| Hello forum,
It has been a long time since I posted on here. I hope you are all doing well and making good progress. I certainly have. My meditation practice has really improved in the last year. I have noticed so many beneficial effects -- for example, I am at least ten times more productive now than I ever was before in my previous three years in college. Also, I'm much, much more positive, cheerful, and resilient than I ever was before. I am really seeing the value in the practice of cultivating positive thoughts, which is what I wanted to discuss in this post.
I want to ask you guys about any methods for positive thinking which you have tried -- any rituals, affirmations, favorite books or movies or songs, which have helped you to cultivate positive thoughts in your own minds.
Personally, the following practices have worked for me:
1) When I meditate, I choose 4-5 positive qualities to focus on during my practice. For example, Freedom, purity, tolerance, willpower, and cheerfulness. Then I spend ten minutes on each quality. I imagine the bright sun right between the eyebrows, and I imagine the sun radiating the specific quality I'm focusing on. I try to make the image as clear and vivid as possible.
2) I read a couple pages of Swami Sivananda's book "Thought Power" every night before I go to sleep. I must have reread the book three or four times by now.
3) During the day, if I am ever confronted by thoughts of fear or worry about performing a certain task, I repeat the following affirmation several times: "My whole life is a single day that does not last for very long." Suddenly, I am filled with courage and willpower.
4) I am deeply inspired by listening to great musicians play the Blues, specifically Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Clapton, John Mayer, and Axel Zwingenberger.
5) I almost completely stopped watching television, particularly the news. Instead, I like to watch certain comedies, such as the shows Arrested Development and Futurama. These are both very light, positive, and very funny.
6) A technique reccomended by Sivananda: If I have a negative thought such as anger towards somebody, I try to imagine the complete opposite feeling of Love. Specifically, I imagine that we are both composed of light, light of the same exact color and intensity. Then I imagine that everything is composed of light, and that we all merge into the same blob of brightness. This almost always alleviates whatever anger I am feeling.
7) I volunteer twice a week in a tutoring program for inner city middle schools. I have found this work to be very uplifting.
8.) I keep a detailed schedule of specific things I want to accomplish or improve upon each month -- such as how often I go to the gym, practice yoga, attend class, sleep at normal hours, get involved in arguments, etc. Then I further break it down week by week and lay out exactly what I hope to accomplish during the week. At the end of each month I evaluate how many of my goals I have achieved, then come up with a new plan for the following month. I have found that the schedule of goal setting really keeps me motivated and productive.
These are the technniques which I use on a regular basis and work very well for me. But I am very curious to hear what techniques other people use so that I can expand my reportoire. Please be as specific as possible so that we can all benefit by trying it ourselves. Thanks!
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| Hi Strazin,
Wow! You really do so much for staying positive. Here's something I recently learned that you might find helpful.
Consider the 5 people who you are closest to.
If you were the take the average of these people, the average would be YOU.
Here's why this is important. We have neurons in our brain called mirror neurons. These neurons cause us to "copy" what we see other people doing. Our brain interprets what others do around us as if we were doing it. We do this unconsciously. People in your environment have a powerful effect on you.
So, how this could relate to your desire to be more positive in your thinking is to surround yourself with people who are positive and to limit the amount of time you are in the presence of people who are negative or have a victim-mentality.
If you do so, you'll naturally become more positive! This is based on studies by Daniel Glaser, a neuroscientist.
Hope this is helpful!
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Methods for Positive Thinkiing
