You can do things to help eliminate these negative messages when you become aware of them. First, ask yourself if this message is true. Second, consider whether you would say this to another person, and if not, why are you saying it to yourself? Finally, ask yourself how you feel about thinking this thought, and if it makes you feel bad about yourself, stop thinking it.
SAMHSA’s pamphlet (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) recommends folding a sheet of paper in half. On one side, write a negative thought you often have, and on the opposite side, write down a positive one that opposes the negative one. When you realize you have a negative thought, replace it with the positive one, you wrote down. Also, using positive affirmations is a powerful way to strengthen your mind and keep it positive.
If you want more help in eliminating negative thoughts, consider hypnotherapy. It works, it is safe, and success can be achieved with relatively few sessions. A great deal of research has demonstrated its effectiveness.
If you want to learn more about hypnotherapy, please call Phil Rosenbaum at 248-688-6469. Your thoughts are the key to your success. Why not make them positive?
